"This is a better option than suing their children who abandon them."
"This is a better option than suing their children who abandon them."
There is a growing concern in Congress about old and disabled members of society, especially the neglected and abandoned.
Senator Manuel Lito Lapid has filed a bill proposing to criminalize withholding support to elderly, sickly and incapacitated parents. This would reinforce the duty of children to take care of their elderly, sickly or otherwise incapacitated parents.
The bill further says that children, within their means and capacity, should support their father or mother. If they are over 60 or suffering from a disease or disability, they are incapable of supporting themselves.
The bill also says among the people mentioned in Article 195 of the Family Code who are obliged to give support to each other are parents and their children.
Lapid said: “This means that the obligation of support cuts both ways—parents must support their children, especially during their years of minority and dependency. On the other hand, children who are already capable must take case of their parents, who are in need.” The bill says that the Department of Social Welfare and Development can initiate the filing of a criminal action against children for deprivation of support.
Deputy Majority Leader and Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas also proposed “Care for the Elderly and Persons with Disability Act” out of concern over the rising incidence of abuse and abandonment of the elderly and disabled.
According to the Demographic Research and Development Foundation Inc., the elderly sector is the fastest growing sector in the country, amounting to 7 percent of the population. This is projected to increase to 16 percent in 2045.
Santa Banana, based on the foundation’s 2018 Longitudinal Study of Aging and Health in the Philippines, nearly half (47 percent) of older people in the country are beneficiaries of the P500-monthly social person provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The DSWD Targeting Data revealed that as of 2016, there were about 277,000 poor people with disability!
While I agree with the need to stop and to criminalize this abuse of this vulnerable sector, I believe that it would address only half of the problem.
My wife and I are blessed and fortunate that our only daughter, Nina, took us into her house. She saw that we were having difficulty living by ourselves in a condominium, with the help coming in the morning but leaving at about 6 or 7 in the evening.
We know more than a dozen friends and relatives who have been widowed, living alone, some without any household help at all, and others living a pitiful and miserable life. I cited the instances in an earlier column.
These are the people who, in their productive years, also contributed greatly to the economy.
My wife and I have visited homes for the aged in the United States. Those living there seem perfectly happy despite having been neglected and abandoned by their children.
The advantage of the aged, old, and disabled Americans is that when they reach the age of 65, they receive pension plans, and their hospitalization is free. Their pension pays for their stay in these homes. We in the Philippines don’t have that protection. While we have the country’s health insurer, PhilHealth, paying part of our hospitalization expenses, this is almost always not enough.
This is why I am suggesting to Congress to provide homes for the aged, sickly, abandoned sector and disabled by the LGU or local government units. This would be completely financed by the government complete with a staff of doctors and nurses and other health workers. President Duterte would go down in history as a leader compassionate toward the elderly if he required that of LGUs.
For those who have the wherewithal, Duterte could seek the cooperation and help of the conglomerates and taipans as part and parcel of their Corporate Social Responsibility to build similar homes. I am sure they will help.
Among the LGUs that will help are mayors of Makati City, Quezon City, Manila City, and others. They can certainly afford it. I know some homes for the aged in the US run by private sectors and they tell me that it’s a very profitable business.
This proposal could go a long way to protect the elderly, more than penalizing the children who abandon them.
This sad occurrence goes against the nature of Asian families, whose members will take care of and protect each other at all costs.
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The sudden surge of COVID-19 cases, which according to health experts is caused by the entry of variants from the U.K. and South Africa, is cause for worry amid the vaccine rollout.
The big question now is: Can the vaccines now stop this surge? This is something that the health experts and President Duterte to worry about, and hopefully we will know the answer soon.
With the sudden surge of new COVID-19 cases, another question in the minds of people is: What, then, of the plan to put us under MGCQ?
