By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
Abandonment of parents will be a no-no if a bill will be passed into a law requiring children to support their elderly parents in need.
Senator Lito Lapid filed Senate Bill 2519, which seeks to provide legal assistance to needy elderly parents to demand support from their children or relatives.
The bill, known as “An act providing for the maintenance and support of elderly members of the family and for other purposes,†cited the growing incidence of elderly people being neglected by their children.
“This bill re-enforces the duty of children to care for their elderly parents, providing elderly persons with recourse to the law. The State shall provide the legal assistance to elderly people in the enforcement of their right to demand support from their relatives,†Lapid said in his explanatory note of the bill.
The proposed measure requires children to support their father and mother or other direct ascendants “who are in need."
The abandoned parents or a representative from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) may file a court petition to compel “any or all†of their children to provide support.
“Upon trial the elderly member shall be represented by a lawyer from the public attorney's office and shall be exempt from all charges and fees,†the bill further said.
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