Expanded Valued Added Tax (e-VAT) proponent and former Senator Ralph Recto Friday said he supports the signing of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 into law but admitted that he sees some flaws in the legislation seeking to exempt the elderly from e-VAT.

In an interview during a campaign gathering of the Liberal Party (LP) in Taguig City late Thursday, Recto said the President should sign the bill into law despite Malacañang’s claim of huge revenue losses with the reduction in e-VAT collection.

“I am in favor of the signing of this piece of legislation into law in respect to the will of Congress. But personally, I have to admit that there are certain flaws in the [projected] implementation of the would-be law,” he said.

A re-electionist for the Senate under LP, Recto said the suspension of the 12-percent e-VAT for goods and services purchased for the country’s estimated 5.8 million senior citizens, apart from the eight percent discount accorded to them by law, should be flawlessly implemented or else it will be prone to abuses and leakages.

“I still have questions about the bill in mind. I think problems can arise if the exemption for senior citizens will be abused by businesses since two accounting ledgers will mean added administrative cost. We are also not certain if the public will subsidize for the exemptions of the senior citizen. These are the same issues that we have debated before when I was still in the Senate,” he said.

Recto added that aside from or instead of exempting senior citizens from e-VAT, the government should explore a “better route” that poses no disruption in business and government operations.