Abusive, negligent parents can’t demand support from kids 

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson | PHOTO: Bibo Nueva España/Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — The proposed Parents Welfare Act of 2025 does not include parents who have abused, hurt or neglected their own children, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said in response to misconceptions about Senate Bill 396, which he recently refiled.

The measure penalizes children who abandon or fail to provide the necessary support needed by their elderly, sick, or incapacitated parents.

“Abuse, abandonment, or neglect by parents of their children are exempting circumstances. Under the proposed measure, the child has no obligation to support parents who abused, abandoned, or neglected him/her,” Lacson said in a statement.

Critics have said the bill does not consider the situation of people who are not financially capable, as well as those who were abused or neglected by their own parents.

Others said it shifts the responsibility of caring for the elderly to the public from the government, which should be further improving its health and welfare programs for the country’s aging population.

Lacson’s bill seeks support for parents who are senior citizens or sickly or who, regardless of age, are permanently incapacitated or incapable of supporting themselves.

But he noted that under Section 16 of his bill, if parents ask the court to order their children to support them, a judge may dismiss their petition or reduce the amount of support to be provided if it is determined that they abandoned, abused, or neglected their children.

Lacson cited Article 195 of the Family Code, which stresses the legal obligation of each member of the family to support each other.

No obligation

But under his bill, children who have no financial capability to support their parents are not obliged to do so.

Lacson also said that the bill does not mean the government is passing on the burden of supporting elderly parents to their children.

He pointed to a provision in the bill that requires the establishment of an “Old Age Home” in every province and highly urbanized city, with each facility able to accommodate at least 50 parents.