Sen. Richard Gordon on Thursday said the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Bill, which he authored, would benefit about 15-million Filipino solo parents once passed into law.
Senate Bill 1411 seeks to strengthen the 21-year-old Solo Parents’ Welfare Act, by providing additional benefits to solo parents and their families and expanding the scope of applicability of the specific benefits they are entitled to.
“Napaka-timely ng batas na ito. It shows the mind of liberality we have, the society we have, the kind of caring, the kind of humanitarian sentiments we have for those who have been dealt a wrong set of cards or have become widowed,” Gordon said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than 15 million solo parents in the country, 95 percent of whom are women.
Solo parents who are below the poverty threshold will be entitled under the bill to an additional P1,000 in cash assistance and a package of social protection services, such as livelihood, counselling and legal services.
They will also be entitled to a 20 percent discount on tuition fees, hospital bills and medicines.
“When one must face up to life, ‘yung mga challenges ng kakulangan ng isang single na magulang para mapalaki ang mga anak. Bukod sa stigmatization, ‘yung economic challenges, challenge ng emotional support, ‘yun ang hinaharap natin ng mga kabataan,” Gordon said.
Solo parents are defined under Republic Act 8972 as:
-A woman who gives birth as a result of rape and other crimes against chastity even without a final conviction of the offender: Provided, That the mother keeps and raises the child;
-Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to death of spouse;
-Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood while the spouse is detained or is serving sentence for a criminal conviction for at least one (1) year;
-Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to physical and/or mental incapacity of spouse as certified by a public medical practitioner;
-Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to legal separation or de facto separation from spouse for at least one (1) year, as long as he/she is entrusted with the custody of the children;
-Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to declaration of ‘ity or annulment of marriage as decreed by a court or by a church as long as he/she is entrusted with the custody of the children;
-Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to abandonment of spouse for at least one (1) year;
-Unmarried mother/father who has preferred to keep and rear her/his child/children instead of having others care for them or give them up to a welfare institution;
-Any other person who solely provides parental care and support to a child or children;
-Any family member who assumes the responsibility of head of family as a result of the death, abandonment, disappearance or prolonged absence of the parents or solo parent. John Ezekiel J. Hirro