Quezon City 5th District Rep. Patrick Michael ‘PM’ Vargas filed a bill on Tuesday seeking welfare assistance for widows under the proposed ‘Widowed Persons Assistance Act,’ or House Bill 5395.
Once enacted, the bill will provide temporary financial assistance, psychosocial counseling, livelihood support, and priority access to social services for indigent widowed Filipinos.
‘We will not let them grieve alone, but rather we will prepare them for the challenge of losing their life partner,’ Vargas said.
According to Vargas, the Widowed Persons Assistance Act will cover all widows regardless of age, but it is seen to benefit the elderly the most, due to their limited capacity to secure employment.
‘Our goal is to help especially older widows and give them a chance to get back on their feet,’ he said in Filipino.
Vargas also said the bill goes hand in hand with the Expanded Senior Citizens Act and the Universal Healthcare Act, which ensures that widows are provided with their specific needs.
‘This bill, if we can enact it, will not only give new hope to our senior citizens. It is also our government’s way of conveying that we see them, we value them, and we will remain with them in their final years,’ Vargas said.
Out of the entire household population in the country, 4.5 percent are widowed persons, 75 percent of whom are women, based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.