LOCAL DATABASES OF SENIOR CITIZENS

LOCAL DATABASES OF SENIOR CITIZENS Dear Mr. President: If I may ask, how can the barangay councils effectively provide services to their senior residents if they do not know who they are and where they live? How can these councils make it easy for these seniors to do business with their councils? And how could the seniors avail of local service providers, specially those who are honoring the laws granting senior citizen discounts? These are good questions to ask, and I believe that I have the answers to them. Together with my technology partners, I am now developing a website application that has six functions at the barangay level, namely (1) To serve as a local database of senior citizens, (2) To serve as a directory of senior oriented products and services, (3) To serve as a marketplace for these products and services, (4) To serve as a load wallet that could receive cash assistance from Local Government Units (LGUs), (5) To serve as a communications device so that senior citizens could easily contact their LGUs and (6) To serve as a backup senior citizen ID card. For the convenience of all senior citizens, the website application could also function as a mobile application, because it is designed to be mobile-friendly, meaning that it will work in any mobile phone, using any browser. And of course, it will work anywhere if there is an available internet connection such as WIFI or mobile data. Strictly speaking, the mobile app could already function by itself as an ID card using QR codes, but if they want the senior citizen members could still avail themselves of a plastic ID card for their convenience if they want it. Since it already has a built-in load wallet, either the plastic ID card or the electronic ID card could also function like a cash card, a debit card or a remittance card, depending on the preferences of senior citizen members. For good measure, the product will be fully compliant with all the requirements of the Central Bank, the National Privacy Commission and the DTI. As far as I know, there are still many gaps in the distribution of benefits and assistance from the LGUs to the senior citizens in their jurisdictions. I am a witness to that, because I have not received anything from my LGU ever since I became a senior citizen. As usual, the LGUs would want the senior citizens to personally apply for the benefits every time it is being offered, but that is very inconvenient for senior people, they should automate that so that they could immediately get what they deserve, as easily as possible. Mr. President, the present system of using printed senior ID cards and paper booklets is also obsolete, and it needs to be automated also. As I see it, it is making the flow of customers slower in the checkout counters, and it is very tiring for senior citizens to wait longer. It is probably costing the merchants too in the form of having to hire more workers. IKE SENERES/09-16-2024