Quezon City council wants mineral supplements on seniors’ discount list

The Quezon City council is asking members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to include food and mineral supplements among the items covered by the 20-percent discount given to the elderly.

During Monday’s regular session, the council passed a resolution requesting Congress to amend the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, which currently excludes food and mineral supplements from the list.

Introduced by neophyte Councilor Karl Edgar Castelo, the resolution noted: “Although medicines are covered under the law, food and mineral supplements are not covered notwithstanding the fact that these supplements are very important for the dietary needs and appetite of senior citizens in order to maintain their good health.

“In order to make food and mineral supplementary products more affordable to senior citizens, there is a need to amend the senior citizen law (and) grant them a 20-percent discount (on these items),” it added.

According to data from the Quezon City Office for Senior Citizens Affairs, there are currently 332,358 elderly residents in the city, accounting for just over 10 percent of the total city population of 3.1 million.