Seniors’ discounts on grocery items

At one of our homeowners’ association meetings attended mostly by senior citizens, it was noted that the most discount the elderly are given every time they buy groceries at department stores is a little more than P60 only. That amount is roughly 20 percent of P300! So, regardless of the cost of the grocery items—be it P3,000 or P5,000—P60-plus is all the discount they get.

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that they buy groceries every week, i.e., four times a month, the most discount they can enjoy in a month is P240, based on the P1,200 monthly limit. This computation or formula, they are told, is in accordance with the guidelines drawn up by the Department of Agriculture. The department’s bright boys think a senior citizen can survive with a monthly grocery expense of only P1,200, hence, the total monthly discount he can avail himself of should be fixed at P240?! What a sick joke! It grossly adds insult to the miseries of old age.

Seriously, is there ever a penalty, administrative or criminal, for bureaucratic insensitivity or  sheer stupidity?

—JANNO MARKO MONTECRISTO,

jama.monte@yahoo.com.ph