LGUs, malls urged to give senior citizens 2 hours to buy basic necessities

The National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) on Wednesday asked local government units (LGUs), malls and grocery stores to give elderly people a two-hour window in the morning to buy basic necessities. 

NCSC Chairman Franklin Quijano made the appeal after he received reports that some LGUs failed to comply with the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s guideline that older people may go out of their residences and enter commercial establishments to access essential goods and services.

“Disinfected naman iyong mall sa gabi and in the morning. If the senior citizens are allowed, then the chances of the risk of them getting any disease is really very low,” Quijano said at the Laging Handa briefing.

“Maski dalawang oras lang po, from 9 to 11 in the morning, when the store opens and up to 11; and then the general public can come in afterwards, that really is so much gift that you can give the senior citizens.”

Older persons are considered the most vulnerable to COVID-19 but this does not mean they should be under a 24/7 lockdown, Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in August. 

The DILG has also urged the Office for Senior Citizen Affairs to set up help desks and a hotline to assist older persons in filing complaints or charges against any individual, establishment, business entity, institution, or agency refusing to comply with the guidelines. 

“It’s not just that we can go around anywhere. It’s really that we have to answer the needs of the senior citizens and these are the basic needs that we would like our society to give,” Quijano said. 

“Lumalapit na po kami sa aming takipsilim, but please favor us,” he said. —KG, GMA News