Companies urged to grant discounts to single parents

MULTINATIONAL and local companies should give 20-percent discounts on single parents’ purchase of milk, diaper and medicine products, especially during Christmas season, a lawmaker said Tuesday. Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez of You Against Corruption and Poverty (Yacap) party-list noted that such move would rally the much needed support for her proposed House Bill 3391 which seeks to amend the Solo Parent’s Welfare Act by giving 20-percent discounts to single parents purchasing milk or formula products, medicines and supplements, diapers and other necessary infant items.

Lopez underscored that the companies are more than capable of providing discounts, considering that the annual reports of companies manufacturing and selling milk, diaper and medicine products have shown that these businesses can earn as much as 30 to 60-billion yearly.

“Since most of them are spending millions in Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] projects and activities to earn goodwill from the local market from whom they earn billions annually, then giving discounts on their products to dependents of single parents would be the highest form of CSR for them,” Lopez said.

Lopez, a single mother, cited that single parents who make up 14 percent to 15 percent of an estimated 94 million Filipinos are considered one of society’s most vulnerable groups, since solo parents spend an average of P5,000 to P8,000 a month raising babies 4 years old and below.

“This is the best time for multinational companies to play Santa Claus and give single parents discounts on basic products that eat up their already limited income,” she pointed out.

Should Lopez’s House Bill 3391 prosper in Congress, those companies who will fail to provide the necessary discounts will be fined from P10,000 to P50,000 or face imprisonment of not less than six months but not more than one year, or both at the discretion of the Court. Subsequent violators, on the other hand, will be fined from P100,000 to P200,000 or face imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than two years, or both.

At least 100 members of the House members, according to Lopez, has expressed their support for her proposed measure including the bill’s co-authors namely: Representatives Ferdinand Martin Romualdez (First District of Leyte), Wilfrido Mark Enverga (First District of Quezon), Florencio Flores (Second District of Bukidnon), Alfredo Garbin Jr. (Ako Bicol party-list), Oscar Malapitan (First District of Caloocan), Mariano Piamonte Jr. (A-Teacher party-list), and Rep. Deogracias Ramos Jr. (Second District of Sorsogon). –LLANESCA T. PANTI, Manila Times