DATABASES OF SENIOR CITIZENS

DATABASES OF SENIOR CITIZENS Dear Mr. President: Technically senior citizens are not in the same category as Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), but in a manner of speaking, many seniors have already lost their abilities to function normally, such that they would already need some of the facilities that are intended for PWDs. But if I may ask you Sir, what does it take for a senior citizen to be considered as a PWD? Is it a cane? Or a walker? Obviously, it is not a wheelchair because if a senior citizen must use a wheelchair, that will already qualify him or her to be a PWD. Aside from some listings in the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) in the Local Government Units (LGUs), that are probably mostly in paper form, there appears to be no reliable electronic databases that are hosted anywhere, at both the national and local levels. As proof of that, most of the local senior citizen’s cards and discount booklets are still in paper form. Aside from that, there is no real monitoring of local business establishments that are not honoring the required senior citizen’s discounts. Because of the lack of senior citizen’s databases, it is often difficult for NGAs and LGUs to distribute social welfare assistance packages that are intended for them. The problem I think is that these government units do not know who these senior citizens are and where they live, meaning how they could be contacted. For that matter, most of them would already need other people that could be contacted in case of an emergency, and the numbers of these people should be listed too. As far as I know, the fire departments in some countries have a database of senior citizens and PWDs in the homes and residential buildings in their areas of jurisdictions, such that they would know who to rescue first, in the event of a fire or any other emergencies such as hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. Here in the Philippines, not only the BFP should have that, but also the PNP and the NDRRMC. I believe sir that it should be the DILG that should be on top of all that. Mr. President, it is very easy to design and build databases nowadays. Even high school kids can do it, using Microsoft Excel or any spreadsheet using Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS). What is important is that the spreadsheet files could be converted into Comma Separated Values (CSV) files so that it could be exported into any database system or format. I would hope that most of the NGAs or LGUs would already have the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) staff who could do that, otherwise they could hire ICT consultants or contractors. As an alternative Mr. President, there are already mobile apps that were purposely developed to service the needs of senior citizens. Most of these mobile apps are available on a subscription basis only, and therefore there is no longer a need to go through a complicated bidding process. What is good about these mobile apps is that they could work in any device, such as a laptop, a tablet or a mobile phone, both in Android and Apple operating systems. IKE SENERES/10-01-24