Expanded discount for senior citizens approved

by Moises Cruz ManilaTimes.net

THE House Special Committee on Senior Citizens has approved bills that will expand the provision of a 20 percent discount and exemption from value-added tax to senior citizens to include medicines, dietary supplements, vitamins, herbal products and formulated milk that have been properly prescribed or recommended by physicians.

House Bills 362 and 5425, authored by OFW party-list Rep. Marissa Magsino and Manila First District Rep. Ernesto Dionisio Jr., respectively, were approved by the House committee and will be consolidated.

Magsino welcomed the committee's decision and said that her bill will benefit many senior citizens who are forced to fend for themselves with their little life savings and pensions, which are largely used for personal expenses and medical needs, and the most disadvantaged have become street dwellers, begging for a living.

She said that the Constitution requires both the family and the government to care for elderly members through social programs.

In response to this constitutional directive, Congress passed Republic Act 7432, or the "Senior Citizens Act," which was later revised by RA 9257 and RA 9994, or the "Expanded Senior Citizens Acts of 2003 and 2010," respectively.

Senior citizens are offered a 20 percent discount on certain products and services, such as medicines, as well as a 12 percent value-added tax exemption under this succession of laws.

Yet, these laws failed to

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, who sits as president of the opposition Liberal Party, initially called for the suspension of the plenary proceedings. But he was opposed by his collagues, mostly from the administration bloc.

Rep. Lorenz Defensor of Iloilo also introduced amendments to the measure, removing the name of lawyer Alex Lacson from a group following his nonmembership and moved for the insertion of an important provision. Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who chairs the House committee on constitutional amendments and sponsor of the measure, accepted Defensor’s insertion of economic amendments to the Constitution.

“That is our purpose: to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the Charter,” Rodriguez said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said attempts to amend the Constitution would only distract the country from addressing urgent problems such as poverty and corruption.

“We should do away with this long-standing tale of makebelieve that Charter change will solve all our problems. That is not needed now,” Hontiveros said partly in Filipino. She said the government and the people must face the reality that inflation, poverty and corruption are the pressing issues that need to be addressed with aggressive political will and focus.

The senator asked why there appears to be “a sense of urgency on Charter change when it is not among the issues felt by the people.”

“Filipinos are experiencing hardship, but Cha-cha is being prioritized when it cannot be eaten,” Hontiveros said.

“Putting Cha-cha front and center is just another major distraction and will only sideline urgent issues. The economy is worsening and the agricultural sector is laden with so much scandal. Redirecting large amounts of our limited resources to Charter change at this time will just do more damage,” she added.

She said she was glad that President Marcos has explicitly stated that amending the Constitution was not his priority.

The president’s allies in Congress should take heed, Hontiveros said.

Sen. Nancy Binay said she respects the prerogative of Sen. Robinhood Padilla, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, to push for Cha-cha.

Binay said if Padilla favors the easing of the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution, the landmark amendments to the Public Service Act, Foreign Investment Act and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act are sufficient to attract investments.

She said more effort should be put into improving and releasing the implementing rules and regulations of these laws instead “in the face of the many crises confronting us.”

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said Filipinos are “too preoccupied with daily living struggles” to give a thought to Cha-cha.

“Although we need constitutional changes to improve our system of government, this can wait as we should address first the basic daily living problems: where to get food to feed the family, the continued increase in prices, where to get a job, corruption, the high cost of living and even of dying, and many more basic problems,” Pimentel said.

Sen. Sonny Angara said he was open to amending the Constitution, but he was concerned over the proposal of the House of Representatives to do it through constitutional convention (con-con), whose members are to be elected.

He said the con-con is the most expensive and the most tedious mode of Charter change, adding the proposed P10,000 per day pay of each delegate was excessive. Padilla said while he is heartened over the efforts in the House to amend the Constitution, he appealed anew to them to prioritize amending the economic provisions.

Several groups in the House of Representatives, led by the Party-list Coalition Foundation Inc., have rejected Padilla’s call to abolish the party-list system.

Rep. France Castro of ACT Teachers acknowledged flaws in the Party-List System Law, but said the marginalized sector still needs representation.

“The party-list system should not be abolished. The law should be amended to ensure that only party-list groups from the marginalized sector are the ones who get registered and elected,” Castro said. (With reports from Paolo Romero) provide for a definition of the term "medicines, which would identify specifics of their coverage, thus allowing many business establishments the leeway to determine which types of medicines are subject to the discount, and in many instances deny the grant of the privilege," Magsino said during her sponsorship speech.

"Moreover, the present laws do not include supplements and vitamins, formulated milk and other similar products that have proven important, especially during the pandemic, in maintaining the well-being of senior citizens," she added.

House Bill 362 proposes defining "medicines" as drugs, both prescription and nonprescription, generic and branded, duly prescribed by physicians and approved by the Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, to be used in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of illness.

The bill intends to include dietary supplements, herbal products and formulated milk that have been officially prescribed by physicians, approved by the DoH and utilized in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease.

"The amount of care that a society extends to its elderly members is a measure of the humaneness that particular society possesses. We Filipinos are known for our culture of cherishing and personally taking care of our elderly. Let us keep that distinction and pride alive," Magsino

Developing the maritime industry

WITH 7,641 islands and one of the world’s most extensive coastlines, the Philippines should have a robust maritime industry. Instead the country has an abundance of deadly maritime accidents even in fine weather and a domestic shipbuilding industry that is so underdeveloped it cannot even produce enough vessels for the coast guard and navy.

The Philippines is the world’s largest source of commercial seafarers, but their jobs are currently threatened by the failure of local maritime schools to meet international standards on training and accreditation.

Editorial

On Tuesday, February 28 President Marcos vowed to make the maritime industry “once again a top priority.” But the industry has never really enjoyed top priority in any administration. And the ills plaguing the industry are symptomatic of the problems hobbling national development. Philippine education in general is in crisis.

Developing a robust domestic shipbuilding, repair and maintenance industry requires strong competencies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM, which are the weakest areas for the average Filipino student. The country also lacks the innovation ecosystem that is indispensable in designing ships for both commercial and defense purposes.

A strong maritime patrol capability could have enabled the country to uphold its sovereignty

Commentary

Moira G. GallaGa

THE recent incident at sea between the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Chinese Coast Guard, when the latter used military grade lasers against the PCG and its crew amid reports of continued harassment of Filipino fishermen within our territorial waters, once again highlights the threat posed by China to Philippine interest, sovereignty, and territory in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

While the incident involving lasers may be a first, the harassment and shadowing of Filipino fishermen and the PCG are a constant reality. While our country pursues constructive

Commentary

Dr. Dante a anG

FIRST, the context. The Marcos family has a long history of friendship with China. Hate her or love her, former first lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos made history when she traveled to China in 1978 and met with the late Mao Zedong that led to the declaration of our country's support for the One China policy by the late President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos in 1979.

The Marcoses and the Chinese

The Marcoses have fond memories of the Chinese. All these years, they have maintained friendly relations and are respectful of Chinese leaders, past and present. After the defeat of Bongbong Marcos in the vice presidential race to Leni Robredo in 2019, it was his FilipinoChinese friends who stood by him during his hour of agony when everybody else shunned him.

The Marcoses and the Americans Marcos Jr. is no stranger to realpolitik and the dangers small and weak countries face against the designs of the more powerful country like the United States. He and his family had a taste of it during the EDSA revolution in 1986, when the Americans helped the coup plotters topple his father. And instead of bringing them to Paoay as originally agreed, hijacked them instead to Hawaii.

But that's only the tip of the "ice cream" as former president Erap Estrada would hilariously put it. The Americans, to gain favor from

– as affirmed by an international arbitration court – over disputed areas in the South China Sea. Instead the country continues to rely on allies for protecting its maritime entitlements and has yet to fully achieve credible defense capability.

Addressing the Philippine Maritime Industry Summit 2023 on Tuesday, President Marcos committed to support aspirations for developing a domestic maritime industry “that will be looked upon with admiration by the region and the rest of the world.”

This includes full support for the Maritime Industry Development Plan 2028, which covers priority programs to expand and promote an environmentally sustainable industry, adopt an efficient system of maritime governance, enhance maritime transport security, innovate and digitalize the industry, promote a competitive workforce and develop shipbuilding and repair.

Those are ambitious goals, but with political will and full government support, they should not prove impossible to achieve within six years. (Philstar.com)