January 14th, 2025
House Ways and Means Chair Joey Sarte Salceda (Albay, 2nd district) released the following statement on the Unnumbered Substitute Bill to House Bills No. 362, 989, 1702, 2089, 2090, 2099, 3326,3475, 3640, 4447, 5131, 5212, 5277, 5402, 5409, 5425, 7298, 7919, 8432, 8628, 8981 and 9131, entitled “AN ACT EXPANDING THE COVERAGE OF THE SENIOR CITIZENS PRIVILEGES AND BENEFITS, FURTHER AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7432, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “AN ACT TO MAXIMIZE THE CONTRIBUTION OF SENIOR CITIZENS TO NATION BUILDING, GRANT BENEFITS, AND SPECIAL PRIVILEGES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES,” which was approved by the House tax committee:
“Today, the House Committee on Ways and Means approved the unnumbered substitute bill to the comprehensive senior citizens benefit act. This is the culmination of months of work of the joint committees on Ways and Means, Senior Citizens, and Disability Affairs.”
“What the bill does is carve into the statutes the progress made by the joint committee, created at the direction of the Speaker.”
“I insisted that removal of the requirement of the booklet for availment of senior discounts be institutionalized in the proposed bill. That way, no future administrative issuance can take this progress away.”
“I also recommended a P2000 tollway discount for senior citizens who use expressways. The capped discount ensures that seniors are able to avail of the benefit while protecting it from abuse.”
“Other benefits include applying the senior discount on TNVs like Grab and Angkas and increasing the water and power utility discount from 5% to 15%, and on those consuming 200kWh rather than just 100kWh.”
“Online sales will also be subject to the 20% senior citizens discount.”
“Businesses will also be able to use the cost of VAT discounts as a deduction from gross income so that the cost of these discounts is shared between consumers and the government, rather than being merely passed on to consumers.”
“As a consensus bill backed by months’ worth of consultations, this should pass Congress even through the lameduck session, if it gets to that.”