Hontiveros pushes for expanded benefits for single parents

Around three million solo parents in the Philippines should be entitled to more benefits especially as they carry heavier burdens amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Tuesday.

"Kung mayroong pang nangangailangan ng patunay na sa lahat ng aspeto at hamon ng buhay, mas mahirap ang dinaranas ng mga solo parents kaysa sa mga two-parent households, tinapos na ng COVID epidemic–at ng dala niyang sigalot sa ekonomiya– ang usapan," Hontiveros said during her sponsorship speech for Senate Bill No. 1411 or Expanded Solo Parents' Welfare Act.

"A proportionate number of the country’s solo parents work in offices, factories, department stores, and BPOs, industries that have been adversely affected by the pandemic... If their efforts to give their children a good and healthy life were difficult before, now it has become exponentially hard," she added.

Under the proposed measure, widowed parents and spouses of OFWs in the low or semi-skilled worker category who had been away from the Philippines for an unbroken period of 12 months may be classified as solo parents too.

The bill entitles solo parents to a seven-day parental leave from work in both private and public sectors regardless of their employment status.

Twenty percent discounts on their children's medicines, vaccines, and other medical needs, basic necessities, and diapers until the kids are three years old were also among the suggested benefits.

The discount shall also apply on hospital bills, medical consultations, and laboratory fees of  both the solo parent and their children, as well as the children's tuition fees from kindergarten until college in both private and public schools.

The bill also provides for the establishments of day care centers in government offices with more than 300 employees and private companies with 200 or more employees. These facilities shall cater to their employees' children aged five and below.

Moreover, Hontiveros said solo parents who were abused, abandoned, or neglected by their spouses will be given the right to "retain a portion of their spouse’s income, as agreed by both parents or by the court for the support of the child" through this measure.

During the session, Senators Bong Revilla and Bong Go also co-sponsored the bill which aims to amend the Republic Act 8972 or the Solo Parents' Welfare Act of 2000.

They both underscored that ensuring the welfare of solo parents was part of President Rodrigo Duterte's agenda which he included in his previous State of the Nation Address.

The senators urged for the swift passage of the proposed law. — DVM, GMA News