DTI Rules - Senior Citizens may get a double discount

The current 20 percent discount that is granted by the Philippine law to senior citizens is already “over and above” the rebates offered and sold by the establishment to its clients under its paid—for membership or the privilege cards, this was according to the letter of opinion issued by Department of Trade and Industry.

The said opinion issued October 15 of this year by Gerald Calderon, the officer in charge of DTI consumer and trade policy division, to the lawyers of the Sofitel Hotel, Ponce Enrile Reyes & Manalastas Law Offices, following the case filed in Pasay City court by Romulo Macalintal, an election law expert.

Macalintal charged the Sofitel with the reason of refusing to grant him the 20 percent discount as senior citizen under the Republic Act No. 9994, in addition to 50 percent markdown that was already granted to him as member of the Sofitel’s Accor Advantage where a member, like Macalintal, paid annual membership fee amounting to Php8,800.

If 20 percent discount was already covered by the said 50 percent Accor rebate, the lawyer Macalintal argued, that what he received from Accor was 30 percent discount and it was practically Accor enjoyed his 20 percent senior citizen’s discount.

Sofitel’s lawyers said that extending both discounts to Macalintal would violate the law prohibiting “double discounts.”

DTI clarified that “prohibition on the double discounting is only applicable only when giving of discount is for establishment’s promotion [and that] normally, DTI permit is applied and secured before establishment can proceed with its promotional scheme.”

According to Macalintal, since his Accor card was not a promotion approved or permitted by the DTI, then the double discount provision did not apply.

“This DTI opinion should now serve as a wake-up call, if not a warning, to hotels and eateries with paid-for privilege cards, not approved by the DTI that even with the discount under such cards the senior citizen is still entitled to his 20-percent senior discount,”