THE probe ordered by House Speaker Martin Romualdez on the controversial signage put up by Starbucks limiting the 20 percent discount for senior citizens and persons with disability (PWDs) to just one drink and one food item per visit opened the floodgates for other violations being committed by other establishments against our elderlies.
Romualdez reportedly directed the inquiry after receiving numerous complaints, among them the viral signage put up by Starbucks in its branches.
While Starbucks Philippines Operations Manager Angela Cole has apologized during the hearing conducted by the House ways and means committee and said that “it was an error, our signage was not properly worded so we acknowledge our mistake, and we are really disappointed at the confusion that we have caused,” the panel chair, Albay Rep. Salceda said saying ‘sorry’ is not enough.
Salceda wanted Rustan’s Coffee Corp., the company that operates the coffee chain, to offer a buy-one-take-one promotion for senior citizens and PWDs or a free drink and croissant for a day, as an exemplary action to show repentance for the wrong done.
Well, the fact is that, according to Salceda himself, Starbucks committed a violation of the law.
The most exemplary thing to be done, is to enforce the law and make Starbucks face the penalties or punishment corresponding to the violation committed.
This way, it will serve as a lesson and a warning to all other establishments across the country that there is no room for any infraction of the law, regardless of status in life. This will teach establishment owners to take the law seriously.
Providing a free drink and bread for one day is just a slap on the wrist. It would also send a wrong signal that those who belong to the upper echelons of society are being favored or may violate the law and get away with it just like that.
Republic Act (RA) 9994, which grants additional benefits and privileges to seniors, calls for a 20 percent discount on transactions, as well as a 12 percent discount for dining at restaurants and cafés and purchase of goods and services imposed with value-added tax (VAT).
Under the said RA, any person who refuses to honor the senior citizen card may suffer a maximum penalty of imprisonment of up to six years and a fine of up to P200,000.
The violation may also result in the cancellation of the permits or franchises granted to the business entity and any person found to have abused such privilege may be imprisoned for as long as six months and fined up to P100,000.
Now, in relation to this, the law also punishes those who will take undue advantage of the said discounts by misrepresenting themselves as senior citizens when they are not. Will the violators, who are ordinary citizens, be also spared from the criminal liability, penalties and jailterm in exchange for, say, community service or issuing a mere apology???
Let’s say a small-time robber of a measly P200, had been convicted and thus faces an imprisonment of four years. If he would say sorry or offer to return what he stole, will he be cleared and set free?
This is the part where the popular saying, “the law applies to all” must be applied.
On the same topic, Senior Citizens Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes said he is preparing a bill to make senior discounts apply even to sales promotions, as he assailed the practice of many, if not all food establishments to make the senior citizens or PWDs choose between the discount and the promo.
His bill will seek to ban ‘purchase quotas’ and other similar rules that tend to “shrink the coverage of the discounts.”
A good example would be the case of Goldilocks chain which, according to Salceda, should also be investigated for limiting the use of the government-mandated 20 percent discount only to cake slices.
We all know that most senior citizens suffer from diabetes or high sugar and limiting the discount to a food item which the elderly avoid is just ridiculous.
I hope that the lawmakers would also look into the fact that supermarkets also limit the senior discount to P65 and that the elderly get no discount for food supplements.
National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) Chair Atty. Franklin Quijano encourages senior citizens who encounter problems in availing discounts to lodge a complaint before the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs so that an investigation may be carried out regarding their concerns.
As such, the NCSC must have – if it does not have – a hotline or other means where the complaints may be filed swiftly or hassle-free. We cannot expect the senior citizens or PWDs to go out of their way, spend transportation money and travel all the way to the NCSC just to file a complaint, can we?
It took a quick and concrete reaction from Romualdez, after receiving a personal complaint, for the abuses of establishments to come to light. His call on the House to look into the matter so as to ensure that the law granting discounts to senior citizens and PWDs are properly implemented is laudable.
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