Lawmakers call for P500 monthly discount on basic goods for the elderly

House Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Joey Salceda on Tuesday called on relevant government agencies to draft an administrative order setting a P500 monthly discount on basic goods for senior citizens.

Salceda said such an amount was arrived at in the aftermath of a joint panel hearing with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“Using food inflation rates, we determined that by now the total value of the discount should have been adjusted to around P126.31 per week. So, adjustment to P125 is more or less where we should be by now,” Salceda said.

The joint committee, Salceda said, determined the discount by choosing between either consumer price index levels or food inflation from 2010 to 2024.

“The food inflation rate makes better sense since these are basic goods. At least, this is an empirically made policy decision rather than setting an arbitrary adjustment,” Salceda added.

The Expanded Senior Citizens Act, currently promulgated through DTI-DA Administrative Order No. 10-02, provides that senior citizens are entitled to a special discount of 5% of the regular retail price, without exemption from value-added tax, of basic necessities.

The total value of goods discounted is capped at P1,300 per week.

“The DTI and the DA are so directed to adjust the rates prescribed in the administrative order,” Salceda said, following a motion from fellow committee chairs and lawmakers Alfel Bascug of Agusan del Sur and Rodolfo Ordanes of the Senior Citizens party-list.

“This is just an administrative order, so it can be adjusted with immediate effect. This is the overarching doctrine of these discounts – everyone else has a responsibility to take care of elders, simply because everyone else will become elders at some point,” Salceda said.

“The policy decision we have made as a society is that we will all distribute the burden amongst ourselves, as sellers will likely pass these costs on to other consumers,” Salceda added. — DVM, GMA Integrated News