Republic of the Philippines RECCEIVED
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City | ATE _25 aug 2016.

TNS ey
SEVENTEENTH concnfss ey: (ew

First Regular Session
ATION UNIT
> INDEX SERVICE

Introduced by Honorable Rosenda Ann Ocampo

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

‘This bill seeks to ease the financial burden on families who have children with special
needs. Parents and legal guardians will be allowed a tax deduction to help deal with expenses
incurred for the child’s therapy, education and treatment.

Children with the disabitities have personal challenges far in excess of those
considered regular and healthy children. Parents need to pay for specialized services such as
occupational, physical and speech therapies to improve the quality of life of their children.

‘The Department of Education’s Special Education Division estimates the cost for
taking care of a child with a disability is at feast doubled compared to regular children.

A child with a disability is understood to be a child who is intellectually disabled, has
hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual
impairments, serious emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism and traumatic
brain injury.

Based on the 2009 Family Income and Expenditure Survey, Filipino families earned
an average of P206,000.00 and spent Php176,000.00 on the average. This translates to an
average annual family savings of P31,000.00 in 2009. On a monthly basis, the reported
average income was P17,200.00 and average expenditure was P14,700.00.

Families in the bottom 30% income group reported an average annual family income
of P62,000.00. Families in the upper 70% income group earned an average annual income of
268,000.00. On a monthly basis, the average income of the families in the bottom 30% was
5,200.00 while the upper 70% earned an average of P22,300.00.


Children with a learning disability topped the list of special needs children enrolled in
a public elementary school as of 2009. A total of 51,296 children were assessed as learning
disabled, while the number of mentally retarded/intellectually disabled children stood at
13,119. Children who are hearing impaired ranked third with 12,039.

For Schoo! Year 2007 to 2008m, the number of enrolled children with special needs
in public and private elementary schools stood at 92,429. This translates to a 27.6% increase
compared to School Year 2004 to 2005's total of 79,118. Many children no longer pursue
secondary education or stay in elementary schools for an extended of time.

In the provinces, children with different disabilities are often grouped together rather
than having separate classes for each condition. Ideally, there should be 10 to 15 students
with special needs per teacher. However, the existing student to teacher ratio is 25:1 and
children with different disabilities are grouped in the same class.

This bill aims to help parents and legal guardians provide better support and special
care for a child with special needs by reducing their expenses.

The immediate approval of this bill is earnestly sought.



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

3327

HOUSE BILL No.

Introduced by Honorable Rosenda Ann Ocampo

AN ACT
GRANTING TAX DEDUCTIONS TO PARENTS AND LEGAL GUARDIANS
OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

SECTION I, Declaration of Policy. — Its the policy of the State to promote the right
of every individual to relevant quality education regardless of sex, age, breed, socio-
economic status, physical and mental condition, social or ethnic origin, political and other
affiliation. Further, the State shall promote and maintain equality of access to education and
medical care as well as the enjoyment of benefits of education by all its citizens.

SECTION 2. Definition. — For the purposes of this Act, these terms are defined as
follows:

Qualified Children with Special Needs ~ means a legitimate, illegitimate or legally
adopted child chiefly dependent and living with the taxpayer. This also covers children with
special needs who are placed under the legal custody of an immediate family member or
relative, The child should not be more than 13 years of age and must be assessed by the
Department of Education’s Special Education Division and a medical professional in order to
qualify. This does not cover children considered mentally gifted or fast feaners.

Autism ~ A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal
communication and social interaction, generally evident before the age of three (3), that
adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated
with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance (0
environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory
experiences. The term does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely
affected because the child has an emotional disturbance.


Deafness — A hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing
linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a
child’s educational performance;

Intellectually Disabled — Significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning,
existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the
developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s performance;

Hearing Impaired — An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that
adversely affects a child’s performance.

Serious Emotional Disturbance — A condition exhibiting one or more of the following
characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a
child’s educational performance:

A. An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health
factors;

B. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers
and teachers:

C. Inappropriate types of behaviors or feeling under normal circumstances;

D. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression;

E. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or
school problems;

ii, The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are

socially matadjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.

Orthopedic Impairment — A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s
educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by congenial anomaly (e.g.,
club foot, absence of some member), impairments caused by disease (e.g. poliomyelitis, bone
tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g. cerebral palsy, amputations, and
fractures or burns that cause contractures).

Visual Impairment ~ An impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects
a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial and sight blindness.

Traumatic Brain Injury - An acquired injury to the brain cause by an external physical
force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment or both,
and that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term applies to open or
closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition;
language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem solving;
sensory; perceptual and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions;
information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are
congenital or degenerative or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.


Speech or Language Impaired — A communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired
articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects a child’s
educational performance.

Specific Learning Disability — A disorder in one of the basic psychological processes
involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself
in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical
calculations. Such term includes conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury,
minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and development aphasia.

SECTION 3. Deduction from Taxable Income. — A qualified taxpayer is entitled to a
deduction of 50,000.00. Expenses that qualify for deduction are:

‘* Tuition fora private schoot

© Therapy

‘© Diagnostic evaluations by a medical professional

© Tutoring

‘* Transportation expenses to school or a medical facility
© Speciatized instructional materials

The parent or legal guardian must provide more than half of the total financial support
for the child to qualify for the deduction.

SECTION 4. implementation. — The Bureau of Internal Revenue in consultation
with the Department of Education’s Special Education Division and Department of Health
shall formulate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purpose of this
Act.

SECTION 5. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette and two (2) newspapers with a nationwide circulation.

APPROVED.