Legarda
calls for creation of IRR for Expanded Senior Citizen’s
Law
MANILA – Vice presidential candidate
Senator Loren Legarda called for the immediate crafting of
the implementing rules and regulation (IRR) of the recently
passed Expanded Senior Citizen Law or Republic Act (RA) 9994.
Legarda, who principally authored and ushered
into passage in the Senate the law along with Sen. Pia Cayetano's
Committee on Social Justice, also encouraged Luzon senior
citizens group to become involved in the crafting of the IRR.
“This law is my tribute to Filipino
senior citizens who have been and continue to be part of building
our nation. It is a time-honored Filipino practice to take
care of the elderly in their twilight years because our generation
owes a lot to them and their hard work. That is the spirit
behind this legislation. We should give the elderly what they
deserve,” she said.
Legarda also called for a monitoring mechanism
to ensure the immediate creation of the IRR.
She stressed that indigent senior citizens cannot afford the
delay in discounts and benefits.
The Expanded Senior Citizens Act would give
the elderly a full 20-percent discount on goods and services,
as a result of being exempt from the expanded-value tax (EVAT),
on top of other benefits. The measure would also give indigent
seniors and non-pensioners free medical insurance and disability
assistance.
RA 9994 is an amendment to the previous Senior
Citizens Acts, RA 7432 and 9257. It provides a 20 percent
discount on specific sale of goods and services, namely:
• transportation services, hotels and
similar lodging establishment, restaurants and recreation
centers and purchase of medicine anywhere in the country;
and
• theaters, cinema houses and concert halls, circuses,
carnivals and other similar places of culture, leisure, and
amusement.
The Expanded Senior Citizens’ Act was
created because senior citizens only enjoy an eight percent
discount on the value of the item or services purchased due
to the 12 percent E-VAT.
Legarda’s version was the only one among
all the other bills filed by the other senators which called
for the correction of the apparent circumvention of the original
Senior Citizens Law.
In order to correct the flaw that denied senior
citizens from enjoying the full 20 percent discount, RA 9994
explicitly declared that senior citizens are exempted from
paying E-VAT.
In addition, the expanded act also granted
additional discount and other benefits to senior citizens.
These are:
• on the professional fees of attending
physician/s in all private hospitals, medical facilities,
outpatient clinics and home health care services and licensed
professional health workers providing home health care services
as endorsed by private hospitals
• on medical and dental services, diagnostic and laboratory
fees in all private hospitals, medical facilities, outpatient
clinics, and home health care services
• the DOH shall administer free vaccination against
the influenza virus and pneumococcal disease for indigent
senior citizen patients (this was adopted from Legarda’s
proposal under Senate Bill No. 2154 and Manny Villar’s
Senate Bill No. 1893)
• on funeral and burial services for the death of senior
citizens
• the grant of a minimum of five percent discount relative
to the monthly utilization of water and electricity supplied
by public utilities; and
• death benefit assistance of a minimum of P2,000 shall
be given to the nearest surviving relative of a deceased senior
citizen.
The 20 percent discount given to senior citizens
may be claimed by the private establishments from the government
by way of tax credit (pass-on provision)./PN
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