37 articles submitted to a vote were approved on Tuesday, with 17 votes in favor and four against, which means that approximately 39 percent of the proposal has the legislators’ approval.

Although some congressmen from opposition parties such as Cambio Radical and Centro Democrático asked for time to forward a presentation against it, they were denied by the board of directors.

For the bill presented by the Government to become law, all the protocols provided for in Congress must be completed before June 20th, when the current legislature ends, or it will collapse due to lack of processing.

The pension reform seeks to benefit two and a half million people over 65 years, who never contributed or were deprived of that right. It would also increase by 22 percent the probability of Colombian women receiving a pension since it recognizes the mothers’ dedication to care for their children.

In short, the law should increase protection for the elderly through three mechanisms: solidarity income, life annuity, and pension.

Calculations indicate that by 2052 coverage will be 87 percent, that is, it will benefit more than 13.7 million older people, according to an analysis released by the Ministry of Labor.

jrr/llp/oda/ifs