THREE years since the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Law (RA 11861) became law, thousands of intended beneficiaries have yet to feel any positive impact due to spotty implementation among local government units (LGUs).
In a 46-page situation report released yesterday, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) revealed that in many LGUs, even the most basic provisions requiring the registration of solo parents, establishment of dedicated offices or desks, issuance of solo parents’ booklets to avail of discounts on food and health care products, and payment of P1,000 social pension to indigent solo parents are delayed or remained unimplemented.
“Registering and having a Solo Parent ID is important to access services and benefits under R.A. 11861. However, when the law itself is not fully implemented, the participants see getting an ID as unnecessary,” the report said.
It noted that the mere processing of documents to secure a Solo Parent ID can be prohibitive, with required legal documents costing around P700. In remote barangays, transportation costs can jack up that expense even more.
In Region 12 (SOCCSKSARGEN), some solo parents disclosed that they were made to cough up P100 to P150 for the issuance of the ID card, but were still not issued one despite having already paid.
“Localization of R.A. 11861 through the enactment of provincial, city and municipal ordinances, whichever is applicable, is urgent. On the part of the national government, there is a need to issue executive and administrative orders to clarify issues and standardize the law’s implementation across LGUS, further operationalizing the law based on the mandates of concerned agencies,” the CHR report said.
Based on the 2015 Population Census, there were 221,813 households headed by solo parents, of which 78.98 percent or 175,182 households, were headed by a female solo parent.
In the more recent 2021 National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (Listahan 3) collated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), households headed by solo parents have increased to 538,686.
The CHR report, however, said even the DSWD figure is “conservative” since Listahan 3 only profiled 15.5 million households against the national household population of 26.4 million, according to the 2023 Philippine Statistics Authority data.
While the Listahan 3 was not gender-disaggregated, the CHR noted that in the Philippine setting, the number of solo-parent households headed by females is double the number of households with males as solo parents.
“The face of solo parents in the Philippines is that of a female and their experiences have largely represented the national situation of solo parents and its issues: discrimination in the workplace and employment; lack of viable economic opportunities; discrimination in education; continued psychological and economic violence from their former intimate partners; and community stigma, including sexual harassment,” the commission noted.
