House bill seeks 'junior citizens' discount for persons 12 years old and below

If senior citizens are afforded benefits and privileges, a member of the House of Representatives believes that "junior citizens" or those zero to 12 years old should also be entitled to the same.

Camarines Sur Representative LRay Villafuerte has filed House Bill 8312 or the Junior Citizens Act to ensure government support for young Filipinos “especially during their formative years in order for them to grow up into fully-equipped adult citizens.”

According to Villafuerte, healthcare for children is “stuck on the first 1,000 days of the child.”

Among the benefits proposed for junior citizens are 20% discount and exemption from value-added tax (VAT) in the purchase of medicines, purchase of milk supplements for those aged four to 12 years, professional fees of doctors and home healthcare service providers, medical and dental services, admission fees in places of leisure and amusement, and funeral and burial services.

Villafuerte said only junior citizens whose family’s annual income does not exceed P250,000 are covered.

Under his proposed legislation, a junior citizen shall be issued a Junior Citizen ID and a booklet.

Villafuerte also proposed that all junior citizens be covered by PhilHealth until they turn 12 years old, regardless of their family’s income.

Any person or establishment who refuses to grant a junior citizen his or her privileges will be fined P50,000 to P100,000 for the first violation.

A bigger fine of P100,000 to P200,000 and imprisonment or 2 to 6 years may be imposed on subsequent violations, according to the bill. —KBK, GMA Integrated News