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Solo Parents' Poverty Situation in the Philippines: A Qualitative and Policy

Evaluation Study

Article · September 2021

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Solo Parents' Poverty Situation in the Philippines: A Qualitative and Policy Evaluation

Study

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for

ECON 191 (Development Economics)

Farnacio, Marianne Dianne U.

Reyes, Glovin Lorraine S.

September 2021
RATIONALE OF THE STUDY:

A traditional family is composed of a mother, father, and own children living together
(PSA, n.d.), but it has ever been changing in which someone, not limited to relatives, can stand as
a parent to a child and thus, recognized as a family (Implementing Rules and Regulations of R.A.
Act No. 8972, 2008). In the same manner, the definition of a solo parent has extended. Solo parents
can also include a relative or a guardian who has assumed responsibility for raising a child (DTI,
2020). Having such one potential earner in a family with children makes a difference in financial
responsibilities and capacities. The proliferation of family structures in society due to
modernization takes account of the rise of single parents in the Philippines, having around 15M
Filipino single parents, and that 95% of the statistics were found to be single mothers (WHO,
2007). “Solo parents go through a multitude of stresses, which is a combination of psychological,
physical, and emotional anxieties (DSWD, 2003).” To address this issue, the Department of Social
Welfare and Development introduced new ways that the Philippine government responds to
society's needs, and this is through the enactment of the RA 8972 or the Solo Parents Welfare Act
of 2000. The goal of the policy is to promote the family as the key unit of a country’s economic
health, strengthen its solidarity and ensure its total development with providing a wide range of
comprehensive programs.
The researchers wanted to focus on the qualitative study on understanding the factors that
influence the poverty situation of solo parents, measured by the household income and represented
by the living standards of Filipino single mothers. The sources of solo-parent household income:
labor market and state, through the policies: the Republic Act 8972, incorporating the current
policy and the newly amended policy, is the basis of resolving the poverty problem of single-parent
families in the country. To assess these variables, the researchers will perform qualitative research
on the poverty situation of Filipino solo-parent households. With the in-depth literature review,
the researchers will enumerate the issues and struggles of these solo-parent households. Since the
RA 8792 focuses on this paper’s unit of analysis, the researcher will conduct an evaluative study
to measure the efficacy of the policy implemented towards the rising poverty situation, specifically
concerning its gaps and loopholes and its accessibility to those targeted beneficiaries. Besides this,
the newly amended Expanded Solo Parents’ Act of 2020 in the Philippines will also be analyzed,
alongside the current Solo Parents’ Welfare Act of 2000. With the help of the policy analysis and
the literature review on the situations of Filipino single parents, the researchers will be able to raise
the argument that the Expanded Solo Parents’ Welfare Act of 2020, upon the recent amendments,
is not sufficient to address the goals of the policy to raise living standards of Filipino solo parents.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Policies and institutions matter for solo parent families, they struggle with inadequate
resources, inadequate employment, and inadequate policies. Single parenthood has been
associated with disadvantaged socioeconomic well-being, and they are more likely to experience
problems in the labor market. The roles as mothers or fathers in couples are different and which
implies the reason why women are more likely to reduce their labor attachment to engage in caring
activities; they may feel more pressure to work as no other earner is present in the household. In
the case of solo parents, there are three main possible sources of income: the labor market, the
absent partner, and the government. This entails that the single parents that face challenges in
reconciling work and care need aid from the government, protection on employment, and a double
effort from themselves to earn what supposed a partner has to contribute. If the source of their
income is not available, the family will suffer in poverty; household income is an indicator of being
at risk of poverty (Maldonado & Nieuwenhuis, 2018). According to Watts (n.d.), poverty is a
property of the individual’s situation, rather than a characteristic of the individual. The measure of
poverty should be related to the individual’s or family’s permanent level of command over goods
and services; it is not a discrete condition. The poverty problem is multidimensional, and
convergence has been the right approach and should be scaled up and practiced more extensively
(ADB, 2009). The government would attempt to reduce poverty by focusing on the people that
belong to the poverty line, which represents the level of income that divides the families of a
particular size, place, and time into the poor and the non-poor (Watts, n.d.). Other studies say that
lower levels of well-being among single parents and their children are not inherently associated
with family composition, but rather with single parents’ disadvantaged economic position
(Maldonado & Nieuwenhuis, 2018), but the existing policies in the Philippines inherently identify
the household composition, that is traditionally measured relative to the number of households or
families in the population and according to Ruggles & Brower (2008), most households in all
census years are composed of a group of persons related to one another who reside together in a
separate physical dwelling and who share common resources, but a household must be an
economic unit that depends on “one common means of support,” and its members resided in a
house or part of a house. With this, people who consider themselves as someone who bears the
responsibility in the family are misrepresented by calling themselves a household head. This is
something to be understood when gender comes in the way especially to single parents who could
either be a mother or a father. Single parent refers to those parents who raise one or more of their
children while not living in the same household as their partner. Single parents do not necessarily
be physically alone but they can live with other adults in the same household, such as grandparents,
but not with a (new) partner (Maldonado & Nieuwenhuis, 2018). This is an important identification
when distinguishing between a household head and a household holder. In considering the
situation of single parents, a householder is a more appropriate term to use as a gender-neutral
concept. It is defined as the homeowner or; leaseholder of the home; if a husband and wife jointly
or lease their home, either may be listed as the householder. The shift from household head to
householder has modest implications for the measurement of household composition (Ruggles and
Brower, 2008).

In response to the poverty problem, single-parent families can be supported through

financial assistance by cash transfer policy or through social investment strategies, which promote
education and training, that facilitate employment, and invest in children's early education and
wellbeing which seeks to prepare individuals for economic independence. Maldonado &
Nieuwenhuis (2018) suggests that an emphasis on stimulating employment rather than providing
cash transfers will result in policy solutions that are adequate for single parents. But other studies
also argue that single parenthood is experienced in different stages in the life course, which makes
the policy inapplicable to all solo parents and therefore demands monetary support.

1. Family Composition in the Philippines

Family composition refers to a household’s family structure, i.e., the single parent, a
married couple, married couple parents, kin co-residence, and marital status and marital quality of
the parents, if in a two-parent household, i.e., married, divorced, and cohabitation (Weden, 2008).
The family structure is significant to consider for it shapes the psychological and physical well-
being of children, adolescents, and adults, for these members to be appropriately productive. As a
basic unit of the economy, households must be equipped with great job opportunities, through
obtaining proper formal education, better health conditions, and a wide range of skills and know-
how. From the ground up, households were the ones who set the living standard for the country’s
chances for an increasing trend in economic growth. For this reason, the government must invest
in financial aids or even non-financial aids that aim to make access to education, health, and work
accessible for all households. In the case of the Philippines, a family has always been considered
to be the foundation of social life for most Filipinos. The nuclear family is the core family unit in
the Philippines, this type of family consists of both parents and one or more children. Go (1994)
reiterated in her journal that there will still be a continuous increase in nuclearization of Filipino
households for the next consecutive years, given the proportion of nuclear households rising from
74% to 80.6% from 1974 to 1983. In these nuclear households recorded, 86% were headed by
males (National Statistics Office, 1994), and these households have a higher proportion of children
than households headed by females. However, due to modernization, Filipino families tend to
change in composition from time to time. On average, a rural family consists of about three
children, and an urban family tends to be smaller (AFS-USA, n.d.). While other studies show that,
as a general characteristic, a typical Filipino family household has three generations, i.e., a family
has grandparents taking care of their grandchildren (Pier, n.d.).

On the other hand, the family structure also examines the household’s parents’ marriage
patterns and quality. In the Philippines, almost everyone gets married. Only 6% of the population
of Filipino women aged 45, and 5.2% of Filipino men with the same age group never married since
1948 (Go, 1994). The statistics recorded accounts for why Filipinos majority have nuclear families.
However, marriage quality related to marriage dissolution is a topic that Filipinos ignore because,
as a fact, the Philippines is the only country in the world, aside from the Vatican, where divorce is
not legal (Abalos, 2017). The breakup of marriages in the Philippines is hard to ascertain given the
absence of divorce, there have been financial and other costs in obtaining legal separation and
annulment. With this, it is much harder to represent marriage dissolutions in the country. In support
to this, in the paper of Abalos (2017), he concluded that the three main causes associated with
being divorced or separated among women in the Philippines: first, educational attainment, taking
into account the capacity of an individual to accept the responsibilities equipped in a marriage;
second, the type of the first union, i.e., if a couple already had legally bonded, which is also
considered to be associated with the risk of dissolution, if couples stay out of legal matters; third,
the woman’s childhood place of residence has shown to influence their experience of marital
dissolution.

However, due to the advancing and modernizing characteristics of Filipino society over
time, the family structure became more inclusive and extensive. Aside from the nuclear type of
family structure, which dominates across the years, the emergence of extended family, childless
family, stepfamily, as well as single-parent family has slowly become more acceptable in our
modern-day society.

2. Single Parents in the Philippines

An administrative order was released, in the year 2003, subjects towards the guidelines in
implementing psychosocial services for solo parents in the Philippines. As the rise in the
proportion of solo parents, counting 2.9 M nationwide has been recorded by the National Statistics
Office in the calendar year 2000, there has also been an increase in demands drawn from the
struggles that a solo parent experiences. In addition, the majority of the 2.9 M has been classified
as widowed and separated. The DSWD (2013) asserted that: "Solo parents go through a multitude
of stresses, which is a combination of psychological, physical, and emotional anxieties." The
anxieties caused by loss and separation from a partner were assumed by the department to bear too
much pain to these single parents. Aside from this, single parents also experience financial
difficulties, for allocating resources such as time, money, and work also include rearing children
solo. In addressing these social issues in single-parent cases, the government mandates the RA
8792, also known as the Solo Parents' Act of 2000. The program aims to improve the welfare of
these solo parents by offering a comprehensive package of services by providing non-monetary
benefits addressing a wide variety of needs and demands of these parents and their children.

2.1 Who are the solo parents?

Under the Solo Parents’ Act of 2000, any individual who falls under the following
categories were considered to be a solo parent:

Section 3, RA 9782

(1) A woman who gives birth as a result of rape and other crimes against chastity even without
a final conviction of the offender: Provided, That the mother keeps and raises the child;

(2) Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to death of a spouse;

(3) Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood while the spouse is detained or
is serving sentence for a criminal conviction for at least one (1) year;

(4) Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to physical and/or mental
incapacity of spouse as certified by a public medical practitioner;

(5) Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to legal separation or de
facto separation from spouse for at least one (1) year, as long as he/she is entrusted with the custody
of the children;

(6) Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to declaration of ‘ity or
annulment of marriage as decreed by a court or by a church as long as he/she is entrusted with
the custody of the children;

(7) Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to abandonment of spouse
for at least one (1) year;

(8) Unmarried mother/father who has preferred to keep and rear her/his child/children instead
of having others care for them or give them up to a welfare institution;

(9) Any other person who solely provides parental care and support to a child or children;

(10) Any family member who assumes the responsibility of head of family as a result of the
death, abandonment, disappearance or prolonged absence of the parents or solo parent.
2.2. What are the struggles of solo parents?

Solo parents face multiple struggles. From child-rearing responsibilities alone, attending
to their children’s needs and demands immediately, which more likely to just be an easy-flowing
work for two-parent households, is a struggle for solo parents. In line with this, solo parents also
face tight daily schedules allocated for schooling, if parents still attend one, economic work, as
well as attending for their well-being. A recent study by Garcia, Lim, Santiago, and Tus (2021),
has enumerated five typical issues that Filipino solo parents face related to work, finances,
demands for emotional development of a child, stigma, and the inaccessibility of government
benefits. For a better view, the researchers also added the relevance of the recent COVID-19
pandemic, as well as the pre-pandemic experiences of these parents.

2.2.1. Work

Go (1994) stated that the main source of income of 41.7% of Filipino families was wages
and salaries from work and the other 30.5% source out income from businesses and entrepreneurial
activities. According to Didier (2017), one of the characteristics of a two-parent household is that
they are more likely to be economically stable and less prone to poverty, in comparison to those
of a single-parent household. This occurs primarily because, in a two-parent household, there are
two or more separate sources of income, which is usually enough to cover for their daily
consumption and needs. In addition to this, two-parent households can divide work, child care,
and household chores efficiently, i.e., the allocation of labor and leisure will be easier if there is
more than one person to allocate time with. For single parents, there is a need for a more flexible
working schedule, more income sources, as well as more time for household chores and care work,
to be able to lessen the burden it takes for all responsibilities along with being solo. With this
already hard-to-adapt setup of solo parenting, Filipino single mothers experience a major downfall
and helplessness from the sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing other people to
be fired from work, due to the tight budget of employers for wages.

Taken from selected articles and studies, the following are some statements and actual
experiences of the single parents from pre-pandemic to pandemic periods, in terms of their working
conditions along with solo parenting:

Agnes Nieto, 53

At 30 years old, Agnes Nieto, 53, got separated from her husband, leaving her the
responsibility of taking care of her newly born child, Karl. The parenting life became hard for her,
so she reached out to Karl's father for financial and moral support, but her request got rejected.
This pushes her to tirelessly attend to different part-time jobs and a separate corporate job. As a
result, she was in labor for between 16 to 18 hours daily. As she stated:

“Ginagawa ko, nagta-trabaho ako ng mahigit 16 hanggang 18 hours kada araw para masigurado
kong malaki ‘yong kikitain.”
In terms of how I do it, I labor for 16 to 18 hours per day to be sure that I can earn more.

Mikah Franco, 24

The same struggles were experienced by Mikah Franco, 24, when she had her baby a year
before she was set to graduate with a degree in theater arts. She decided to take the next two years
off from school to juggle different jobs, one as a talent for party events, and one as a music
instructor.

Jessica, 30

Before the pandemic, Jessica worked at a burger shack earning at least Php 200 a day. She
is a single mother of three; 5-month old Raizen, 7-year old Abigail noted to be suffering from
malnourishment, and 8-year old Adrian who has a clinical attention disorder.

“I was already having a hard time as a single mother before COVID-19 but since the community
quarantine was imposed, I’ve never felt more helpless. It has been two months since I was rendered
jobless. It frustrates me and it breaks my heart when my children cry because of hunger,” she said.

For a better context, a 2007 report released by the World Health Organization (WHO), with
the collaboration of the Philippine Department of Health (DOH), and the University of the
Philippines, 95% of the single parents’ population of the Philippines were women, thus, single
mothers. It has been an interesting observation that most of the articles and studies written analyses
more of Filipino single mother’s experiences than that of single fathers. In conclusion, San
Valentin from World Vision describes the downward slope of the economy, due to the impacts of
the pandemic on this proportion of the population, an unexpected cause that severely took a toll
on the single mothers' physical, mental, and emotional well-being. The disruption and the loss of
jobs and livelihood are notably experienced by women, and this brought a heightened loss of
resources to meet their daily needs.

2.2.2. Financial

The working conditions experienced by solo parents were brought about by the struggle
for financial security. The costs of being a sole provider, without a partner, generate a range of
economic challenges. In the Philippines, it has been predicted that a family of five requires an
absolute minimum of Php 14,481 for basic food and non-food needs for a month. However, the
lack of stable income is felt by the aching stomach of those individuals on the threshold or within
the quartile of relative poverty (Thomson, 2020). Based on the results provided by Garcia et al.
(2021) in their study, the financial distress experienced by the 15 single-parent participants,
immensely cause by the pandemic, include going through days without food, struggled to pay bills
because of cash insufficiencies, and children unable to attend school because of several electrical
cutouts. Truly, the pandemic pushed the poorest and struggling households to the lowest point.
Thus, the government's immediate responses to address the struggles and needs of the most
vulnerable individuals for comprehensive and concrete programs, grants, and aids to economically
cater to them.

2.2.3. Emotional Development of a Child

Family is the basic foundation for the development of a child. The parents, besides work,
must have the capability to support and attend to their child's needs and wants. A child's learning
and socialization are most influenced by their family since it is every child's primary group
(Children's Bureau, n.d.). One of the disadvantages of a single-parent household, since a single
parent more likely juggles her time for economic work, is that there are higher chances for their
children to engage in drugs, alcohol, and other risk-taking behaviors (Didier, 2017). If the
foundation is not strong between the parent and the child, the children are less likely to be
successful in their future relationships with others, future work, and future health conditions.
Again, implementing training programs regarding child development might be able to help parents
adapt and cope with new strategies on their parenting styles.

2.2.4. Stigma

The discrimination carried by single mothers, even in modern-day society, has long
become a history in the Philippines. In one of the hearings in May 2017, a sexist joke was uttered
by Majority Leader Senator Tito Sotto, calling out Social Welfare Secretary and single mom Judy
Taguiwalo as “na-ano lang”. An opinion made by Inquirer (2017) suggested that ‘na-ano’ is a
loaded word for one that has been “used” for sex or has casual and accidental sex. Despite slipping
through the ‘joke’ made by the senator, it was in itself a form of harassment, particularly public
humiliation on Taguiwalo’s side. Therefore, it has been justified that marriage patterns and
dissolution are a factor in determining the high number of single mothers in the Philippines. In
support of this, Abalos (2017) found out that an alarmingly high number of Filipino men admit to
having extramarital sex. Specifically, the National Demographic and Health Survey (NSDH) found
out that 21% of Filipino men have experienced extramarital affairs. These statistics and remarks
imply not only a lack of respect of men to women and marriage, but also a lack of commitment of
men to taking responsibility. Not only in these aspects, but single mothers also experience
workplace discrimination, which creates higher borders for these parents to obtain better work
opportunities and earning potentials.

2.2.5. Inaccessibility of Government Benefits

To promote the family as the foundation of the nation by ensuring its total development
through the provision of a comprehensive program that will address the needs of solo parents, the
RA 8972 or Solo Parents' Welfare Act of 2000 was mandated by the Department of Social Welfare
and Development. In a short brief, the benefits have a wide range of projects targeting parents'
psychological well-being through programs such as individual counseling, peer supports, and
critical incident stress debriefing, and they also offer training and livelihood assistance. Aside from
these projects, parents, and children beneficiaries can also acquire benefits concerning working
schedules, working leaves, as well as scholarship programs for qualified beneficiaries. The policy
implemented constantly emphasizes its objectives to improve the well-being of solo parents,
because of the wide range of benefits offered.

However, a recent study written by Alday (2020) focusing on the "Level of Awareness on
the Privileges Given to Solo Parents in Bulacan State University" concluded that despite the
continuous communications with the faculty, students, and personnel, there is still an incidence of
unawareness of the privileges and benefits given by the Republic Act 8972. In the setup of the said
study, the respondents who participated in the study were classified to be single mothers, who
happen to be attending school, accepting part-time jobs, and taking responsibility for child care,
all at once. With the tight schedule that these single mothers have, results found out that some of
those aware single mothers opted not to inquire due to costs of transport, time-consuming
procedures on the application, and too specific eligibility requirements. On the other hand,
unaware single mothers range from the unknowing about the act, itself, unknowing of the
procedures on its application, and unknowing of their eligibility on the specified criteria provided.
The researchers wanted to assert that, if in a state university, where these single mothers already
have the chance to be reminded by faculty and personnel on these kinds of programs offered and
still a percentage of the population still gets unaware, how else in rural areas where information
from the government is much more inaccessible.

POLICY ANALYSIS

Solo Parents’ Welfare Act of 2000

In addressing the issue of the heightened population of single-parent households in the

Philippines, implemented policies must be guided with clear assessment procedures that will allow
the solo parents to avail the benefits of the Solo Parents' Welfare act of 2000, also known as RA
8972 (Guidelines on the Assessment of Solo Parents, 2003). The following are the main issues
identified by the researchers drawn from the policy:

1. Challenges in the Application Process

The identification of solo parents eligible to avail the services of the said program, as to
start, already consists of a demanding process.

Lack of knowledge on the qualifications

The information about the features of the program should not be limited to the knowledge
of local social workers, but it has to be defined with clarity among ordinary individuals who could
not make so much time to consult about the qualification measures of the program. In simple terms,
the lack of accessible information for those poor single-parent households on these types of
government programs, especially in rural areas. The gaps of knowledge may include the amount
of income requirement, where applicants might still need to check press releases of NEDA on the
poverty line, and since there is the absence of briefing on RA 8972 among the targeted single-
parent households, some potential applicants may withdraw applying due to lack of
comprehension.

Time-consuming procedures

Given the specific criteria that the department provides for solo parents, it might be that
these parent applicants face difficulties in providing proofs about their solo parenthood situation,
which requires legal papers to present their current status in the family; it can be in the form of
death certificates, separation papers, and affidavits. These requirements are not readily available
to all parents who are suffering left alone by their partners in any means or reason. The credentials
and certificates cannot be processed easily, it also bears costs, in terms of fare and photocopies,
that could take a toll on low-income households, given that they are below the poverty line. The
difficulties in providing the requirements cause parents to quit on their application. As a result, the
chances of obtaining the benefits and privileges of the law, which is supposed to give hope to their
family, will turn out to be unhelpful. In addition to this, given these parents' tight schedules, it is
more likely that they would just spend time on work and child work than processing papers for
days. Aside from papers, to be able to be qualified on the given criteria, they must also be duly
recognized by the barangay offices and government agencies. In the process of verification, they
were given "waiting time", when the applicant was in a single-parent setup in less than one (1)
year, before getting accepted. For low-income single-parent families, the one-year waiting time
could be discouraging.

2. Loopholes on the Benefits

In terms of benefits, solo parents can be catered with social development and welfare
services in the coordination of different local agencies including training for livelihood, family
counseling, child-rearing orientations, preventive stress management assistance, and protection
services. Aside from that, they are also given the privilege of a flexible work schedule and parental
leave to give them time for care work outside the workplace. At the same time, especially to single
parents who are struggling financially to send their children to school, educational benefits are
provided through scholarships and non-formal education opportunities not limited to children.
Given that not all single parents are secured with homes, they can have the opportunity to be
entitled to a place from housing projects. Most importantly, single-parent families will receive
medical assistance through health care programs developed by the DOH.

All were considered non-monetary benefits

The majority of single-parent households struggle financially, which results in these

parents resorting to tight schedules and juggling more than one job. The families that are eligible
under the policy are supported by free assistance in different social aspects: health, education,
employment, and housing. However, as the benefits claim to provide just assistance, these are
therefore considered as a form of 'non-direct benefits. In this case, the coverage of the policy is
very limited to the applicable social assistance that solo parent families relevantly need. In effect,
not all solo parent families can maximize the benefits of the policy. The services it offers are not
flexible enough to assist the families in different situations. The hardships of solo parents
financially cannot be addressed by non-monetary benefits in real-time. It demands cash grants to
resolve the financial need of the family. If one of the objectives of the government is to address
and raise the living standards of these families, then the benefits must consider the main cause of
solo-parent poverty, which is financial insecurity, through providing programs with conditional
cash grants, at least.

Educational grant was only intended for ‘qualified’ parents

In collaboration with the Commission on Higher Education, the policy provided specific
qualifications for those parents to avail themselves of the scholarship programs. For solo parents,
qualification includes income below the poverty line, not more than 40 years of age, a grade
requirement of 80% or higher in the last school attended, must be enrolled in CHED-priority
courses, should not be under any government scholarship grant, must be physically, and complete
application process in the target school. All other requirements were justifiable for a scholarship
grant, but given the low capability of low-income solo parents towards good and proper education
in the last school they attended and the struggles of juggling and hustling work for work, which
further affects their academic performance, the demand on high general weighted average sets off
to high borders for the grant's accessibility. With this, it defeats the purpose of strengthening these
parents' skills and abilities to produce well-equipped and more productive workers in the labor
market, if it only forces them to select those who have academic potential.

Expanded Solo Parents’ Welfare Act of 2000

For almost 19 years since the implementation of RA 8792, the pandemic has given more
attention to solo parents’ households. Just recently, Go (2020) headed the expansion of the policy
aiming to be more inclusive and more helpful to its targeted beneficiaries. A response to greater
challenges that sole parent families experience amid the COVID-19 pandemic, additional support
to bring up the families is made concerned.

1. On the definition of Solo parent

a. Reduction from one (1) year to six (6) months of taking responsibility of parenthood
alone before legal reasons of lonesome,
b. Any other person who bears sole parental responsibility of a child or children,
including a foster parent (duly recognized by DSWD), a legal guardian (appointed by
the court of a legal single adoptive parent).

2. Parental leave
a. Reduction of minimum rendered service requirement from one (1) year to six (6)
months to avail parental leave.

3. Issuance of Solo Parent Identification Card Requirements

a. Certification of Residency
b. Certification of solo parent qualification
i. From barangay
ii. From government agency (proof of birth of child/ children; legal papers that
proves parenting lonesome)
c. Income Tax Return (ITR)

The solo parent ID is only valid for one year upon issuance and subject for
renewal

4. Additional Benefits for Children

a. 10 % discount from all purchases of clothing and clothing materials for the child (0
to 2 years of age).
b. 15 % discount from all purchases of baby’s milk and food supplements (0 to 2 years
of age).
c. 15 % discount from all purchases of medicines and other medical supplements/
supplies (0 to 5 year of age)
d. 20 % discount from all purchases of school supplies for the child (0-21 years of age).
e. Tax Amnesty
f. Income tax exemption in the amount of Php 50,000.
g. 10 % tuition fee discount from public and private schools (grade school to college).

5. New Provisions
a. DSWD must provide:
i. An office of solo parents in every municipality
ii. Free legal assistance (in coordination with DOJ)
 b. Sanctions for non-compliance
i. Penalties
1. First violation: not less than Php 50,000
2. Second Violation: Php 100, 000
3. Third Violation: Php 200,000
* In addition to fine, the business may be ordered closed.

From the recently provided amendments, despite the qualifications of solo parents in terms
of the period, from the time they were left alone to solely take responsibility of the child/ children,
was reduced, to avail the benefits much earlier, other challenges remained: income requirement
was not specified, and the application procedure was not simplified, rather at one point, the
amended policy provides legal assistance that will help the solo parents in processing the critical
documents in proving their qualifications as solo parents. The compliance of companies in
acknowledging discounts to all purchases of solo parents on the basic needs of their children has
been strictly implemented to secure the rights of the families. This will somehow reduce the
expenses of parents that will help them to provide the essential needs enough for the welfare of
their child/ children. Again, discounts would only benefit the parents who can pay for their
consumption needs. In this case, they initially need cash to avail products to claim rewards as
discounts, defined in the policy. The poverty problem of the solo parents cannot be resolved, when
the benefits themselves are not applicable, given the financial situation of the family.

CONCLUSIONS:

Solo parents face multiple struggles ranging from work, finances, child-rearing, enduring
the society’s stigma on single parents, as well as the inaccessibility of the government benefits.
The issues mentioned pose an influence on these single-parent households’ standard of living.
Thus, the government implemented RA 8972 to raise the living standards of the 15M Filipino solo-
parent households. The policy provided comprehensive programs that targeted the needs of these
parents and children beneficiaries in terms of health, education, and work. However, the
researchers raise several issues on the policy, which include the challenges that solo parents face,
lack of knowledge and time-consuming procedures in the application process, and the loopholes
on offering non-monetary benefits and the too high standards in its scholarship grant qualifications.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS:

Researchers found limitations on the benefits that the current policy for solo parents has to
offer. The policy was only meant to support families who already have the initial sources of
income, by protecting their rights in the labor market, and by sustaining the development of their
children through education and health care assistance. To create balanced support among those
families who have nothing in the first place, additional support to solo parent households in
monetary terms is essential. But before proceeding, the researchers, first, wanted to propose
possible solutions on the following issues raised in the policy analysis section:

Lack of knowledge
The Expanded Solo Parents' Act of 2020 requires provinces, cities, and municipalities to
establish an office that shall serve as a hub, creating a support system for each solo parent residing
within the area. With the help of this, required public meetings providing full information on the
qualification requirements will be easily accessible.

Educational grant was only intended for ‘qualified’ parents

Scholarship programs' qualifications should be weakened, to allow parents, even with low
academic performance, to build their potential through schooling. In line with this, the researchers
wanted to propose only an exam requirement, which just requires basic knowledge depending on
each level’s required primary subjects, where parents must have at least 75% to pass, rather than
a grade cut-off.

Main Argument: Expanded Solo Parents’ Welfare Act of 2020 should offer cash grants.

The researchers recognize the double hardship imposed on solo-parent households, as they
perform parental duties single-handedly in the face of economic difficulties and the high cost of
living. As to address the main argument of the paper, the researchers mainly argue the need for the
law to address financial concerns of solo parents, aside from the provided benefits, by affording
them additional cash benefits to be able to provide a better quality of life. The researchers propose
the following specific policy modification:

(Section 9. Educational Benefits)

Suppose a parent or a child got qualified for the specific scholarship grant they prefer. A
cash allowance might be obtained by a parent or a child, or both at the same time, through fulfilling
the following criteria, every end of the semester:

a. Must have a general weighted average of at least 75%

b. Must maintain an attendance of at least 80% of the class days
c. Must be enrolled in not less than the minimum academic load requirement per semester

The criteria provided by the researchers aim to motivate the qualified beneficiaries to do
well in school, which will more likely produce good academic outcomes. The remarkable
academic outcomes obtained from formal education will more likely produce more competitive
and productive workers in the labor market, which is a great addition for better quality on the flow
of workers. In the futuristic perspective, parents and children with good academic records will be
more likely to have better job opportunities than those with low ones. In a way, this is a win-win
situation, parents and children are better off with the allowance now, and the government is better
off with producing productive and competitive laborers in the future.
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