Eleven days ago, President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act 10645 amending RA 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens’ Act of 2010. The Philippines is now a country that gives health insurance to its citizens who are 60 years old and above, “regardless of social or economic status”. Senate Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto, main author of the measure, has assured that all they need to do is to show an identification card to ascertain senior citizenship, and the hospital shall grant them hospital benefits of a full-fledged Philhealth member. “The ideal is that the minute they blow out the candles on their 60th birthday cake to the moment they breathe their last – they should be PhilHealth members,” Recto said in his sponsorship speech.
You have not experienced “a flurry of hands” until you have dined with “The Senior Citizen Card Holder”, whom we shall call SCCH. The SCCH is usually mild-mannered and laid back, for they have overcome the rat race and now have the luxury and privilege of time. You listen to interesting topics of conversation about current events (they are remarkably updated, from the Ebola virus, the ISIS attacks and to George Clooney’s wedding), and parry questions about the state of your own life. Things are slow and languorous until… the bill arrives. You almost have to duck to avoid paper cuts. The SCCH and the other quick-handed friends have the cards on the table in seconds. The hapless server collects the cards after counting the 1 to 1 correspondence of card to senior citizen. She returns and gingerly hands over the bill. The Card Holders have now transformed into eagle-eyed examiners, combing the bill for THE DISCOUNT! Once satisfied, the SCCH and the cohorts shall start deflating and revert back to their mild-mannered alter ego. All is well again.
Think about it. The Philippines cannot claim to be “predominantly Catholic” yet not take care of its 6.1 million senior citizens. We cannot claim to be “pro-life” if we do not revere the natural progression of aging. It is hardly “More Fun in the Philippines” if we leave out the generations who came before us. Senator Teofisto Guingona says it well: “It is high time that we give back to our country’s elders.
In our culture, the condition and situation of a person in his or her advanced age is the reflection of the character of his or her children. How we take care of our senior citizens is also a mirror of our character as a nation.” If we thoroughly implement this bill, it makes a statement that we are not only respectful, but we are also honest and efficient. In 2013, the PhilHealth reported P62 billion in premium contributions and P12.612 billion worth of subsidies from the national government. The Philhealth gave P55.559 billion in benefits payments last year.
If these figures are factual, it shows that the money that was contributed found its way back to the beneficiaries.
We are aspiring to be a country of persons who are respectful, honest and efficient. We can also add “obedient” to that list. In the book of Leviticus, there are specific and clear instructions on how to live and how to prosper. The instructions of Leviticus emphasize ritual, moral and legal practices rather than beliefs. In Leviticus 19:32, it says, “Stand up in the presence of the aged and show respect for the old; thus shall you fear your God.” Nowadays, we stand up to applaud celebrities or to greet influential persons who have entered into our hemisphere. It is only right and just to stand up for those who have redefined our present times. We are the generation who stand up for their rights.
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter. (Francis Chan)
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