Senate OK's bill exempting senior citizens from VAT

The Senate has approved on second reading a bill seeking to exempt senior citizens from the 12-percent expanded value-added tax (VAT). Senator Pilar Juliana Cayetano, principal author of Senate Bill 3561 or the Expanded Senior Citizens’ Act, said the bill's approval was the chamber's Christmas gift to the elderly. In a statement, the lawmaker said the social justice committee, which she heads, had thought of alternatively increasing the discount that senior citizens get from purchases to 30 percent from 20 percent. Aside from the VAT exemption, the bill also orders the Health department to provide free vaccination against influenza and pneumonia to indigent senior citizen patients, and death benefits of P2,000 through the Social Welfare department. Meanwhile, indigent senior citizens will also be entitled to a monthly stipend worth P1,500. The bill also mandates the establishment of a senior citizen ward in every government hospital and the coverage of indigent senior citizens by the National Health Insurance Program or PhilHealth. The measure likewise calls on local governments to prioritize senior citizens for assistance in case of economic shocks, disasters and calamities. The House of Representatives has passed a similar measure and a bicameral conference committee will be convened to reconcile the two versions of the bill sessions resume in January. Cayetano said as the chamber moved to approve Senate Bill 3561, all senators present signified their support by co-authoring the measure, including two of its "most seasoned leaders" — Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Minority Leader Senator Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. —