With only 27 days to go before the current 19th Congress draws adjourns sine die, leaders of senior citizens in the country are giving up any hope of seeing the House of Representatives conclude its investigation into allegations that the country’s largest drug firm has been violating the law granting elderly citizens discount on medicine purchases.

A congressional inquiry into the controversy was filed as House Resolution No. 894 by Reps. Rodolfo Ordanes (Senior Citizens Partylist) and Rodante D. Marcoleta (1Sagip Partylist) on March 22, 2023.

The resolution proposed a congressional investigation “to determine the culpability of Mercury Drug Corporation in its open and wanton defiance of the benefits provided to senior citizens” under Republic Act 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

However, nearly two years after HR 894 was filed, the Committee on Senior Citizens to which it was referred to has yet to submit results of its probe, if it had indeed initiated one.

Ordanes is the chairman of the senior citizens panel while United Seniors Partylist Rep. Mila Aquino-Magsaysay acts as the vice chair. Both solons represent partylist groups of elderly Filipinos.

On November 9, Senior Times sought the comment of the lawmakers on the refusal of drug firms to honor RA 9994, particularly in the grant of discounts for purchases of over-the-counter medicines.

A check with the Food and Drug Administration indicated that it already released two public advisories - in 2014 and 2024 - informing both drug companies and senior citizens that OTC medicines are covered by the discount provisions of RA 9994 even if purchases are not covered by doctor’s prescription.

“Send me details and I will write the drugstores to explain their side,” Ordanes responded via viber message.

He added: “If I ask them to explain without any documentary evidence hindi tayo papansinin. Hearsay lang ‘yan.”

Apparently, Ordanes and Marcoleta were already in possession of “reliable information and testimonies from concerned senior citizens” complaining against Mercury.

“…reliable information and testimonies of concerned citizens disclosed that Mercury Drug stores in Quezon City and elsewhere have been violating with impunity provisions of R.A. No. 9994, otherwise known as the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, making it difficult for senior citizens to avail of their 20% discount and VAT exemption as provided by said law,” read HR 894.

In the resolution, the two lawmakers also accused the drug company of having “made it a policy to ask its senior citizens clients for several documents before they can avail of their discount and exemption - an obvious ploy to dissuade senior citizens from claiming discounts and exemptions that said law provides.”

The authors also said that the inquiry is necessary to determine if there is a need to amend RA 9994 to ensure stricter implementation or increase penalty “in order to compel compliance.”