Mayor Honey Lacuna called on the senior citizens of Manila to avoid altering their senior identification cards to prevent problems when claiming discount privileges as she announced that the city’s senior citizen population has grown to 206,000.

Lacuna issued the appeal after the Office of Senior Citizens’ Affairs (OSCA) headed by Atty. Elinor Jacinto received reports from certain establishments about elderly individuals presenting reproduced or scanned copies of their IDs instead of originals, raising concerns about their authenticity.

The mayor stressed that faking senior IDs is illegal and the city government prohibits the reproduction of original IDs or their reduction to smaller sizes.