The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) clarified on Friday that senior citizens are entitled to only 5 percent special discount on basic necessities and prime commodities.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman said basic necessities and prime commodities are not covered by the 20 percent discount for senior citizens provided for under the Expanded Senior Citizens Act.

5% coverage
Basic necessities include rice, corn, bread, fresh, dried and canned fish, and other marine products, fresh pork, beef and poultry, meat, fresh eggs, fresh and processed milk, fresh vegetables, root crops, coffee, cooking oil, salt, laundry soap, and etergents.

Prime commodities include fresh fruits, flour, dried, processed and canned pork, beef and poultry, meat, dairy products not falling under basic necessities; noodles, onions, garlic.

Prime commodities also include all drugs not classified as essential drugs by the Department of Health (DoH) and other commodities that may be classified by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) according to Republic Act 7581 or the Price Act.

Exclusion
Soliman said the special discounts may be availed of only in supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience, and mini-convenience stores, excluding sari-sari stores, wet market, “talipapa” and cooperatives.

“Clothes and gasoline are not covered by both 20 percent and five percent discounts,” she stressed.

The DSWD chief pointed out that senior citizens should always bring their purchase booklet, which is distributed by the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) in every city and municipality nationwide, when buying the goods.

“A senior citizen who cannot personally purchase basic necessities and prime commodities may designate a representative to transact on his behalf,” Soliman said.

“The authorized representative is required to present a valid government-issued identification card, together with the OSCA-issued identification card of the senior citizen and an authorization letter,” she added.

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Deputy Commissioner for Special Concerns Lucita Rodriguez said that under the current regulations senior citizens are also entitled to get the 5 percent special discounts on their water and electricity bills, provided that individual meters for the said utilities are under the name of a senior citizen residing therein.

Rodriguez said senior citizens are entitled to the power discounts if monthly consumptions do not exceed 100 kilowatt hours of electricity and 30 cubic meters of water.

The privilege is granted per household regardless of the number of residing senior citizens.

20% coverage
Soliman reiterated that the 20 percent discount is given only on the following: purchase of medicines, including the purchase of influenza and pneumococcal vaccines, and such other essential medical supplies, accessories, and equipment; professional fees of attending physician in all private hospitals, medical facilities, outpatient clinics, and home health care services; professional fees of licensed professional health workers providing home health care services as endorsed by private hospitals or employed through home health care employment agencies; and medical and dental services, diagnostic, and laboratory fees in all private hospitals, medical facilities, out-patient clinics, and home health care services, in accordance with the rules and regulations to be issued by the DoH, in coordination with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

Also covered by the 20 percent discount are the actual fare for land transportation travel on public utility buses (PUBs), public utility jeepneys (PUJs), taxis, Asian utility vehicles (AUVs), shuttle services and public railways, including the Light Rail Transit (LRT), Mass Rail Transit (MRT), and Philippine National Railways (PNR); actual transportation fare for domestic air transport services, and sea shipping vessels and the like, based on the actual fare and advanced booking; utilization of services in hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants (including food ordered for dine-in, take-out and delivery, which are for exclusive consumption of the senior citizen); and recreation centers; admission fees charged by theaters, cinema houses and concert halls, circuses, carnivals, and other similar places of culture, leisure, and amusement; and funeral and burial services for the death of senior citizens, excluding obituary publication and the purchase of the memorial lot.

Rodriguez also clarified that the Expanded Senior Citizens Act was a mere expansion of the old law and therefore its provisions will still be carried under the new Act.

Republic Act (RA) 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 was signed into law by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last February 15.

The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of RA 9994 took effect last July 6, granting the full 20 percent discount on particular goods and services for senior citizens.