20% RFID discount for elderly, PWDs sought
DEPUTY Speaker and Buhay Hayaang Yumabong (BUHAY) party-list Rep. Lito Atienza has filed two bills that would grant 20% discount to senior citizens (SCs) and persons with disability (PWDs) on skyways and expressways whose toll fees are paid through the radio frequency identification devices (RFID) or similar systems provided the vehicle is registered in their names.
For SCs, House Bill (HB) 9644 requires them to present and submit any government-issued identification card (ID) showing their date of birth and, for PWDs, HB 9643 requires them to present and submit a copy of their PWD ID to the toll operator when applying for or buying RFID loads. Both bills were electronically filed with the House of Representatives on June 24, 2021.
The bills mandate the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), Philippine National Railways (PNR), Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to issue corresponding circulars or directives to the public land transport sector for the implementation of the rules to ensure compliance therewith, as well as requirements for these operators to disseminate information to SCs and PWDs by posters, handbills or pamphlets.
In his explanatory note, Atienza said that his “attention was called by an article written by Atty. Romulo B. Macalintal, a known advocate for the rights of senior citizens (SCs) and persons with disability (PWDs), published in two newspapers in December 2020 where Macalintal lamented how “Congress abandoned our elderly and PWDs” when Congress amended Republic Act No. 9257 (Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003) and Republic Act No. 9442 (An Act Amending Republic Act No. 7277, otherwise Known As The “Magna Carta For Disabled Persons”), which removed their RFID privileges by the mere deletion of the word “skyways” from the said amended laws.”
“Indeed, a review of these laws clearly showed that what otherwise would have been granted to our SCs and PWDs as part of their benefits were denied of them”, Atienza emphasized.
Atienza added that “as pointed out by Macalintal, it will not be difficult to apply the 20-percent RFID discount. For a load of, say, P1,000, a PWD or SC may pay P800 only, or the P200 discount could be added to his or her RFID card, giving her or him a total load of P1,200 for a P1,000 RFID load purchase.”
In his bills, Atienza recommended that they be certified as urgent by President Duterte to expedite its passage and implementation.
For his part, Macalintal expressed his thanks and gratitude to Atienza for taking up the cudgels for SCs and PWDs to enjoy this much needed privilege which will surely redound to their benefits, especially at this time of the pandemic,” Macalintal said.
Macalintal added that “we hope that President Duterte would certify these bills as urgent considering that the SCs and PWDs were denied of these benefits and privileges when the laws, which would otherwise extend to them such benefits, were amended to their damage and prejudice. Now is the time to rectify such wrong committed against our SCs and PWDs.”
Macalintal explained “that both RA 9257 of 2004 for SCs and RA 9442 of 2007 for PWDs granted 20% discount to SCs and PWDs respectively when said laws provided for toll discounts on “skyways”. But when RA 9257 was amended by RA 9994 in 2010 and when RA 9442 was amended by RA 10754 in 2016, the word “skyways” was deleted from the land transportation list to which SCs and PWDs would have been entitled to a 20% discount.”
“When I brought the issue of RFID discount before the TRB, the latter said that it was the opinion of the Department of Justice, that the said amendatory laws show that ‘the legislative intent appears to limit the coverage of 20% discount on actual fares for land transportation and travel, excluding toll fees in skyways and expressways’ as if travelling through skyways is not a form of land transportation,” Macalintal lamented.
“Thus, Atienza’s bills are the answers to the SCs and PWDs’ sad situation since these bills did not only restore the word “skyways” in the bills but make it very clear that the 20% discount for SCS and PWDs shall apply to “skyways and expressways whose toll fees are paid through the radio frequency identification devices (RFID) or similar systems,” Macalintal said.
