The Cebu City Council’s decision to pass the ordinance granting a P5,000 cash aid to single/solo parents brings with it many implications far beyond what its author, Councilor Gerardo Carillo, may have intended.
The goal perhaps was to give assistance to indigent single parents who can hardly find gainful employment or livelihood. Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos’ points of opposition should be given consideration before the ordinance is signed into law.
One was on the three-election requirement in which the beneficiary is required to be a registered voter in Cebu City for three elections. By that time, delos Santos said, the single parent may have married someone else or at least received support from her former partner in the case of single female parents.
The three-election requirement may have been inserted by Carillo to defuse speculations that the ordinance is intended as a political tool to draw more voters for the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) party which he is affiliated with.
Another concern is the fact that the Cebu City government is already stretched enough as it is finding cash assistance for the senior citizens and the scholarship funds for indigent but deserving students.
Of course this wasn’t helped by the exorbitant promises of Mayor Michael Rama to raise the cash amount in a bid to draw votes. Already, the promise of cash assistance has drawn more seniors to Cebu City like moths to a flame.
Next thing we know, the Cebu City government will promise cash aid to the recently unemployed. Both sides of the political fence are guilty of making promises and laws that offer assistance to the city residents in a bid to ensure their election victories.
We also wonder whether the Catholic Church realizes that the single parents ordinance may encourage indigent city residents to forego marriage in order to avail of the P5,000 cash aid.
While it is the couple’s business whether or not to stay together in legal and spiritual union, the ordinance at least provides them an attractive option to drop out of it altogether. How this would impact on the child is something else.
At the very least Rama was right when he said the ordinance needs further study and consultation among a wide range of stakeholders. Throwing money to a problem such as indigent single parents is not a feasible solution just as making doleouts is not a solution to resolve poverty in the long run.