ACTUAL NEEDS VS. AVAILABLE
INTERVENTIONS
Like most social welfare
laws, there appears to be some preference given to those who are poor or
indigent, hence the “below poverty threshold” criteria stated in the law. What
is limiting under this provision is the statement reserving the comprehensive benefits
package composed of Livelihood Development Services, Counseling Services,
Parent Effectiveness services, Critical Incidence Stress Debriefing, and other
special projects like temporary shelter, legal assistance, medical care, and
crisis management, to those Solo Parents falling below the poverty threshold.
For those above the poverty level, RA 8972 states that these Solo Parents may
only enjoy the other benefits under the law like flexible work schedule,
parental leave and protection against work discrimination.
Such pronouncement in RA
8972 gives the false impression that those slightly well-off Solo Parents would
not require counseling, stress debriefing, and other necessary assistance. It
also assumes that most Single Parents are employed in the formal sector where
employers and employment contracts allow them to avail of leaves and flexible
work schedules. This is ironic since available documentation have consistently
shown that a great majority of single parents are in the informal sector because
of their inability to keep regular hours in the office. Some of them are forced
to stay at home and care for their kids while trying to eke out a living
through other available means such as home-based enterprises and small-scale
industry endeavors. And now, with the recent focus on Kasambahays and their labor rights, these presumptions and
restrictions under the present Solo Parents Act is not only incorrect but also
counter-productive.
Evidently, the law miserably
failed to address the actual needs of the sector by failing to understand their
unique situation. A common thing binds them – and that is the reality of having
to care for and raise a family on their own without the support of a partner,
and possibly after an emotional and traumatic separation. The government in
formulating any interventions must have a genuine insight into this before
devising any program or technology. The whole range of emotional,
psychological, material and financial concerns of a single parent must be
recognized and appreciated before any actual programs or services are
developed.
A. Proposed Amendments - Discounts for Solo
Parents?
The current bills filed
before Congress propose the grant of discounts on certain transactions like a
10% on baby’s clothes, a 15% discount on milk and other food supplements, a 15%
discount on medicines, and a 12% discount on basic necessities and school
supplies.
These proposals seem to be anchored on the current discount privileges being
enjoyed by senior citizens.
Nowadays, all the other sectors are so envious of these senior citizens
discounts, everybody now seeks to have the same rights and privileges. They
forget that the only reason this was granted was because of the recognition
that our elderly, after having retired and having diminished earning capacity
due to physical incapacities and various other disabilities, no longer have the
same financial resources as others given their higher and more expensive
healthcare needs. People also forget how difficult it was to get the private sector
to agree to this and cooperate in providing these benefits at great cost to
business establishments. We must recall that the Persons with Disabilities
(PWDs) who also have discount privileges are not really enjoying it that much
due to implementation problems. And the proposed Centenarian law granting an
additional 75% discount benefit to senior citizens 100 years old and above has
been vetoed and cannot seem to pass because the private sector is now
resisting. It is expected that the representatives of the various business
industries will certainly resist, if not oppose this.
Nonetheless, should these
proposals for discount privileges push through, the business sector will surely
not allow a 12% discount on basic necessities. Senior citizens only enjoy a 5%
privilege on prime commodities and basic necessities, and considering the very
low profit margin allowed for the groceries and supermarket industry, the
business sector will not go any higher than 5%. Also, with all the limitations
imposed by the Milk Code, pharmaceutical companies supplying formula milk might
not take too favorably to this 15% discount as well.
Thus, besides the possible
lowering of the discount rate and limiting it to certain transactions, this may
be the only time the current poverty threshold/criteria for support provision
becomes highly relevant, thereby restricting the benefit to those who are poor
or most in need.
B. A
Clamor for Programs and Services:
1. Livelihood
and Income-Generating Opportunities
It must be noted that based on the
feedback from the 2012 forum-workshops conducted and on-going discussions with
different Solo Parents groups, they are not expecting discounts or dole-outs. Their
clamor is for more income generating opportunities, be it in the formal or informal
sector. So instead of discount privileges, legislators and policy-makers should
consider providing alternative or supplemental income sources or livelihood
opportunities to augment or enhance their income-generating capacities.
Hence, the relevance of
current programs and services providing educational, employment, and livelihood
skills training opportunities, in both the formal and informal sectors, must be
carefully harnessed and strengthened to cater to the needs of Solo Parents and
their kids. As such, present programs and services being offered by the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Civil Service Commission (CSC),
the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and the
Philippine Technical Training Center (PTTC) under the Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI), as well as the Department of Agriculture (DA) must be revisited
if they are indeed responsive to the issues of Solo Parents and if need be,
carefully amended to address Solo Parents concerns. Besides possible discounts
on skills training fees, these can also be given for free if the enrollee or
applicant is a Solo Parent or a child of a Solo Parent. This has been quite
effective with the senior citizens sector.
2. Educational
Needs and Scholarships
Once again, this is an area
where both the Solo Parent and the kids can benefit. Presently there are
available scholarships and financial assistance for formal, vocational and
technical education under the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission
on Higher Education (CHED), and the TESDA. These services are important because
proper education and/or technical training assure them of continuing
self-sufficiency and financial independence in the future. Moreover, these
benefits can be maximized by both the solo parent and the children.
Meanwhile, to ensure that
Solo Parents and their kids are able to access these educational, vocational,
or technical training opportunities, a possible quota of slots may be reserved
for them by these implementing agencies. In addition, LGUs and private
educational institutions are encouraged to have their own initiatives in
addressing this need. Already, some LGUs provide scholarships to needy students
to their city and community colleges.
Some private colleges and universities have Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) with
LGUs or organized Solo Parents groups/networks themselves for scholarships and
other financial assistance.
3. Medical Expenses and other Healthcare Needs
Just like educational needs, another
major expense for Solo Parents is for medical and healthcare needs. Especially
for very young kids where regular check-ups and mandatory vaccines are
required, most Solo Parents often face emergency pediatric care and
hospitalization.
At present, the Department of Health
(DOH) offers free medical check-ups and vaccines for babies and may be availed
of at local health centers. However, it has been said that these services are
only applicable for “well” babies. Having a sick baby is a completely different
matter and the expected medical expenses is very hard to estimate. Meanwhile,
the PhilHealth also offers a “maternal health package” for pregnant women and
newly-born babies. These also include regular check-ups, provisions of
essential vitamins, as well as newborn screening. However, as correctly pointed
out by Solo Parents themselves, these health services are “time-bound” and can
no longer be availed of by Solo Parents with older children.
It has been noted that under the
joint National Household Targetting System (NHTS) and PhilHealth program, many
indigent or poor Solo Parent households are able to enjoy these services under
the the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). Meanwhile, others are still
covered by the Sponsored program c/o their respective local government units
(LGUs).
One
may also say these government health programs are applicable to female Solo
Parents mostly and not to males. Nonetheless, it is the children who are deemed
to benefit most from these available health services. Thus, Solo Parents are
encouraged to maximize and take advantage of these current programs by the DOH
and PhilHealth for their medical needs.
4. Legal Assistance
Another common issue that cropped
amongst Solo Parents is their need for legal advise and counselling. Most of
them do not know their basic rights and entitlements under Family law. As
such, they never claim or assert their right to these legal protections even as
Philippine civil law grants them.
Based on the 2012 Forum-Workshops
conducted in the seven (7) regions visited, both male and female Solo Parents
need to be familiarized about the exact terms of parental authority, custody,
and financial support under the Family Code. Another glaring concern is that a
great number of Solo Parents are females who have accompanying cases of VAWC or
domestic violence, with particularly instances of economic abuse or deprivation
of financial support.
While the women’s rights NGOs have
apparently answered this need among female Solo Parents for now, government
agencies must still mandate the relevant offices like the Department of Justice
(DOJ) and the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), the Commission of Human Rights
(CHR), and even the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to provide legal
advise and assistance to Solo Parents and their cases.
5. Formal Sector
Employment: Flexible working hours and parental leaves
Besides financial resources, the most
valuable asset Solo Parent have is their time. Because they have no substitute
of “alternate” co-parent, they are oftentimes forced to take care of everything
themselves – from everyday care, to school enrollments, to hospitalization.
Thus, they often say “the hours of the day are just not enough” and that “they
sometimes wish they could chop up themselves in little pieces to divide up all
the responsibilities they need to attend to.”
Thus, it appears the special parental
leaves and flexible work schedules is still a very relevant benefit to be
extended to Solo Parents. Based on various feedback, this is the most “popular”
and most taken advantage of benefit under RA 8972. And since this has proven to
be quite advantageous for Solo Parents, similar work arrangements must be
encouraged in the formal sector.
These must not just be limited to flexible
work schedules and parental leave credits, but could also include “work-at-home”
options that can be institutionalized in all work environments, public or
private. It would do well to look into the Civil Service Commission’s
pronouncements on this as a model, and have the Department of Labor and
Employment (DOLE) review existing employment policies for the private sector.
Speaking
of DOLE and the CSC, Solo Parents leaves are available to all Solo Parents
employed in the private sector regardless of employment status – whether
regular, permanent or contractual. But It is different in the public sector
where the CSC depends its policies on a strict employer-employee relationship.
Currently, many employees under the government service are employed under Memorandum
of Agreements (MOAs), job orders, and Contract of Service (COS) only. It has
been a clamor from the solo parents support groups in many government offices
that CSC reconsider this policy and likewise extend Solo Parent leaves to
employees hired under MOAs, Job orders, and COS status. And based on initial
discussions of the SRC and the statement from the CSC representative at the
recent TWG meeting of the pending bills in Congress last May 21, 2015, the CSC
is amenable to extending this leave benefit as a special leave privilege
similar to the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children (VAWC) leave.
However, we must not forget that these
leave privileges only benefit those employed in the formal sector. It must be
reiterated that many Solo Parents are in the informal sector because it is
difficult for them to hold regular 9 to 5 jobs. Most of them are forced to
become stay-at-home parents to care for their children while trying to make
ends meet by engaging in non-formal enterprises such as buy-and-sell of small
or basic items. We must also not forget that with the dawning of the Kasambahay Law, Solo Parent-Kasambahays must also be considered.
Given the nature of their job, they cannot really benefit from Solo Parent
leave credits.
6. Taxation and
Single-Income Families
We must remember that financial concerns are still the main
consideration for solo parents and the single, most common issue amongst all of
them regardless of gender or economic status. Single-Income families experience
concrete disadvantages because the family’s basic needs are the same as others,
but the capacity to answer these needs depend only on a single individual. And
we are not even talking about the human toll, the emotional stress and the
psychological pressure that falls on one person.
To mitigate the impact on single
income families, it has been suggested that the category “Head of the Family”
again be restored as a possible basis for additional Personal Exemption on
income taxes. The “Head of the Family” distinction may be appropriate
especially for some who even have additional dependents such as elderly and
sick parents.
The current tax code merely imposes a
P50,000 personal exemption for single or married individuals, and an additional
P25,000 per child for up to four (4) kids. Still, it has been asserted that
“Heads of Families” with multiple dependents should be considered as an
altogether different class. An amendment to the tax code should not only bring
back this “Head of the Family” as a higher personal exemption, but also acknowledge
the existence of elderly sick and disabled parent as additional dependents.
7. Maximizing
Child-Minding or Day Care Centers
On
the other hand, many forget there are existing programs and services,
facilities even, that may work for Solo Parents. Child-Minding and Day Care
Centers are one resource that must be fully harnessed once again to add to the
benefits of Solo Parents. One of the original purposes of these facilities is
to provide a safe, and conducive child-caring, learning and socialization venue
for parents and children alike. Since the passage of the Day Care Law, this
system has been encouraged to be established and institutionalized in many
private corporations and government offices. Hence, its importance must be
revived once more as part of the many programs and services that must be
properly harnessed and harmonized to add to the Solo Parents benefits.
