PhilFAQS

This article will not be of interest to some of my younger readers.  No problem, feel free to flit elsewhere, I bear no grudge.

But almost all of us are in one of two groups.  Thos who have already reached the “golden years” (like me) or those who hope to live long enough to be included … so perhaps this is of more general interest than you first thought it was.

Many also reading may have Filipino relatives age 60 or older, and you may find that some of what I write about here is very directly applicable.

I tend to write too long and too dense on these sorts of articles, and when I make a lot of quotes and reference links, few people follow them … so I won’t take up your time.  Just the facts, ma’am, as Sgt Friday used to say.

Is There a Viable Senior Citizen Discount Program in the Philippines?

You bet.  Among other benefits it covers:

• Purchase of medicines, including influenza and pneumococcal vaccines and other essential medical supplies, accessories and equipment; and
• Actual fare for land travel in public utility jeepneys, taxis, Asian utility vehicles and shuttle services.

Moreover, additional incentives and benefits are also granted to senior citizens, as follows:

• Free vaccination against influenza and pneumococcal disease for indigent senior citizens;
• Benefit assistance to the nearest kin of a deceased indigent senior citizen worth P2,000.
• Five percent (5%) discount on water and electric bills registered in the name of the senior citizen, provided that consumption is below 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 30 cubic meters of water a month; as well as
• Additional government assistance, i.e., social pension/monthly stipend of P500, mandatory Philhealth coverage, and social safety assistance (food, medicines and financial assistance).

What Philippine Law Covers These Senior Citizen Benefits?

RA (Republic Act) 9994, know as The Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010

Who is covered by this act? Residents of the Philippines who are citizens of the Philippines who have attained the age of 60 years.

You can look the exact legal language up for yourself.  I write the sentence above in a slightly different fashion that the original act to point out something important.

Only Philippine Citizens may legally use the discounts and other benefits covered by RA 9994.  I get questions more often than you might think regarding this question, and I see it discussed, sometimes Ad nauseam, in groups and forums of interest to foreigners living in the Philippines. (oh, and by the way, if you are a former Filipino (as in living here under a 13(g) permanent visa, you are not a Filipino citizen for the purposes of this law, so the law does not cover you either.)  The language was written the way it is for a specific purpose … to distinctly define who is eligible … and there are a number of my foreigner friends, for example, who have long believed they were entitled to the senior discount privileges … and even some who already avail of them … but the new law is pretty specific.  Only Philippine Citizens are covered.

Now that I have made myself undying popular with the foreigner community, let me mention a little about how some of the confusion regarding this law, and its predecessors has come to pass:

In the early 90’s, the first law on senior citizens, RA 7432, was enacted to maximize the contribution of senior citizens to nation building and to grant them benefits and special privileges. Among others, this law granted the senior citizens a 20% discount on purchases of essential goods and services.   Many of the official/semi-official writings I have seen on this law seem to be confusing about its applicability to permanent residents, as well as Philippine citizens … but the law itself says, specifically, that the Senior Citizen discou8nt privileges and accompanying identification documentation is for Filipino Citizens only.

Subsequently in 2003, RA 7432 was amended by RA 9257, otherwise known as the "Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003," which granted additional benefits and privileges to senior citizens.

There is also specific procedures in RA 9257 that allow government officials, such as barangay captains, to grant the issuance of the Senior Citizen ID to others, including foreigners, if they make specific and documented contributions to their local community.

However, if you bother to read it, you’ll note that there is no such provision in the most current law, RA 9994 … so no citizenship, no ID seems to be the clear intent.

With every Philippine law comes what some would consider the “fine print”.  The IRR (Implementing Rules and Regulatins).  I believe there may yet be changes in the IRR for RA 9994, but here is a link to them as they are currently published.

Especially for those of you who are already warming up your keyboard to tell me how I am ‘all wet” on this, and how you already have your own Senior Citizen card, or how your Former Filipino wife has hers, or how Larry down at the VFW told you different, and Larry certainly knows what he is talking about … save your breath.

What you do is up to you.  I wish you the joy of it.  But here, although, as you know, I am not a legal practitioner, I try to base my advice on facts, not “bar talk” or what you read in this forum or that forum.

I give you the exact copies of the law as I can find them published.

Tell Larry, or whomever else wants to argue, that the should, in particular, read Article 24, Sections 3 and Sections 4 of the referenced IRR. 

use of the Senior Citizen privilege by a person not entitled to use the privilege is punishable by a fine of not less than P50,000 and (If I were a lawyer, I would tell you why they chose the word ‘and” here and not the word “or” … but in layman’s terms, it likely means you are going to jail) a prison  sentence of not less than six months.

Sounds like a pretty stiff penalty, to me, to try to save 20% on the purchase of a bucket of chicken.

However, as you’ve no doubt heard Ron Popeil say, “But wait, there’s more!”  The jail time and fines are in Section 3.  Section 4 is short and sweet, and applies to most of us reading this:

“If the offender is an alien or a foreigner, he/she shall be deported immediately  after service of sentence without further deportation proceedings”

So, now you know.  As a foreigner, or former Filipino you can not avail of the Senior Citizen Discount Program in the Philippines.  If for some reason you have a card already and you are not a Philippine Cit6izen?  Well, that, of course, is up to you … those 20% discounts that you are getting (at the benefit of the poor people of the Philippines, I might add … nothing comes for free in this world) may seem worth it to me.   But if I had a card, as a foreigner, I’d burn it … I can’t see how the promise of an occasional discount can be worth the very real risk of a substantial fine, a mandatory jail sentence and then deportation.

However, this is the Internet, so YMMV … but you can’t say Dave didn’t warn you.

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