Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003
Emil Jurado
The Manila Standard
have talked to many well-known lawyers and they all agree with me that the framers of RA 9257, otherwise known as the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003, IRR or Implementing Rules and Regulations exceeded their authority and jurisdiction by effectively amending the law on the availment of the 20 percent discount benefit.
Section 4, paragraph (a) of RA 9257 clearly states: “(a) the grant of 20 percent discount from all establishments relative to the utilization of services in hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants and recreation centers, and PURCHASE OF MEDICINE in all establishments for the exclusive use or enjoyment of senior citizens, including funeral and burial expenses for the death of senior citizens; …” (Emphasis mine).
Unfortunately — against the interests of senior citizens — the IRR added that the discount on such purchases of senior citizens be conditioned on the guidelines issued by the Health department’s Bureau of Food and Drugs and PhilHealth, which are nowhere found in the law.
To make matters worse, DoH Secretary Manuel Dayrit issued a memorandum order “to take effect immediately” that stipulates that “the 20 percent discount on drugs and medicine purchase be limited exclusively to UNBRANDED GENERIC DRUGS.”
Strangely, the Dayrit m.o. follows the line of the lobby of the Drugstores Association of the Philippines that for them to sell “branded drugs” as prescribed would mean the death knell of the drugstore industry. They claim they can ill afford more than 3 to 5 percent discount on branded drugs and medicine.
The problem was contained in an earlier law on senior citizens enacted 1996, but to date the drugstores have not closed shop. Clearly, Dayrit has become the champion of drugstores and the nemesis of senior citizens. With Dayrit as DoH chief, GMA doesn’t need enemies.
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The Senior Citizens Advisory and Advocacy Group (SCAAG), a nongovernment and purely voluntary group monitoring the benefits and privileges provided for by the law on senior citizens, (of which I am chairman), has considered contesting in court, the IRR as in effect, having amended RA 9257, and the memorandum of Dayrit as an abuse and beyond his jurisdiction. But we believe that the complaint should come from senior citizens who are discriminated.
Thus, for instance, if a drugstore refuses to sell to a senior citizen branded drugs or medicine on a 20 percent discount as provided for by law, he or she can file a complaint in court against the drugstore. This way, there will be a cause for complaint from an interested party greatly prejudiced by the questionable IRR and Dayrit’s memo. We, at SCAAG, can only monitor and help abused and aggrieved senior citizens.
E-mail: emiljurado@hotmail.com
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