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YOU’VE THE RIGHT OF REPLY Statement of Rep. Rodolfo “Ompong” Ordanes, chairperson of the committee on senior citizens on the expanded Centenarians Act

ASKING the octogenarians and nonagenarians to register online would be an arduous task for these elderly who need the assistance of relatives and caregivers to go online. I also have my concerns on data privacy and security whenever seniors have to share their data with other people because they are vulnerable to financial abuse, identity theft, fraud, and scams.

Perhaps the telecommunication companies can help NCSC safely, and with due respect and observance of rules on data privacy, locate or contact the eligible seniors because these telcos have SIM registration databases of everyone who uses a mobile phone. I ask the National Privacy Commission and National Telecommunications Commission to please help out.

To speed up the processes involving the execution of the expanded Centenarians Act, I have a few suggestions to the National Commission of Senior Citizens, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

First, I ask the DILG, DSWD, Philippine Statistics Authority, Department of Health, Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, and Land Transportation Office to help the NCSC.

NCSC has a relatively small complement of personnel compared to larger and older government offices. NCSC needs all the help they can get.

By the way, I ask the PSA to please waive their fees for the seniors who request for their authenticated birth certificates which they use to prove their identity and age. I also ask the churches to waive their fees for the seniors who request for their verified baptismal records from the parish offices,

Second, about the writing of the IRR itself. The working documents for the updated IRR would include the original IRR signed on September 26, 2016, DSWD Memorandum Circular 2017-004, and DSWD Memorandum Circular 2017-011.

One update to these current rules should be to include the PhilSys ID among the list of valid IDs for verification of identity, age, and other personal details. Another update should be the use of electronic payments and money transfers for the direct disbursement of the cash gifts to eligible recipients in the country and to Overseas Filipinos. Another update I suggest is enlisting the corporate social responsibility officials of the banks, so they can participate in the delivery of the cash gifts to the eligible beneficiaries. Banks have KYC or Know Your Customer standards and procedures that would be helpful.

Third, I now share how the Elderly Data Management System can be put together.

The process to identify the seniors who are turning 80, 85, 90, and 95 this year logically begins with searching relevant records on who were born in 1944, 1939, 1934, and 1929.

(Read full story on sunstar.com.ph/davao)