Dagupan creating express lanes for its senior citizens

DAGUPAN CITY, Oct. 14 (PNA) — Senior citizens in Dagupan will soon be given utmost priorities in private commercial establishments as well as in government offices within the city.

Under a resolution approved on third reading by the city council, senior citizens need not queue anymore when they go shopping, dining in restaurants or paying their bills with public utilities and even when they pay their taxes with the government.

The newly passed ordinance authored by Councilor Alfredo Quinto Sr. requires private and commercial establishments, specifically water, telephone and electric companies, financial institutions, banks, shopping malls, supermarkets, department stores, grocery stores, fastfood chain outlets, and bus terminals, government offices, and government-owned and controlled corporations to provide express lanes to senior citizens.

The ordinance was sponsored by Councilor Alfredo Quinto Sr. who said the express lanes will ensure that on account of their age and physical condition, the senior citizens will no longer line up when going to the mentioned establishments.

"It's a form of respect that we had offered to our senior citizens who, in their twilight years, need all the assistance that they deserve, said Quinto.

On the other hand, Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez said the ordinance is one small measure by which the city government can contribute to the senior citizens who are now in the twilight years of their life and who immensely contributed to the growth and development of the city over the years.

The ordinance was enacted by the city council to project Dagupan as one of the most if not the most senior citizens-friendly city in Region I, she said.

Vice Mayor Fernandez added that in drug stores which cannot provide express lane to senior citizens for lack of space, their sales persons will be advised to give priority to senior citizens once they spot them joining the queue. She admitted that even long before the enactment of the ordinance, her own CSI the City Mall and other branches of the big CSI chain not only in Dagupan, Pangasinan but other parts of the Ilocos region, already put up express lanes for senior citizens as sign of recognition for their worthwhile contribution to the city and country.

Fernandez said the city government will not only conduct an information drive on the newly enacted ordinance but will also create a monitoring team to ensure if establishments are complying. (PNA)