THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) issued an opinion that the 20-percent discount granted to senior citizens under Republic Act (RA) 9994 is “over and above” the discounts offered and sold by an establishment to its clients under its paid-for membership or privilege cards.
The position was contained in a letter-opinion dated October 15, 2014, of the DTI, through Gerald C. Calderon, officer in charge of the Consumer and Trade Policy Division, addressed to the lawyers of Sofitel Hotel, Ponce Enrile Reyes & Manalastas Law Offices, in an answer to the latter’s request for an opinion on the issue.
The request stemmed from a case filed by senior citizen-lawyer Romulo Macalintal against Sofitel Hotel, when the latter allegedly refused to grant him his aforesaid 20-percent discount as a senior citizen over and above the 50 percent granted him as a member of Sofitel’s Accor Advantage, where a member, like Macalintal, pays an annual membership fee of P8,800.
Macalintal argued that the 50-percent discount was by virtue of his contract with Accor, while the 20 percent is a benefit granted to him by law as a senior citizen. If the 20-percent discount is already covered by the 50- percent Accor discount, then what he only gets from Accor is 30 percent, and it is practically Accor enjoying his 20-percent discount. Sofitel, through its lawyer, said that extending both discounts to Macalintal would violate the provision of the law prohibiting “double discount.”
While the case was amicably settled by Sofitel and Macalintal, part of the settlement agreement was that both parties would seek the opinion of the DTI on the issue. Thus, on August 15, 2014, Sofitel’s law firm wrote the letter to the DTI with the concurrence of Macalintal
In its opinion, the DTI clarified that “the prohibition on double
discounting is applicable only when
the giving of discount is for the establishment’s promotion [and] a DTI permit is applied and secured before an establishment can proceed with its promotional scheme.”
Macalintal said that “since the Accor card is not a promotion approved or permitted by the DTI, then the double-discount provision does 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.”
Macalintal added that the said opinion could be taken as “a landmark ruling which validates and confirms my oft-repeated position that even if an item or service is claimed by an establishment to be ‘on promo,’ a senior citizen is still entitled to his 20-percent discount if such ‘promo’ is not
approved or permitted by the DTI.”
While the DTI was cautious in saying that its “opinion is merely advisory in nature and not binding upon the parties, who may contest the same before the courts”, Macalintal said that the said opinion “has a very persuasive effect, considering that it is the DTI which is tasked by law to issue guidelines and policies on how the law on senior -citizen rights should be implemented.”
“The DTI’s opinion is surely a welcome development for all senior citizens who are holders of membership or privilege cards they purchased from certain five-star hotels, since it is very clear that they may claim both the 20-percent senior citizen’s discount and the discount under their membership contracts with the said establishments,” Macalintal said.