THE Iloilo City Council approved on the first reading a proposed ordinance providing benefits and privileges for single parents in the city.
On June 11, during the City Council’s session, Councilor Lyndon Acap raised the “Single-Parent Ordinance of the City of Iloilo” to mainly support them with some advantages.
“It has been recognized that some of the families are headed by a solo parent,” Acap said.
He said that the responsibility of the raising their family especially the children were considered as a “myriad of task.”
He cited “a decade old data” which shows that there were “almost 14 million single parent out of 94 million of Filipinos as of 2007 with a 30.5 percent growth rate.”
With the proposed ordinance, any single parent in the city can avail the use of express, priority or special lane.
It was also included their use of priority parking space and special or priority seats in all kinds of public convenience.
All commercial and government establishments are mandated to provide the said services with a priority space for the single parents and put up a signage within their premises.
These privileges can be availed by presenting a single parent ID issued or Solo Parent Identification Card issued by the city government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, respectively.
Complaints against the establishment who were unable to follow the ordinance will filed to the Business and Licensing Division for investigation.
Those establishments or public convenience failure of ordinance compliance will be fined with the amount of three thousand pesos or six months imprisonment dependent of the court’s discretion and cancellation of its business permit.
The proposed ordinance was referred to the committee on women and family relations headed by councilor Liezl Joy Salazar. (Carolyn Jane Abello)