RDCC 6 relief body to draft operational plan
The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) 6 Committee on Relief will meet on August 13 to come up with its operational plan.
Led by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Regional Office 6, the Committee on Relief has 14 other national government agencies and five civil associations as its members.
The Committee on Relief is one of the task units created by the newly-assumed RDCC 6 chair Police Regional Office 6 Director Samuel D. Pagdilao Jr. during its regular meeting last July 14 in preparation for any disaster that may occur in Western Visayas.
DSWD Regional Director Minda Brigoli, who will chair the committee, said that right now their regional office has a standby fund for relief operations of P 300,000 and food packs good for 1,300 families.
The DSWD regional office has also now paid P 2.5 million to the National Food Authority for the 2,000 bags of rice which could be used for relief operations in preparation for the La Nina phenomenon.
The bags of rice could also be used for the food for work program that would be implemented.
SENIOR CITIZENS’ DISCOUNT
Meanwhile, Brigoli said senior citizens should report pharmacies or drugstores that do not grant correct discounts.
She said senior citizens should report erring pharmacies to the authorities and the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs, and OSCA will check out these pharmacies and report them to the local government and the DSWD.
The senior citizen community must receive 20 percent discount when they buy their medicines and other health needs. The discount is also on top of the 12 percent VAT exemption.
This is mandated by the Expanded Senior Citizen’s Act of 2010, she said.
Brigoli said that some pharmacies are taking advantage of the senior citizens by not asking them if they have discount cards. Some pharmacies are also not posting the correct prices of generic drugs on their wall which the senior citizens can look in checking their bills.
This practice should be stopped, she added.
Brigoli said they will request the Department of Trade and Industry and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to monitor these drugstores for possible sanction.
There are about 340,000 senior citizens in Western Visayas. Most of them are indigents and rely much on the Expanded Senior Citizen’s Act to avail of discounts in buying medicines and other basic services. PNA
