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MANILA, Philippines — Four lawmakers are pushing for a P2,000-monthly subsidy for parents of children with disability to help defray the costs of raising children with handicaps.
House Bill No. 6743, or the Monthly Subsidy for Parents of Children With Disability Act, was filed on Jan. 10 by Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, Benguet Rep. Eric Yap, and ACT-CIS Reps. Edvic Yap and Jeffrey Soriano.
In pushing for the subsidy, the lawmakers cited a United Nations Children’s Fund study, which showed that expenses in raising a child with disability is “40 to 80 percent higher than other children without disabilities.”
The National Council on Disability Affairs, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Statistics Authority, National Privacy Commission, and local governments will be tasked to create a database of all children with disability.
The subsidy automatically ceases once the child with a disability turns 21 years old.