BAGUIO CITY – The City Council Committee on Social Services, Women and Urban Poor will hold a public hearing on the proposed Solo Parents Ordinance of the City of Baguio on July 4 8 a.m. at the City Hall Multi-Purpose Hall.
Proposed by Vice Mayor Edison Bilog and Councilors Faustino Olowan, Joel Alangsab and Lilia Farinas, the consolidated ordinance seeks to give solo parents and their children additional benefits apart from those given under Republic Act No. 8972 or the Solo Parents’ Welfare Act of 2000.
The hearing aims to gather inputs from the concerned business establishments and implementing government offices on the proposed additional benefits.
As proposed, the measure seeks to grant at least ten percent discount to solo parents on the purchases of baby’s milk, food, and food supplements for purchases made within a period of three years from the child’s birth; medicines, vaccines and other medical supplements/supplies for the child for purchases made within a period of 18 years from the child’s birth; hospital bill of the solo parent when his or her child is admitted to a public or private hospital; consultation and laboratory diagnostic fees as well as purchase of medicines for solo parents and their dependents;
Public or private recreational facilities provided that the discount will be availed when the solo parent and their dependents are together; purchases of school supplies for the child for purchases made within a period of 18 years from the child’s birth; and school tuition fees per child studying elementary, high school or college in either public or private schools/universities.
Additional benefits were also enumerated such as the grant of training programs for solo parents and their children at the barangay level, set-up of barangay solo parent assistance desks that will attend to the concerns and needs of solo parents and the grant of death and funeral benefits.
The proposed ordinance also defined who the solo parents are, the requirements to qualify for the benefits and the requirements to be submitted to avail of the benefits A P1 million funding was proposed for the implementation of the ordinance while penalties for violators were also proposed composed of fines ranging from P1,5000 to P5,000./Aileen P. Refuerzo
