BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance providing for additional benefits to solo parents and their children, appropriating funds and for other purposes it may serve.
The ordinance authored by Vice Mayor Edison R. Bilog stated a solo parent seeking benefits shall be qualified and identified based on the qualifications of a solo parent, a bonafide resident of the city as certified by the punong barangay where the solo parent resides and must have applied for and has been issued a valid solo parent identification card duly signed by the City Social Welfare and Development officer and the City Mayor.
Under the proposed ordinance, the local government shall provide a training program for solo parent and their children shall be provided at the barangay level, barangay solo parents assistance desk and other services and death benefit for the solo parent amounting to P10,000 if the cause of death is natural and P20,000 if the cause of death is by accident and on top of the death benefit, a rider of P5,000 will be given to the children of the deceased solo parent for funeral expenses.
Bilog proposed the allocation of P1 million annually from the budget of the local government which shall be incorporated in the budget of the City Social Welfare and Development Office.
On the other hand, the barangays shall allocate in their annual budget the necessary funds to be able to implement the provisions of the ordinance.
The City Social Welfare and Development Office shall prepare the implementing rules and regulations, if necessary, for the successful implementation of the pertinent provisions of the local legislative measure subject to the confirmation of the City Council and the City Mayor.
Further, the City Social Welfare and Development Office, in coordination with the City Public Information Office, shall facilitate the dissemination of the pertinent provisions through the quad-media to inform the solo parents in the city about the additional benefits which will be provided to them by the local government.
Bilog proposed that the initial amount of P1 million as starting budget for the implementation of the additional benefits of the solo parents will be increased every three years depending on the needs of the solo parents.
Section 2 of Republic Act 8972 or the Solo Parents’ Welfare Act of 2000 provides that it shall be the policy of the State to promote the family as the foundation of the nation, strengthen its solidarity and ensure its total development.
Section 5 of the same law declares that the Department of Health, Department of Education, Technical Skills and Development Authority, National Housing Authority and the Department of the Interior and local government shall develop a comprehensive package of social development and welfare services for solo parents and their families, however, after 17 years since the enactment of the law, no new benefits or packages for the solo parents and their children have been introduced.
By Dexter A. See
