PORT MOODY, CANADA —One perk for being a senior in the Philippines is a 5 percent discount (to as high as 20 percent for restaurant food) for buying certain commodities.
I had a little tiff with this privilege on the seniors’ discount when I bought thousands worth of chocolates, confectionaries, native snacks, and a few other household items. I wasn’t given any discount, although I presented my ID card (showing my senior’s age) to the cashier at Robinson’s
The two store managers explained to me that only certain grocery items were eligible for a 5 percent seniors’ discount, and that allegedly, I didn’t buy any of the items eligible for discounts based on the list issued by the Department of Trade & Industry.
I showed my disbelief to the store managers who gave me a copy of the DTI list. To verify it, I hurried back to the grocery sections, and randomly grabbed items listed as eligible for discounts, and a few that I purposely picked because they were not on that DTI list. It was my unscientific (but effective) probe.
Basic Necessities and Prime Commodities that should be discounted according to DTI.
- Five percent discount on the purchase of the following necessities:
All variants of rice; Corn; All kinds of bread (pastries and cakes not included); Fresh, dried, and canned fish and other marine products (including frozen and in various modes of packaging); Fresh pork, beef, and poultry meat; All kinds of fresh eggs (excluding quail eggs); Potable water in bottles and containers; Fresh and processed milk (excluding milk labeled as a food supplement); Fresh vegetables, including root crops; Fresh fruits; Locally- manufactured instant noodles; Coffee and creamer; All kinds of sugar (excluding artificial sweetener); Salt; All kinds of cooking oil; Powdered, liquid, bar laundry, and detergent soap; Firewood, charcoal, all kinds of candles; LPG of not more than 11 kgs, LPG content once every five months bought from LPG dealers; Kerosene of not more than two liters per month.
- Five percent discount on the purchase of the following prime commodities:
Flour; Dried, processed, and canned pork, beef, and poultry meat; Dairy products; Onions and garlic; Vinegar, patis, and soy sauce; Toilet/bath and soap; Fertilizer, Pesticides, Herbicides; Poultry feeds, livestock feeds, and fishery feeds; Veterinary products; Paper, school supplies; Nipa shingles; Sawali; Cement, Clinker, GI Sheets; Hollow blocks; Plywood, plyboard, construction nails; Batteries (excluding for cell phone and automotive); Electrical supplies and light bulbs; Steel wires.
It turned out that the Robinson’s till automatically discounted only the DTI-listed items. And only if they were not on sale.
I didn’t get a 5 percent discount off the dishwashing soap I purposely bought, because it was already on a buy-one-get-two sale. No double dipping allowed.
I suppose this is one clever loophole in the seniors’ discount program in favor of commercial establishments.
The DTI list is an exclusive/inclusive list, it seemed. What’s not on the list won’t get a 5 percent discount.
But for goodness sake, what government agency can completely list all the items that are direly and essentially needed (not merely wanted) by senior citizens, especially the poor ones?
And if one reads the DTI list, it’s far from complete in terms of “basic” commodities or “necessities” that Filipinos actually truly need. So, obviously, not the DTI. Neither could the Robinson’s.
In all fairness, I must say the two store managers of Robinson’s (Ms. Orillana and Ms. Rombines) were very patient with me. I felt they were honestly trying to help me, and informed me on the seniors’ discount program, instead of simply dismissing my complaint to avoid the supermarket from losing some 5% on part of my purchases.
In turn, in my appreciation, I promised them I would write a nice letter to the Robinson’s management for the two managers’ professionalism. (As it turned out, Ms. Orillana is a niece of my high school classmate, one of my very close friends at St. Joseph’s. I’m proud of my dear classmate’s niece.)
Another loophole in the 5% seniors’ discount program: the seniors actually have to ask for the discount, instead of merely getting an automatic discount.
I have been told not a few times that I don’t look my age, and so may not be considered a senior by many people’s standards, and so I have to jump hoops to allegedly earn my 5 percent senior’s discount.
And some people, on the other hand, obviously look their senior age (white hair, wrinkled face, missing teeth, hunched by time and gravity, all those outward signs of aging), yet still have to produce their senior’s card and a booklet that imprints their weekly purchases of specific items.
Such bureaucratic red tape! Very time-consuming, too, when everyone’s in a hurry. (Then again, you can say that at the least, the Philippine government is trying to help our seniors, isn’t it?)
The seniors’ pension does not go a long way in paying for all that the senior needs. Worse, what percentage of the Filipino seniors actually have the luxury of a pension?
And what is a 5% discount? A starvation rate or an existence rate? Further, the total amount of purchase of necessities eligible for discounts per calendar week is pegged at ₱1,300. Can one truly live comfortably on that amount? (Do seniors necessarily eat less? Or did the country’s legislators decide that seniors would have to need less to survive?) I’m sure seniors are compelled to live within their means.
We need to remember that throughout the prime of their lives, our seniors now were once the life force of the Philippine industry, of the Philippine economy, and of the Philippine society as a whole.
Why doesn’t government at least reward our seniors for their past contributions to the country — with a whopping 5 percent senior’s discounts? Well, I suppose 5 percent is much better than 0.0 percent, as in nada, zilch, wa dyud tabang tawon….
Hmmm, it really seems more fun in the Philippines — especially when one is in his golden years….
Sansen Lee Vendiola
