Senioritos and Senioritas Perks

My mother is a member of the Senorito and Senorita Class in Makati (referring to Senior citizens).  Every year, they are getting allowance from the City Government of Makati and a birthday cake, too.  Our senior citizens are also enjoying free spa, free movies, participation in recreational and cultural activities for free like ballroom dancing, opera watching, among others.   The local government has been providing free medicines and hospitalization to its bona fide senior citizens even prior to enactment of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act. These are only premium to Makati’s senorito and senoritas aside from enjoying 20% discount in primary commodities, medicine and restaurants.

Under RA 9994, otherwise known as the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010”, rights and privileges of senior citizens all over the country now include:

1.    Twenty percent (20%) discount and exemption from the Value-Added Tax (VAT), if applicable, on the sale of the following goods and services from all establishments, for the exclusive use and enjoyment or availment of the senior citizen:

a.    Purchase of medicines, including the purchase of influenza and pnuemococcal vaccines, and such other essential medical supplies, accessories and equipment to be determined by the Department of Health (DOH);

b.   On the professional fees of attending physician/s in all private hospitals, medical facilities, outpatient clinics and home health care services;

c.    On the professional fees of licensed professional health providing home health care services as endorsed by private hospitals or employed through home health care employment agencies;

d.   On medical and dental services, diagnostic and laboratory fees in all private hospitals, medical facilities, outpatient clinics, and home health care services;

e.    In actual fare for land transportation travel in public utility buses (PUBs), public utility jeepneys (PUJs), taxis, Asian utility vehicles (AUVs), shuttle services and public railways, including Light Rail Transit (LRT), Mass Rail Transit (MRT), and Philippine National Railways (PNR);

f.     In actual transportation fare for domestic air transport services and sea shipping vessels and the like, based on the actual fare and advanced booking;

g.   On the utilization of services in hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants and recreation centers;

h.    On admission fees charged by theaters, cinema houses and concert halls, circuses, leisure and amusement; and

i.     On funeral and burial services for the death of senior citizens;

2.    Exemption from the payment of individual income taxes of senior citizens who are considered to be minimum wage earners in accordance with Republic Act No. 9504;

3.     Five percent (5%) discount relative to the monthly utilization of water and electricity supplied by the public utilities. (Provided, 1. That the individual meters for the foregoing utilities are registered in the name of the senior citizen residing therein; 2. the monthly consumption does not exceed one hundred kilowatt hours (100 kWh) of electricity and thirty cubic meters (30 m3) of water) This privilege is granted per household regardless of the number of senior citizens residing therein;

4.    Exemption from training fees for socioeconomic programs;

5.    Free medical and dental services, diagnostic and laboratory fees such as, but not limited to, x-rays, computerized tomography scans and blood tests, in all government facilities, subject to the guidelines to be issued by the DOH in coordination with the PhilHealth;

6.    The DOH shall administer free vaccination against the influenza virus and pneumococcal disease for indigent senior citizen patients;

7.    Educational assistance to senior citizens to pursue pot secondary, tertiary, post tertiary, vocational and technical education, as well as short-term courses for retooling in both public and private schools through provision of scholarships, grants, financial aids, subsides and other incentives to qualified senior citizens, including support for books, learning materials, and uniform allowances, to the extent feasible. (The senior citizen shall meet minimum admission requirements);

8.    The continuance of the same benefits and privileges given by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Social Security System (SSS) and the PAG-IBIG, as the case may be, as are enjoyed by those in actual service;

9.    Retirement benefits of retirees from both the government and the private sector shall be regularly reviewed to ensure their continuing responsiveness and sustainability, and to the extent practicable and feasible, shall be upgraded to be at par with the current scale enjoyed by those in actual service;

10.  Grant of special discounts in special programs for senior citizens on purchase of basic commodities, subject to the guidelines to be issued for the purpose by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA);

11.    Provision of express lanes for senior citizens in all commercial and government establishments, in the absence thereof, priority shall be given to them; and

12.    Death benefit assistance of a minimum of Two thousand pesos (Php2, 000.00) shall be given to the nearest surviving relative of a deceased senior citizen which amount shall be subject to adjustments due to inflation in accordance with the guidelines to be issued by the DSWD.

To avail the foregoing privileges, the Senior Citizen or his/her duly authorized representative, may submit as proof of his/her entitlement, any of the following:

a.   Senior Citizen Identification Card issued by the Office of the Senior Citizen Affairs (OSCA) of the place where the senior citizen resides (which shall be honored nationwide);

b.   The passport of the senior citizen concerned;

c.    Other documents that will establish that the senior citizen is a citizen of the Republic and is at least sixty (60) years of age.

Aside from those mentioned, priority in service and parking spaces in establishments are also given to senior citizens.

Excerpt Quotes from Philippine Jurisprudence

“If the two eventually fell in love, despite the disparity in their ages and academic levels, this only lends substance to the truism that the heart has reasons of its own which reason does not know.”

(Chua Qua vs. Clave, G.R. No. 45949, August 30, 1990)

“….there can be no love where respect is gone.”

(People vs. Rivera, G.R. No. 130607.  November 17, 1999)

“… sorrow is sometimes a touchstone of love.”

(Libi vs. IAC, G.R. No. 70890. September 18, 1992.]

“… love is not a license for lust.” 

(People vs. Olesco, G.R. No. 174861, April 11, 2011)

 “Love happens to everyone. It is dubbed to be boundless as it goes beyond the expectations people tagged with it. In love, “age does matter.” People love in order to be secure that one will share his/her life with another and that he/she will not die alone. Individuals who are in love had the power to let love grow or let love die – it is a choice one had to face when love is not the love he/she expected.” (Padilla-Rumbaua v. Rumbaua, G.R. No. 166738, August 14, 2009)

“Every man has a right to build, keep and be favored with a good name.”
(Brillante vs. CA, G.R. No. 118757 and 121571, October 19, 2004)

“Liberty is a right that inheres in every one of us as a member of the human family. When a person is deprived of his right, all of us are diminished and debased for liberty is total and indivisible.”

(Ordonez v. Director of Prisons, G.R. No. 115576, August 4 1994)

 “One unavoidable consequence of everyone having the freedom to choose is that others may make different choices – choices we would not make for ourselves, choices we may disapprove of, even choices that may shock or offend or anger us.  However, choices are not to be legally prohibited merely because they are different, and the right to disagree and debate about important questions of public policy is a core value protected by our Bill of Rights.  Indeed, our democracy is built on genuine recognition of, and respect for, diversity and difference in opinion. “

(ANG LADLAD LGBT Party vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 190582. April 8, 2010)

 “…… man stands accountable to an authority higher than the State.” (Estrada vs Escritor, A.M. No. P-02-1651.  August 4, 2003)

“….the real essence of justice does not emanate from quibblings over patchwork legal technicality.  It proceeds from the spirit's gut consciousness of the dynamic role of law as a brick in the ultimate development of the social edifice."

 (Obosa vs. People of the Philippines, G.R. No. 114350.  January 16, 1997.)

“The Court, like all well-meaning persons, has no desire to dash romantic fancies, yet in the exercise of its duty, is all too willing when necessary to raise the wall that tears Pyramus and Thisbe asunder.“ (Concerned Employee vs. Glenda Espiritu Mayor, AM No. P-02-1564, 23, November 2004)

 “The nuptial vows which solemnly intone the matrimonial promise of love ‘(f)or better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part,’ are sometimes easier said than done, for many a marital union figuratively ends on the reefs of matrimonial shoals.

(People of the Philippines vs. Ruben Takbobo, GR No. 102984, 30 June 1993)

The silence often of pure innocence persuades when speaking fails. (People of the Phil. vs. Romy L. Fallones, G.R. No. 190341, March 16, 2011)

“Citizenship is a treasured right conferred on those whom the state believes are deserving of the privilege.  It is a “precious heritage, as well as an inestimable acquisition,” that cannot be taken lightly by anyone - either by those who enjoy it or by those who dispute it.” (Tecson vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 161434.  March 3, 2004).

“The autonomy and importance of family should not be privileged over the privacy and autonomy of a person. Marriage is not bondage that subordinates the humanity of each spouse. No person should be deemed to concede her or his privacy rights and autonomy upon getting married.”

(Imbong vs. Ochoa, G.R. No. 204819,    April 8, 2014)

“ Law has also been defined as “something men create in their best moments to protect themselves in their worst moments.”  Even then, laws are subject to amendment or repeal just as judicial pronouncements are subject to modification and reversal to better reflect the public morals of a society at a given time.  After all, “the life of the law... has been experience….”

(Estrada vs Escritor, A.M. No. P-02-1651.  August 4, 2003)

The Value of Time

I was looking for a relevant jurisprudence about TIME when I was lead to a separate dissenting opinion, which reminds me that time gone will never come back, just like love ones who left and will never be with us again because of death or someone who left because of choice of different journey with us.  They may be gone but we are still having our time for our own journey to continue and make the most out of it.  An excerpt from said opinion:

“… The world in which people live has two great dimensions: the dimension of space and the dimension of time. Nobody can say that the difference in time between two acts or events makes for a superficial difference. Such difference is the substance of human existence.  As the Bible says:

There is an appointed time for everything and

A time for every affair under the heavens.

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to tear down, and a time to build.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to scatter stones, and 

A time to gather them;

A time to embrace, and a time to be far from  embraces.

A time to seek, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew;

A time to be silent and a time to speak.

A time to love, and a time to hate;

A time of war, and a time of peace.

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, New American Bible)

Recognizing the irreversibility of time is indispensable to every sound decision that people make in their lives everyday, like not combing the hair that is no longer there. In time, parents let their married children leave to make their own homes. Also, when a loved one passes away, he who is left must know that he cannot bring back the time that is gone. He is wise to move on with his life after some period of mourning. To deny the truth that the difference in time makes for substantial difference in human lives is to deny the idea of transition from growth to decay, from life to death, and from relevant to irrelevant.

(Separate Dissenting Opinion of J. Abad, G.R. No. 192935 and G.R. No. 193036, December 7, 2010)

*Underscoring is mine.