Press Release
December 23, 2009

Pia: E-VAT exemption for senior citizens is
Senate's Christmas gift to the elderly

A proposed measure that seeks to exempt senior citizens from the 12-percent expanded value-added tax (E-VAT) in their purchase of goods and services has been passed on second reading in the Senate and could be enacted into law next year.

Senate Bill 3561, the proposed "Expanded Senior Citizens' Act of 2009," was approved unanimously before Congress went on recess and could very well be regarded as the Upper Chamber's Christmas gift to the elderly, according to its principal author and sponsor, Senator Pia S. Cayetano.

The bill, which also grants additional benefits and privileges for senior citizens, will amend Republic Act 7342, or "An Act to maximize the contribution of senior citizens to nation building, grant benefits and special privileges and for other purposes."

A similar measure has been passed by the House of Representatives. A bicameral conference committee will be created to craft a common version of the measure when Congress resumes session in January.

"The options of the committee were narrowed down to two: first, increasing the current 20 percent senior citizens discount to 30 percent; and second, exempting senior citizens from the 12 percent E-VAT. In the end, the latter was chosen," said Cayetano, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development.

As the chamber moved to approve Senate Bill 3561, all senators present in plenary signified their support by co-authoring the measure, including two of its most seasoned leaders, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Minority Leader Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. Other co-authors are Senators Loren Legarda, Lito Lapid, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Edgardo Angara, Manny Villar, Antonio Trillanes IV, Mar Roxas, Bong Revilla Jr., Alan Peter Cayetano, Miguel Zubiri, Jinggoy Estrada and Jamby Madrigal.

Aside from E-VAT exemption, the bill also mandates the Department of Health (DOH) to provide free vaccination against influenza virus pneumococcal disease for indigent senior citizen patients, and a death benefit assistance of two thousand pesos (P2,000) through the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD).

Indigent senior citizens identified by the DSWD shall also be entitled to a monthly stipend amounting to one thousand five hundred (P1,500) to augment their daily subsistence and other medical needs. The bill also mandates the establishment of a "senior citizens ward" in every government hospital and the coverage of indigent senior citizens by the National Health Insurance Program of Philhealth.

The measure likewise calls on local government units to prioritize senior citizens for assistance in case of economic shocks, disasters and calamities, and to provide the, representation in the locality's Office for Senior Citizens Affairs. #

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