MANILA, Philippines — Indigent single parents may soon find relief as the implementing rules and regulations of the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Law start to take effect this week.
Rep. LRay Villafuerte disclosed that Republic Act 11861 is due for implementation this month, where solo parents who earn minimum wage or below will get a monthly cash aid of P1,000 each from their respective local government units.
“We are looking forward to the immediate and full release of this monthly pension to low-income solo parents plus the application or provision of other benefits due them and all other Filipinos who have singlehandedly been raising their children,” he said.
The Camarines Sur lawmaker also expects these solo parents will “soon start reaping the benefits of the law that grants them food price discounts, tax exemptions, free legal aid and medical care, tuition subsidies, parental leaves and other privileges.”
The IRR was signed recently by Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo and other members of the inter-agency coordination and monitoring committee that drafted the IRR.
Tulfo said that with the signing of the IRR, the law will be implemented by late October.
The Department of Health and the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health estimated in a 2017 study that there are 14 to 15 million solo parents in the country.
Villafuerte explained that the grant of the P1,000 monthly pension will put flesh to RA 11861’s declared policy for the state to “promote a just and dynamic social order that ensures the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty.”
“This expanded social protection program for solo parents is timely, considering that a number of single dads or moms were likely on last year’s bigger list of Filipinos who lived below the poverty line,” he said.
According to a recent Philippine Statistical Authority report, its 2021 Family Income and Expenditure Survey of 165,029 families nationwide showed there were 19.99 million Filipinos living below the poverty level last year.
This is 2.3 million more than the 17.67 million recorded in the comparable period in 2018 – translating to a poverty rate of 18.1 percent in 2021 from 2018’s 16.6 percent.
Under the new law, single parents earning the minimum wage or below are entitled to a P1,000 monthly pension from their LGUs, provided that they receive no other cash assistance from the government.
Solo parents are also entitled to a 10-percent discount and exemption from the value-added tax on baby’s milk and sanitary diapers; food and micronutrient supplements; duly prescribed medicines, vaccines and other medical supplements from the birth of the child until he or she is six years old.