HB5088 - AN ACТ PROVIDING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, SERVICES, AND PROTECTION TO FAMILY CAREGIVERS OF PERSONS WITH AUTISM, NEURODIVERGENCE, AND DISABILITIES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Every day in communities across the Philippines, unpaid family caregivers quietly shoulder a heavy burden. They are parents, siblings, grandparents (often grandmothers), and solo parents who devote themselves full-time to caring for persons with autism, neurodivergent conditions, or disabilities. In the absence of sufficient formal care systems, these family members have become the invisible backbone of our nation's disability and long-term care support structure. They sacrifice career opportunities, financial stability, and even their own health out of love and necessity, ensuring the survival, dignity, and development oftheir loved ones. This is social justice issue - those who give so much of themselves deserve recognition and support. Yet today, family caregivers remain largely unrecognized and unsupported by our institutions. Most receive no financial aid, no legal protection, and little respite. The burden falls disproportionately on women: time-use surveys show Filipino women spend triple the hours men do on unpaid care work (6.5 hours vs 2.2 hours daily on primary caregiving tasks), often amounting to the equivalent of another full-time job[2]. This unpaid labor, while born out of love, comes at great personal cost. Globally and in the Philippines, research links intensive caregiving with worsened mental health for caregivers - anxiety, burnout, and depression rates are markedly higher in those tending to high-need family members. Many caregivers live in economic precarity as well, having given up jobs or income to provide full-time care. It is telling that the labor force participation rate of women lags significantly behind men (56% vs 77% as of 2023) in part due to care responsibilities limiting their opportunities. In short, family caregivers often become financially vulnerable, socially isolated, and physically exhausted, all while performing a role that benefits society at large. It is time for the State to recognize unpaid family caregiving as a form of productive work - as real and valuable as any other - that merits support and protection. The 1987 Constitution's equal protection clause and social justice provisions impel us to uplift marginalized sectors; in this case, the marginalized include those whose unpaid care labor has been too long taken for granted. The Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities (RA 7277) already declares it a policy of the State to ensure the well-being and integration of persons with disabilities, pledging full support to improve their total well-being. Fulfilling that mandate means not only caring for the persons with disabilities themselves but also assisting those who care for them. Indeed, RA 7277 recognizes that the family and community are partners in a disabled person's welfare, and calls on government to support programs addressing their needs. Likewise, the Universal Health Care Act (RA 11223) aims for health for all - including mental health - and the National Mental Health Act (RA 11036) stresses access to mental health services, which family caregivers urgently need given the emotional toll of caregiving. The Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act (RA 11861) provides a modest P1,000 monthly subsidy and other benefits to solo parents earning minimum wage and below, acknowledging the hardships of single-handedly raising a child. But many family caregivers - for example, a sibling caring for a brother with a disability, or an elderly parent caring for an adult child - do not qualify for those solo parent benefits. And while the recently enacted Caregivers Welfare Act (RA 11965) protects the rights of professional or employed caregivers (such as domestic workers or caregivers by occupation) with decent work standards, it does not cover unpaid family members who provide care out of familial obligation. There is thus a gaping policy gap that this bill seeks to fill. Continue reading here: https://docs.congress.hrep.online/legisdocs/basic_20/HB05088.pdf https://www.congress.gov.ph/house-members/view/?member=E005&name=AGARAO%2C+BENJAMIN+C.%2C+JR.

No evidence has been contributed yet. Be the first to contribute!