Lawmaker seeks 20% discount for single parents

MANILA, Philippines - A party-list lawmaker has filed a bill seeking to give discounts of up to 20 percent on milk, diaper and medicines to an estimated 14 million “solo” or single parents.

You Against Corruption and Poverty (YACAP) party list Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez said solo parents are considered to be among the most “vulnerable” members of society.

Lopez, noting that Filipinos now spend an average of P5,000 to P8,000 each month raising children four years old and below, said House Bill 3391 seeks to grant discounts of up to 20 percent to solo parents buying milk or formula products, medicines and supplements, diapers and other necessary items for their babies.

The bill seeks to amend Republic Act 8972 or the Solo Parent’s Welfare Act of 2000. Lopez also proposed that the criteria for solo parents include those who spouses have been unemployed for a year.

“Being a solo parent doubles the responsibility of raising a child and it makes both solo parents and their children vulnerable to all of life’s hardships. As members of the society’s vulnerable protection groups, solo parents need all the help they can get from the government,” Lopez, who is also a solo parent, said.

A World Health Organization-funded study done by the Department of Health (DOH) and the University of the Philippines-National Institute for Health (UP-NIH) places the number of solo parents at 14 to 15 percent of estimated 94 million Filipinos.

There are unverified estimates that give higher percentages of solo parents in the country, Lopez said.

Under the bill, officials of establishments that fail to provide the discounts will be fined from P10,000 to P50,000, be jailed for six months to one year, or both, at the discretion of the court.

Subsequent violators will be fined from P100,000 to P200,000, be jailed for one to two years, or both.

The bill also calls for the “cancellation or revocation of the business permit, permit to operate, franchise and other similar privileges granted to any business entity that fails to abide by” this measure.

“The changing times and the growing number of solo parents calls for a more pro-active and substantial help from the state for one of society’s most vulnerable groups – the solo parents and their infants,” Lopez said.