DSWD backs scrapping

ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo, a former DSWD secretary, and Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo have moved to drop the purchase booklet based on the preliminary findings of their legislative investigation earlier this week.

DSWD Secretary Rexlon Gatchalian said the department will communicate with the Department of Health (DoH) and other relevant agencies to begin the process of abolishing the booklet.

Gatchalian has asked the agency’s Program Management Bureau (PMB) to research and provide recommendations on the purchase booklet.

The bureau proposed that the booklet be replaced by digital purchase records for senior citizens who tend “to forget to bring their booklets and even read their contents.”

“With the fast-paced technology and innovations, it is recommended to adopt an established system for monitoring, storing, and reporting data towards an efficient, consistent, and uniform implementation of the law and provisions for the availment of medicines, basic necessities, and prime commodities, among others,” the PMB said in its February 1 position paper.

According to the DoH, the primary objective of the purchase slip booklets is to assist drugstores in tracking senior citizens’ most recent purchases of a certain medicine.

Baguio Rep. Mark Go has submitted House Resolution 1263, which calls for an end to the implementation of the purchase slip booklet as a required procedure for senior citizens purchasing medications and goods.

On Oct. 24, 2023, the DSWD sent a letter to DoH expressing its support for the elimination of the purchase slip booklet and welcoming any prospective changes that could simplify the guidelines, as long as purchase monitoring is ensured until digitalization.