A bit harsh but bet he won't do it again Store Manager in Dumaguete Receives Jail Sentence for Refusing to Give 20% Senior Discount - Philippines Lifestyle
The law is the law. It does kind of suck if you have to take a loss on a sale because of it though. I can certainly see how this law could be abused by some families. (Just take granny with you any time you go shopping.)
From the article: The guy was already receiving a bunch of discounts. The store owner also said that he would be selling at a loss if he gave the senior discount on top of all the other discounts the man was receiving. I feel sorry for the business owner on this one. Nobody should be forced to sell a product at a loss and go bankrupt. I think the ruling doesn't follow the "spirit of the law". Seems that the elderly man was taking the regular discount/promotion and insisting on getting the senior discount on top of it. I read the law as a person must choose one or the other....not both.
You would not even get a jail sentence for this in the western world, maybe a fine only. Some of the laws here are pretty harsh for such petty crimes. I agree that senior citizen discounts must be given but maybe he should have stated a good discount is given already and no other discount will be given to customers. But come on 3 years and a p50,000 fine is pretty steep.
That may be how the law reads,but it seems like court case have allow multiple discounts of different kinds. The discount is a lot... 20% plus the 12% sales tax for a total of 32%. A gentle reminder is that it use to be (and I assume still is) only allowed for Filipino citizens, and the punishment of mis-use by foreigners is deportation. I do not feel like looking it up, so if you disagree with me on the punishment that is OK with me. Certainly it is abused by Filipino Citizens who bring their whole family with younger members family members while demanding a discount.
I think you are right on this one, I Remember some years ago when My M-I-L was told you can have the Greater of the two options.
I think that any business owner would be smarter to refuse the regular discount to the senior and insist that he take the one the law requires. There is something missing from this story, there is more to it than someone just not getting their senior citizen discount. I smell a family/clan feud and some fragile egos in play.
Seems like that judge doesn't know the law. Doesn't surprise me thought. A senior citizen is always entitled to senior citizen discount. BUT, if there is already another promo in play, he can not demand them both. If he insists on the citizen discount, you don't need to offer him/her the other promo anymore. Technically you could raise all your prises 25%, give a general 20% promo discount to everyone. Then the senior can chose if he wan't the general 20% or the senior 20%. Also, it is only the senior that can avail the discount, so it can't be abused by letting granny pay for all. That happened to us once, that they tried. They have ordered lots of food and wanted senior citizen discount. I walked over and said; "You are supposed to inform about the senior citizen discount prior to order so we can give you separate bills, but, as we are nice we give you the discount on one of the pizzas and one beer. Ok?" Sec. 4, second last part. "In the purchase of goods and services which are on promotional discount, the senior citizen can avail of the promotional discount or the discount provided herein, whichever is higher. " http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/Philippines/RA 9994 - The Expanded Senior Citizens Act.pdf
