By Liza Soriano
MANILA — Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has urged the government to have conditional cash support for orphans, saying that the state has constitutional duty to act as a second parent of abandoned children.
“If we’re allotting P100 billion for 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program), why can’t we allot a certain amount for orphans?” he asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development during the plenary debate.
“Blessed pa nga ‘yung mga anak ng mahihirap dahil may magulang sila, [samantalang] itong mga orphan walang magulang,” he added.
Cayetano suggested that the agency identify stunted children in orphanages and offer financial assistance to each of them through the care facilities.
“It’s like a 4Ps din, pero instead of dealing with individual parents, you’re dealing with those running the institution,” he said.
Meanwhile, in 2022, upon his return to the Senate, Cayetano filed Senate Bill No. 301 or the Trust Fund for the Abandoned, Neglected, or Voluntarily Committed Child, which seeks to put up a trust fund account for every abandoned, neglected, or voluntarily committed child, to be managed by DSWD in partnership with a trust entity.
ia/mnm
