as seen on tv
Senior moments
I took my family on a day trip to Tagaytay. The tour group included my sister, her husband and son, her mother-in-law, my mother and my two octogenarian aunts. With half the entourage senior citizens, I was told lunch would at least be 20 percent off (not 80 percent off even if there were four of them?).
For some people it’s always convenient to bring along senior citizens when dining out and buying medicines to get discounts. Getting “a fifth” off the bill is always a welcome savings. I hastily paid for lunch (for fear one of the aunts would foot the tab) and forgot to asked for my mother’s senior citizen’s card – yellowed with age and shabby from brandishing in one too many drugstores and Jollibees in the last 15 years.
“Sayang ang discount,” my mother would often say when taking out her card for purchases in selected stores and restaurants (fast food chains mostly). When added up, these discounts make a big difference considering the measly pension our elderly get from either SSS or GSIS which by the way needs a serious inflation check. With these pension rates, a decent life for our elderly is only possible if today were July 1970.
The Senior Citizens Act of 1992 has been one of the most disrespected laws of the land. There is always a way for some businesses to skirt around it – offering conspicuous promos (to disable the discount), setting (illegal) minimum and maximum price ranges to effect discounts and outright refusal of cards, are just some of the shameless activities taking advantage of the victims who are too old and tired to complain.
In fact the few places senior citizens could get sure discounts are national fast food chains. Well-monitored by the government, these cannot dishonor senior cards. Sadly, the elderly can’t have fast food frequently as fried chicken with rice and an upsized Coke are bad for their lives.
And then there are establishments that have a subtle way of rejecting seniors. Some hotels, recreational facilities and even airlines sometimes declare they’re “fully booked” at the sight of an approaching elderly who possess a card, deadly to their revenues.
The only establishments consistent in honoring cards are drugstores, perhaps as a humanitarian gesture. Most senior citizens need “maintenance” medicines that improve the quality of their remaining years – medicines they might not afford with their poverty line pension.
But life is now easier and a little more exciting for about five million senior citizens in the country with the implementation of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010. A sum of all past lessons the Expanded Senior Citizen Act of 2010 is fortified with the following enhancements:
1. A 20-percent discount on value-added tax for medicines, doctor fees, transportation, hotels, restaurants and other places of leisure
2. A mandatory PhilHealth coverage and free diagnostic and laboratory tests in all government hospitals, including dental services
3. A monthly stipend of P 500 (P1,500 if indigent) and free flu vaccines
4. A 5-percent discount on water bills (less than 30 cubic meters consumption) and electricity bills (below 100 kilowatt hours)
5. Educational assistance for those who want to pursue further studies. Why not?
With the expanded law, the government is also obliged to ensure the creation of Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) in very city or municipality, while the Department of Health shall provide a senior citizen’s ward in government hospitals. The DOH and local government units are also mandated to implement a national health program for the elderly.
Penalties for violations (from both erring establishment to abusing elderly) are also stiffer, consisting of both fines and prison terms.
But we cannot totally blame some establishments for being less enthused over senior cards as some senior citizens, their families and friends abuse the privileges. A Manila-based luxury car distributor shared that a senior citizen once asked for a discount for a sports car he’s buying for his “apo.” Airlines have also received requests for senior citizen discounts for unrestricted fares to San Francisco USA (discounts only apply in the Philippines) while a cosmetic surgeon said he once got requests for a special price for a high ticket, vanity procedure (Botox, for this one).
The most common abuse would be from family asking their elderly to purchase “this and that” for a discount. Restaurants, bookstores, and other service-oriented businesses get this all the time.
The senior citizen card itself can get in the wrong hands. I know someone who is only in his early 50’s but was able to pull strings at city hall to get a senior card. Looking 60 is his only credential, sans how unflattering a physical feature it is for someone relatively young.
My very own senior citizen card is not due in 18 years and as exciting as the many discounts it affords – I’m not in a rush.
