Not paying child support? This solon will send you to jail via his bill

Published November 8, 2022, 11:13 AM

by Ellson Quismorio, MB

Parents who deliberately and repeatedly neglect their obligation of providing child support should be sent to jail. 

(Ye Jinghan/ Unsplash)

Thus, said Davao City 1st district Rep. Paolo Duterte, author of House Bill (HB) No.4807.

Under the measure, parents with recurring offenses of failing to send financial support to their child or children will be punished with imprisonment of two to four years, depending on the discretion of the courts.

These “deadbeat” parents will also be made to pay a fine ranging from P100,000 to P300,000.

“Solo parents already have the responsibility of taking care of their kids on their own. They should not be burdened with the problem of compelling their irresponsible and negligent ex-partners to pay child support,” Duterte said.

“This proposed law aims to ensure that their kids have sufficient support for their subsistence and other essential needs,” added the Mindanaoan.

Noting that most negligent parents withholding child support are men, Duterte said these deadbeat fathers should be made to own up to their responsibilities by imposing stringent penalties on them.

The amount of child support under HB 4807 shall not be lower than P6,000 a month, which is equivalent to P200 a day. The combined monthly net incomes of both parents shall be used in determining the amount of child support, which shall be divided proportionately between the two based on their respective net incomes.

First-time offenders may be granted probation under the measure.

Benguet lone district Rep. Eric Yap and ACT-CIS Party-list Reps. Edvic Yap and Jeffrey Soriano are Duterte’s co-authors.

Former Philippine President Aquino could face jail ...

... over police raid

The former president of the Philippines faces charges for a 2015 police raid that left 44 officers dead. Benigno Aquino was indicted for usurping authority and allowing a suspended police chief to run the fatal raid.

Philippine Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales ordered criminal negligence charges against former President Benigno Aquino III for a 2015 operation that left 44 officers dead. During the raid, militants ambushed 400 police commandos sent to kill a Malaysian extremist. Aquino had entrusted police chief Alan Purisima - at the time suspended and facing corruption charges - with planning the operation to arrest a terror suspect in the town of Mamasapano, in Maguindanao province.

A Senate inquiry found that Purisima and Napenas failed to coordinate the operation with the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a rebel group that could have mediated. As a result of the carnage, the congress refused to pass a Muslim self-rule bill that would have crowned Aquino's efforts to bring lasting peace to the rebellion-torn Mindanao region, home to the Catholic nation's large Islamic minority. The congress could look at a new such bill within the next two weeks.

Carpio-Morales also plans to file charges against Purisima and another former official, Getulio Napenas.

 

Watch video01:05

Civilians flee fighting in southern Philippines

'Some erroneous conclusions'

Ernesto Abella, the spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte , hailed the "heroic sacrifice" of the slain police commandos after Carpio-Morales announced the charges. "It is his - and the nation's - hope to finally bring justice to the victims and families of the Fallen 44 and put closure to the issue as part of the healing process," Abella said, speaking for Duterte.

Aquino, president from 2010 to 2016, could face several years in prison if convicted. An aide said the former president planned to study the Ombudsman's decree in order to file a motion for reconsideration. "An initial reading shows that there may have been a misappreciation of some facts surrounding the incident, leading to some erroneous conclusions," the aide said in a statement.

The bloodbath, infamously known as the "Mamasapano Massacre," helped to turn public opinion against Aquino, who later unsuccessfully campaigned to prevent the election of Duterte as his successor. The new president has frequently raised the Mamasapano incident as proof of his predecessor's misdeeds. Duterte's supporters had also filed a complaint of "reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide" against Aquino, but Carpio-Morales dismissed that.