Poll lawyer says he’ll drop cases as restaurant owners say sorry

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal has expressed his readiness to drop the cases he filed against the owners of two restaurants that refused to give him and his wife a senior citizen’s discount.

Macalintal said on Sunday that he had accepted the apologies made by the restaurant owners as one of them even pledged to donate P20,000 to a home for the elderly.

“Eventually, the cases will be withdrawn,” the 66-year-old election lawyer said in a text message to the Inquirer.

On Thursday, Macalintal filed criminal complaints against the owners of Café Mediterranean in Resorts World Manila and Black Canyon Coffee at SM Southmall Las Piñas.

According to him, the restaurants’ personnel refused to give him and his wife a 20-percent discount and exemption from the value-added tax in violation of Republic Act No. 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010. This was after the couple both presented their driver’s license as proof of their age.

“Last Friday, I received a call from the owner of Café Mediterranean, Ms. Marla Moran, who sincerely apologized to me for the said incident, which transpired because she was not really aware of the existence of the provision of the law that even a driver’s license could be used as proof of being a senior citizen,” Macalintal said.

He added that Moran also agreed to his request that she donate at least P20,000 to any institution or charitable foundation looking after the welfare of the elderly.

This will be her company’s peace offering to all senior citizens whom they had unknowingly denied of their benefits in the past, he said.

Meanwhile, the owner of the other restaurant had also apologized to him, he added.

Macalintal also said that the incident “served as a wake-up call for the government’s concerned agencies and offices to ensure proper observance and compliance with the said law for the protection and interests of the senior citizens.”