Should adult children face prison for failing to care for their elderly parents? That’s the contentious question dividing the Philippines after a senator revived a bill to make filial neglect a criminal offence.
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Senator Panfilo Lacson first pushed his Parents Welfare Act in 2019 but it failed to gain much traction. The bill, which he refiled earlier this month, recognises care for the elderly as a shared duty of children and the government, but if enacted it would empower courts to penalise those who fail in their filial obligations.
“This proposed bill … seeks to further strengthen filial responsibility and to make it a criminal offence in case of flagrant violation thereof,” Lacson said in a statement on July 15. “Abandonment of a parent in need of support shall likewise constitute a criminal act.”
Lacson lamented seeing abandoned elderly people on Philippine streets, noting that, despite a cultural tradition of strong family bonds, “children fail to provide the necessary support to their ageing, sick and incapacitated parents. This happens despite our moral and natural obligation to maintain our parents who are in need of support.”
Under the measure, children would be legally obliged to provide for parents unable to support themselves, with the duty passing to grandchildren if necessary. Parents seeking redress could access free legal representation, while children failing to provide support for three consecutive months, without valid reason, would face up to six months’ imprisonment or a fine of 100,000 pesos (US$1,800).
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