Oledan: Disdain

THERE'S Republic Act 9257 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003 that exempts the senior citizens from the 12-percent value-added tax and provides social protection measures such as free medical services in government hospitals, free membership to PhilHealth, and a monthly pension of P500 to the poorest among them.

Malacanang is set to approve the law on February 14, Valentine's Day. If we could recall, the Senior Citizens Act was observed in breach especially by business establishments that refuse to grant the 20 percent discount for older people. It does not also help that the E-VAT law also significantly reduced the discount to a mere eight percent since the 12 percent value added tax is charged to the public.

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Senior citizens have spent the best part of their lives for their family and the community and in return, they deserve the service they have earned. While Filipinos are known to uphold the tradition of taking care of their elderly relatives, there lacks a mechanism to ensure that the law intended for them will be implemented.

The Constitution provides that it is the duty of the family to take care of its elderly members while the state may design programs of social security for them. This is founded in the provision: "the State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development, which shall endeavor to make essential goods, health and other social services available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall be priority being given to the needs of the underprivileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women and children."

The Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003 classifies those citizens aged 60 and above as "elderly" and therefore entitled to priority care. This in a nutshell is the basis of the 20-percent discount that senior citizens are entitled to, particularly as regards health care.

The senior citizens account for almost six percent of the total population. The National Statistics Office predicts that the number of elderly will reach seven million by the end of 2010 and double in approximately 16 years.

Whether the law will significantly change the attitude of commercial establishments for the elderly remain to be seen. For many of these companies, senior citizens may not represent a large population segment that would attract the attention of merchandisers.

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