(MANILA BULLETIN)

A measure that seeks to expand the coverage of senior citizens’ privileges and benefits--including the introduction of new discounts--has been approved at the committee level in the House of Representatives.

The House Committee on Ways and Means approved on Tuesday, Jan. 14, the still unnumbered substitute bill which consolidated a handful of House bills.

Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda, chairman of the committee, said the passage was “culmination of months of work” of his panel, alongside the Committees on Senior Citizens, and Persons With Disabilities.

“What the bill does is carve into the statutes the progress made by the joint committee, created at the direction of the Speaker,” he said in a statement, referring to House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Salceda says he expects the bill to breeze through plenary deliberations in the lower chamber.

“As a consensus bill backed by months’ worth of consultations, this should pass Congress even through the lameduck session, if it gets to that,” he explained.

Under the proposed bill, Salceda said he “insisted” to institutionalize the removal of the requirement of purchase booklets for seniors to avail of the 20 percent discount on medicine purchases.

“That way, no future administrative issuance can take this progress away,” he said.

Earlier, the Department of Health (DOH) issued Administrative Order (AO) No. 2024-0017 to remove the requirement. Seniors are now only required to present their identification cards and doctors’ prescriptions to use the discount.

Salceda, an economist, said he also included a P2,000 tollway discount for senior citizens who use expressways in the measure.

“The capped discount ensures that seniors are able to avail of the benefit while protecting it from abuse,” he added.

The Bicol congressman said other benefits include the proposed application of seniors’ discount on ride-hailing applications, as well as on online sales.

He cited that an increased water and power utility discount from five to 15 percent, on those consuming 200 / kilowatt hour (kWh) rather than just 100kWh, was also included.

“Businesses will also be able to use the cost of VAT discounts as a deduction from gross income so that the cost of these discounts is shared between consumers and the government, rather than being merely passed on to consumers,” said Salceda.