Short answer. Yes, it can. Being left with the children because your spouse abandoned you for at least one year makes you a solo parent. RA 8972 defines a solo parent to include one left alone with parenthood due to abandonment of spouse for at least one (1) year — and RA 11861 has since widened this.
What the law says
Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to abandonment of spouse for at least one (1) year
RA 8972, Section 3 — Who Counts As Solo Parent. Read the full provision →
Abandonment for at least a year qualifies
Republic Act No. 8972, the Solo Parents' Welfare Act, lists the categories of people the law treats as solo parents. One of them is a parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to abandonment of spouse for at least one (1) year. Two things stand out. The abandonment must have left you actually carrying the responsibility of parenthood on your own, and it must have lasted at least a year. A brief absence or a temporary separation is not enough; the law asks for a real, sustained abandonment before the solo-parent status attaches.
The law has since been expanded
Importantly, RA 8972 no longer states the full current rule. Republic Act No. 11861 (2022), the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act, broadened who qualifies as a solo parent, eased the service requirement tied to solo-parent leave, and added benefits — including a discount and VAT exemption — that the older text does not contain. So the abandonment category should be read as a floor, not a ceiling. Anyone claiming solo-parent status because of a spouse's abandonment should check RA 11861 for the current, wider definition and the current package of benefits, rather than rely on the 2000 text alone.
Status can change, and so can eligibility
Being a solo parent is a status tied to a factual situation, and RA 8972 says so: a change in the parent's circumstance, such that he or she is no longer left alone with the responsibility of parenthood, ends eligibility for the benefits. If the abandoning spouse returns and resumes parental duties, or the children cease to be dependent, the basis for the status can fall away. The benefits also generally concern children who live with and depend on the solo parent, so the family's actual living arrangement matters as much as the label.
Claiming the status
Qualifying as a solo parent is what unlocks the law's benefits — parental leave, a flexible work schedule, and the additional entitlements added by the later Act. In practice the status is established and claimed through the local social welfare office, typically by securing a Solo Parent Identification Card that proves eligibility to employers and agencies. Because the definition turns on facts like the length of the abandonment and who actually cares for the children, keeping records that show the abandonment and your sole responsibility helps make the claim, and confirming the current terms under RA 11861 is the sensible first step.