Senior citizens reminded: Only OSCA IDs are honored for discounts

Amid reports that in claiming for discounts some senior citizens still insist on showing identification cards issued by associations, the Department of Social Welfare and Development reminded them that only ID cards from the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCAs) will be honored.

“Both Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 (or RA 9994) and its Implementing Rules and Regulations put a premium on OSCA-issued ID card by making it the primary documentary requirement for availing of the 20% discount from different establishments,” said Secretary Corazon Soliman in a news release on DSWD website last Wednesday.

The OSCA-issued ID cards will entitle senior citizens to the 20-percent discount privilege and other benefits from various establishments under RA 9994.

Also, Soliman said that while senior citizens associations can continue issuing to their members IDs, the cards “are only proofs of membership to those organizations.”

Senior citizens associations that issue their own ID cards to members include the Federation of Senior Citizens Associations of the Philippines (FSCAP) and their regional counterparts around the country (RSCAPs), Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP), Coalition of Associations of Senior Citizens, and the Association of Retired Postal Employees and Senior Citizens (ARPES).

Moreover, Soliman said, “No Filipino elderly should be forced to become a member of a senior citizens association if they don’t want to, nor should they be threatened that they cannot avail of senior citizens benefits without said membership.” — LBG, GMA News