Senior Citizen’s requirement in the Philippines is that you must be 60 years old and up before you could register with DSWD (Dept. of Social Welfare and Development ) as such. Being a senior citizen you can avail the benefits of having a 20% discount on your food, medicines, groceries, fare and recently even in the electric bills. You just have to present your senior citizen ID and purchase slip for groceries and medicines.
On one of my jeepney ride, it happened that one of my co-passengers is a senior citizen. She is talking to an acquaintance. They are concerned of a rumor that there is already a proposed bill to the senate stating a change of age bracket of senior citizen, from 60 to 70. On my co-passenger’s opinion, 70 years old is already too old and may not anymore avail the benefits, that it might just be a rumor. On the other hand, it might be true because senior citizens still occupies a certain percentage on the total population of the country and that the privileges given might have a high impact on the industry.Still, a 70 year old Filipino is already too old to purchase some groceries,to buy some medicines or to even ride on a public utility like jeepney to be able to enjoy the 20% discount. Hope this is still a rumor so that mostly of the elderly would be benefited.
