By Farah G. Decano

 

A group of restaurant owners in Manila recently asked the government for assistance and relief from the dilemma that they are now confronted with. They complained that regular paying customers of their establishments are now the minority.  And that the majority are those who present senior citizens and persons with disability identification cards.

Without a doubt, these concerns are valid.  For how can businesses be profitable when more than half of their customers claim a whopping twenty percent discount? Although entrepreneurs can increase their prices by as much as the amount of discount, this coping may prove to be double-edged because higher tags will drive down the demand for products and services offered.  This is basic economics. If they wish to stay competitive, the affected restaurateurs mentioned above must keep their prices reasonable and affordable.

Hence, their dilemma.

Perhaps, the Department of Social Welfare should require its local offices to review all IDs issued from 2016 onwards.  Why that year?  Because this was the year when there was an influx of mainland Chinese to the Philippines.   Suddenly non-English/non-Filipino speaking Chinese seniors and Chinese PWDs were armed with Philippine discount IDs.  And they were everywhere.

There is a growing public discomfort about the issuance of persons with disability IDs, especially when the alleged debility is psycho-social.   Unlike blindness or lameness, this condition is not readily seen or observable a.k.a. non-apparent.  Psycho-social as a disability encompasses many conditions   – from psychosis to neurosis, including those with less desirable  IQs.  We do not use the terms moron, imbecile, and idiot, anymore because of they have become derogatory. We now say intellectually disabled – either mild or severe.  Since many of those afflicted with these psychosocial challenges are able-bodied, the public is enraged about the possibility of fraudulent issuances.

A colleague from the L-NU College of Law narrated to me her recent experience.  She lined up in a drugstore to purchase medicines when a young woman, probably in her early twenties, jumped the line and sashayed to the counter.  The people called her attention but she merely brandished her PWD ID and turned around like a beauty queen.   Was she merely being an entitled brat whose ID she secured via palakasan or with the use of grease money?  Or was her arrogant behaviour a manifestation of a psycho-social condition?

I guess, the Senior Citizen’s Act and Persons with Disability Law should be revisited.  Our legislators, when using their presumed wisdom, must be able to provide a good rational to those who question the implementation of such laws.

Do we grant the senior citizen a discount as a manifestation of our nation’s gratitude for their contribution to the growth of our country?  Or do we consider age as a disability at a certain point so that discounts are there to compensate?

Under the later versions of the senior discounts law, it seems that the discount is our way to show our appreciation to our seniors for their hard work during the prime of their lives. Hence, by merely being a 60-year-old, one can obtain the much-coveted discount ID.

The discount for persons with disability, however, takes a different form. It is not a token of gratitude. It is rather a tool to equalize the playing field for those who are at a disadvantage.

The same professor suggested that if the person with disability can earn a living, and, in fact, is earning well, then their infirmities do not pose much of a challenge at all.  There is no need, thus, for the government to level the circumstances for these cardholders.  Hence, when applicants seek in their favor a person with disability ID, they should not only present doctors’ recommendations.  They should also be required by law to present their income tax return.

She has a point.

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