DSWD
Department of Sociai Welfare and Devetopmeot
POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING BUREAU
10 December 2020
Atty. VICTORIO MARIO A. DIMAGIBA President, LABAN KONSYUMER, Inc. Email Addresses: and
Dear Atty. Dimagiba:
This refers to your letter sent to the Department of Social Welfare and Development forwarded to the Policy Development and Planning Bureau (PDPB) through the Program Management Bureau (PMB).
Regarding your concern on the non-grant of discounts to Senior Citizens and Persons with Disability (PWD), we provide you herewith our response:
1.—Asprovided forunder Republic-Act Noe9994-oN’TheExpandedSeniorCitizens Act of 2010,” the discount for the purchase of food and medicines is twenty percent (20%) and twelve percent (12%) value-added tax (VAT) exemption. A special discount of five percent (5%) is also granted to both Senior Citizens and PWD for purchases of basic and prime commodities stated in the Joint DA-DTIDOE Administrative Order (JAO) No. 17-02 on 17 February 2017, amending the two previous JAOs on this regard. The Senior Citizen’s ID issued by the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) has to be presented by the Senior Citizen upon purchase of medicines, food or basic/prime commodities.
- Similarly, a Person with Disability (PWD) is granted with a twenty percent (20%) discount and twelve percent (12%) VAT exemption on food purchases, as provided for under Republic Act (RA) No. 9442 or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons and for Other Purposes) and RA No. 10754 or the Act Expanding the Benefits and Privileges of Persons with Disability. This requires personal presence of the Senior Citizen or PWD for food purchases to avail of the discount as provided for in the corresponding Guidelines and a PWD ID issued by the city/municipal mayor or barangay captain of the place where the PWD resides must be presented upon purchase, similarly required from a Senior Citizen.
- If the Senior Citizen has both a Senior Citizen and PWD ID, only one ID will be honored, since double discount is not allowed.
- Based on your concern, online purchases of Senior Citizens and PWD are not granted with the discounts as provided for in related laws. As a requirement for availing the discounts on direct food orders through online or telephone, the Senior Citizen or PWD must inform the food establishment of their ID numbers and shall present the same upon delivery of the food ordered. Should there be no IDs presented upon delivery, the food establishment may refuse to grant the discount.
- For purchase of prime and basic commodities or medicines, the Senior Citizen or PWD must provide an authorization and their IDs to the representative or
authorized person who will make the purchase in behalf of the Senior Citizen or PWD.
- In the case of “food hailing” deliveries, the Senior Citizen or PWD can send an e-copy of their IDs to the “food service deliverers” and shown to food establishments upon purchase. However, only food orders for the exclusive consumption of a Senior Citizen or PWD shall be entitled to the discounts. Some food establishments honor an e-copy of the Senior Citizen or PWD IDs in granting discounts.
- In the above-mentioned practice, however, there is no guideline related thereto, thus, other food establishments cannot be forced to implement such. It can be recommended that other strategies or policies regarding the above cases must be formulated to adapt and be responsive to the “new normal” and current pandemic situation applicable to the Senior Citizens and PWDs.
Hoping that this response has helped clarify your concerns. And we are also pleased to inform your organization that the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) has been created and will function for the welfare and benefits of Senior Citizens.
Thank you.
Very truly yours,
JOSELI P. NIWANE
Concurr t Head and Assistant Secretary, Policy and Plans
Cc: 1. Dir. Wilma D. Naviamos
Director IV, Program Management Bureau
- Social Marketing Services
- Atty. Franklin M. Quijano
National Commission of Senior Citizens
4th Flr. DSWD Central Office, Quezon City
Note : sent by email on April 23, 2021