By NELLY FAVIS-VILLAFUERTE
MANILA, Philippines — Two days ago, a senior citizen-friend of mine requested me to write about the need for senior citizen-friendly facilities in commercial establishments… especially in the provinces.
Says Cora, my 76-year old senior citizen-friend: “Nelly, I went to a bank a few days ago to deposit. I queued in the regular lane because there was no special lane for senior citizens. After standing for over thirty (30) minutes my turn to give my deposit to the cashier was still far off. I felt so tired and weak already despite my cane. My back and knees were aching. Since the pain was getting unbearable, I went to the new accounts section and sat in a nearby chair. I then asked the lady attending to new accounts if the bank has a special lane for senior citizen customers. Obviously, there was none but I asked the question to justify my sitting in the chair reserved for bank clients who are opening new accounts.
One may ask: Are there no senior citizen friendly facilities and services offered by commercial establishments to their clients and visitors? To date, there are commercial establishments with special senior citizen friendly facilities and services. But there are also commercial establishments with no special senior citizen facilities and services. Mind you, there are still many commercial establishments in Metro Manila and in the provinces that do not have senior citizen friendly facilities and services – and many of these commercial establishments are big establishments.
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