CEBU CITY -- When is a teacher "poor"? When is a small business owner "indigent"? For Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, the answer shouldn’t just be about how much you earn every month. It should also be about what life throws at you.
In his weekend podcast “Chiz Wiz! Usapang May Laman,” the veteran lawmaker called for a broader, uniform definition of indigency, one that recognizes that a family can be financially stable one day, and broke the next because of cancer treatment or a P500,000 legal bill.
Right now, Escudero said, the government treats "indigency" as a single box and that box usually means "4Ps beneficiary." But the rules are messy. Barangays issue certificates of indigency under the Local Government Code. The Public Attorney’s Office uses PSA poverty lines. DSWD uses its own targeting system for 4Ps.
The result: families who don’t qualify on paper are turned away, even when they clearly can’t pay. “Ano ba talaga ibig sabihin ng indigency? Meaning 4Ps ka ba?” Escudero asked. “Ang problema kasi sa batas natin iisa lang ibig sabihin ng indigency. Pero para sa akin iba’t iba ang level ng indigency.”
Escudero wants government to recognize that poverty has different faces. A family with a child undergoing leukemia? They could be classified as “cancer-indigent.” A couple filing for nullity of marriage facing P200,000 to P500,000 in legal fees? “Litigation-indigent.”
“Pag may nagkasakit sa pamilya mo, tulad ng cancer, cancer-indigent ‘yung pamilya mo,” he said. “Kamukha rin nito magpa-file ka ng nullity of marriage, hindi naman ganon kadaling pulutin ‘yung P200,000 to P500,000 na panggastos diyan, di ba? So, litigation-indigent siya.”
Even teachers and other professionals who earn above minimum wage, he noted, can fall into these categories when hit with extraordinary expenses.
His guest on the podcast, litigation lawyer Maggie Garduque, said it’s doable. The Constitution’s equal protection clause, she explained, allows government to create different classifications as long as they address real needs.
For Escudero, the goal is simple: make legal aid, medical assistance, and other government services reach the people who actually need them, not just those who fit an outdated income cutoff.
“Indigency, therefore, should also be defined by circumstance, and not just income,” he said.
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