A CONGRESSMAN on Sunday urged the House of Representatives to support his bill imposing penalties against fathers refusing to provide financial support to children, ahead of its scheduled panel deliberation next week.
“We urgently need this law. Fathers who refuse to support their children, especially after abandoning their families, must be punished,” Party-list Rep. Erwin T. Tulfo said in a statement.
House Bill (HB) No. 8987, filed by lawmakers headed by Party-list Rep. Erwin T. Tulfo, and approved by the House children welfare committee in March 2024, aims to mandate that at least 10% of a father’s salary be allocated for child support.
“We thank our colleagues in Congress for advancing this bill, but we hope it can be expedited further to hold heartless fathers who abandoned their own children accountable,” Mr. Tulfo added.
About 15 million Filipinos are solo parents, with 95% being single mothers, according to the bill’s explanatory note.
Fathers who fail to pay child support for one year, or accrued P50,000 of unremitted financial support, will be held liable under the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio