Senior citizens partylist backs unified Senior Citizens ID

Cong. Mila Magsaysay of the United Senior Citizens Partylist during a press conference in Cebu City on Tuesday, Feb. 25. | CDN Digital photo / Morexette Marie B. Erram

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The representative of a senior citizens partylist welcomes the proposal to have a unified ID for elderlies if it meant stopping fake ones from spreading.

Congresswoman Mila Magsaysay of the United Senior Citizens Partylist expressed her support for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) plan to provide senior citizens with only one ID.

“Kasi kung minsan hindi natin makokontrol baka naman may nag i-issue hindi naman actually yung OSCA pero yung mga opisina, baka nga may nagiissue na mga OSCA-card na fake. So mas maganda siguro kung unified na,” Magsaysay told reporters on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

READ: Mandaue: Senior citizens receive P5,000 financial aid

Fake senior citizen IDs

Recently, reports emerged about rampant fraudulent activities tied to the use of fake senior citizens IDs, prompting some restaurants and other establishments to refuse granting discounts.

Senior citizens are entitled discounts of up to 20 percent in services and selected purchases upon presenting their Senior Citizens ID.

READ: Lapu-Lapu City launches “Senior Citizen Friendly” stickers to ensure 20% discount compliance

The United Seniors Citizens group was in Cebu on Tuesday to kickoff their campaign in the Visayas.

Magsaysay was accompanied by her 2nd and 3rd nominees, lawyers Ted de Leon and Katrina Nepumuceno, respectively.

This was their first visit to Cebu, the country’s vote-rich province, as they start their campaign efforts in Central Visayas where over 700,000 elderlies, or adults age 60 years and above, reside, based on the latest census.

READ: Senior citizens org promotes ‘active lifestyle’ for elderlies

Universal Social Pension

Aside from meeting senior citizen federations here, Magsaysay and other partylist members are pushing for the passage of the Universal Social Pension.

The proposed law is currently under deliberation in the Senate.

If enacted, it will grant all senior citizens – not just indigents – a monthly pension of P1,000.

Currently, the Expanded Senior Citizens Act (Republic Act No. 7432), only grants non-indigents P500 as monthly pension.

The United Senior Citizens Partylist, if elected into the House of Representatives this May, also wanted to enact laws that seek to protect senior citizens against abuses and mandating every local government to have a geriatric center.