REPRESENTATIVES of more than 30 companies doing business in Antipolo met on October 29 with over 100 senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) for mutual understanding and compliance of the law at the Forum on the Rights and Privileges of Senior Citizens and PWDs at SM Masinag.
Noli Villafuerte, Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca) Makati consultant and resource person, discussed some points of Republic Act (RA) 9994, also known as the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, to bring restaurants and senior citizens into mutual awareness for the 20-percent dining discount older citizens enjoy. This is minus the 12-percent value-added tax given by some restaurants to senior diners.
Villafuerte also cited provisions of RA 9994 that call for pharmacies and senior citizens into reciprocal understanding of the 20-percent discount on medicine prescribed by their doctors.
The 20-percent discount on medicine could be availed of by senior citizens only with a prescription note from a duly authorized physician, said Martina Beltran, Osca Antipolo staff.
Villafuerte, who hosts a senior citizens forum at dwIZ, encouraged senior citizens to take advantage of the discount on dining and medicine, and urged restaurant owners and pharmacies to honor these privileges.
Beltran made clear that, on consumption commodity, only basic needs are discounted under RA 9994.
Bakery products and cakes are not covered by the discount privilege, she said.
The half-day forum at SM Masinag saw over 70 senior-citizen leaders and representatives from the 16 barangays of Antipolo.
More than 60 PWDs, who are seeking awareness and compliance by business establishment on their rights and privileges under the PWD law, joined the forum, Esperanza Cervantes and Loreto Jolloso Jr. of the PWD office in Antipolo said.
Senior-citizen leaders, who attended the discussions, would reecho the rights and privileges under RA 9994, particularly discounts on dining and medicine, to fellow old hats in the barangays, Beltran said.
Antipolo, with 16 barangays, currently has an estimated number of 60,000 active and non-active senior citizens, she said.
Represented companies at the Forum on the Rights and Privileges of Senior Citizens and PWDs include Mercury Drugs, Generic Pharmacy, Jollibee, McDonald’s and Tropical Hut, the PWD office staff said.
The forum was jointly sponsored by Osca Antipolo and the city’s PWD office following complains by both sectors regarding particular business establishments that allegedly refuse to honor discount rights, Beltran said.
Osca encourages senior citizens who have complaints against certain business outfits regarding discount privileges to visit the office and seek settlement.
Image credits: Oliver Samson