1

MESSAGE

Dear Readers,

Year 2007 was good for the country economic-wise. Both GNP and GDP showed marked
improvement from 2006 registering growths of 7.8% and 7.3%, respectively. However, results
of the latest Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) reflect the worsening of poverty
from 24.4% in 2003 to 26.9% in 2006. The first quarter of 2008 has not been very positive
either, with the crisis in rice production and the rising prices of food. These indicate that much
still needs to be done with regard to ensuring inclusive growth. In the Philippines Development
Forum (PDF) held on 26-27 March 2008, there was a consensus that long-term economic
progress cannot be achieved without improving the geographic and sectoral distribution of
economic gains. This emphasizes the importance of inclusive growth, or ensuring that no one
is left behind as the economy progresses.

The Social Welfare and Development Journal’s first offering for 2008 gives light on some of the
problems that affect inclusive growth. For this issue, we are thankful to the Philippine Institute
of Development Studies (PIDS) for allowing us to publish the analysis of Dr. Rosario Manasan
and Ms. Janet Cuenca on the targeting system used for the Food-for-School Program and
Tindahan Natin, both programs which the Department is engaged in. We believe that this
study will inform our readers from government and private organizations about the importance
of establishing a firm targeting system to effectively implement pro-poor programs. We are also
featuring Dr. Fernando Aldaba’s study on existing social welfare legislations in the Philippines,
which may be of use to our legislators and policy makers. Dr. Aldaba and Dr. Manasan are
both consultants for DSWD’s National Sector Support for Social Welfare and Development
Reform Project (NSS-SWDRP). The NSS-SWDRP, which was featured in our last issue, is a
project that DSWD is undertaking to strengthen its capacity to provide leadership in social
protection and facilitate faster and better delivery of social services. Because paucity of access
to health care services derails gains achieved in the MDGs, we are also featuring an article on
herbal medicine and the Filipino’s pursuit of affordable health care. Lastly, we have a study
from the KALAHI-CIDSS, which reflects how improvement of access to basic social services
enhances the poor’s confidence in their leaders, as well as their value for good political
leadership.

Happy reading!

Undersecretary Alicia R. Bala

Editor-in-Chief

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WHO BENEFITS FROM THE FOOD-FOR-SCHOOL PROGRAM AND TINDAHAN
NATIN PROGRAM: LESSONS IN TARGETING
By
Rosario G. Manasan and Janet S. Cuenca*
ABSTRACT
T he prevalence of hunger in the Philippines
prompted the government to launch its hunger
mitigation initiative in November 2005. Such
initiative consisted of two programs: the Food-for-
School Program (FSP) and the Tindahan Natin
Program (TNP). The FSP belongs to a class of
social safety nets called conditional cash or in-kind
transfers. There is a growing interest on these
instruments worldwide because of evidence that
they have not only been useful in providing
assistance to poor families but more so because
they have been found effective in securing
investments in human capital among the poor. On
the other hand, the TNP is a targeted food price
subsidy program. Like other food price subsidy
programs, it operates by lowering the price of
certain food items. The lower food price effectively
Introduction
mid rising concerns about the prevalence
A of hunger, the government launched its
hunger mitigation initiative in November 2005.
Such initiative consisted of two programs: the
Food-for-School Program (FSP) and the
Tindahan Natin Program (TNP). The FSP is
a conditional food transfer program while the
TNP is a targeted food price subsidy program.
The FSP provides a kilo of rice to families
who suffer from severe hunger through their
children in day care centers and in preschool
and Grade 1 in schools operated by the
Department of Education (DepEd). On the
other hand, the TNP aims to ensure the
* Senior Research Fellow and Research Associate, respectively, Philippine Institute for Development Studies, NEDA sa Makati Building, 106
Amorsolo St., Legaspi Village, 1229 Makati City, Philippines. Email for correspondence: rmanasan@mail.pids.gov.ph. The authors gratefully
acknowledge the funding support from the World Bank. The views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not
reflect those of the World Bank.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
results in increased purchasing power that
translates into an increase in the real income
of beneficiaries.
The budget allocation for these programs
has been increasing in recent years. One
interesting question to ask now is: Who
b e n e f i ts f r o m t h e g o v e r n m e n t ’s h u n g e r
mitigation program? The answer to this
question has a large bearing on both the
effectiveness and efficiency of the program.
Given this perspective, the paper assesses the
(1) distribution of the benefits from the FSP and
TNP in 2006, and (2) implications on targeting
of the use of public schools and day care
centers as distribution points. In the process,
it also draws some lessons in targeting.
availability of low-priced basic food
commodities (rice and instant noodles) to poor
families through the Tindahan Natin outlets.
Under this program, only eligible households
may purchase from the Tindahan Natin.
The budget allocation for these programs has
been on an uptrend in recent years. The total
budget allocation of the FSP is PhP2.9 billion
(PhP2.665 billion for the DepEd component
and PhP270 million for the DSWD
component) in 2006 and PhP5.098 billion
(PhP4.013 billion for the DepEd component
and PhP1.085 for the DSWD component) in
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2007. 1 On the other hand, the budget allocation
for the TNP is PhP181 million in 2006 and
PhP160.8 million in 2007.
The FSP belongs to a class of social safety nets
called conditional cash or in-kind transfers. There
is a growing interest on these instruments
worldwide owing to evidence that they have not
only been useful in providing assistance to poor
families but more so because they have been
found to be effective in securing investments in
human capital among the poor.
Conditional cash or in-kind transfers are transfers
to qualifying households that require a specified
action on the part of the beneficiaries for them to
receive the benefit. The typical condition is
increased investment on children‘s human capital
(e.g., school attendance, regular use of preventive
health care and nutrition services) but it can also
involve changes in other aspects of their behavior.
This approach assumes that the income effect of
an unconditional transfer is not enough to stimulate
demand for human capital investments (de Janvry
and Sadoulet 2005). Thus, there is a need for the
condition to boost demand for education and child/
maternal health services. They work best when
the supply of these basic social services is strong.
On the other hand, the TNP is a food price subsidy
program. Like other food price subsidy programs,
it operates by lowering the price of certain food
items. The lower food price effectively results in
increased purchasing power that translates into
an increase in the real income of beneficiaries.
In general, food subsidies may either be
untargeted or targeted to specific groups. Also,
food subsidies may or may not be subject to quota
restrictions on the quantity of food that
beneficiaries can purchase at the discounted price.
If the subsidy is applied on inferior foods (i.e., food
items whose consumption declines as income
increases so that they tend to be consumed more
by the poor relative to nonpoor households) then
the subsidy will be self-targeting.
1
The budget allocation for the TNP is PhP181 million in 2006 and PhP160.8 million in 2007.
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Objectives
Who benefits from the government‘s hunger
mitigation program? The answer to this question
has a large bearing on both the effectiveness and
the efficiency of this program.
Given this perspective, the objectives of this study
are straightforward. This paper aims to assess:
• the distribution of the benefits from the FSP
and the TNP in 2006; and
• the implications on targeting of the use of
public schools and day care centers as
distribution points.
The government‘s accelerated hunger mitigation
program (AHMP) seeks to introduce programs that
address both the supply side (i.e., the insufficiency
of food supply) and the demand side (i.e., the
inability to buy food) of the hunger problem. On
the supply side, measures to mitigate hunger
include the expansion of production capacity,
enhancement of agricultural productivity, and
improvements in food distribution and logistics. On
the demand side, the measures include education
and skills training to improve the employment
situation and productivity of labor, provision of
income-generating activities, and outright food
transfers to the poor. This study, however, limits
its focus solely on the FSP and the TNP.
Basic concepts in targeting
Who benefits from the FSP is largely dependent
on the targeting mechanism used to identify the
beneficiaries of the program. Targeting is a tool
that is meant to concentrate the benefits of transfer
program to the poorest segments of the
population. All targeting mechanisms have the
same objective: to correctly identify which
households are poor and which are not.
Targeting is a means of increasing the efficiency
of the program by increasing the benefits that the
poor can get with a fixed program budget (Coady
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et al. 2004). Conversely, it is a means that will allow
the government to reduce the budget requirement
of the program while still delivering the same level
of benefits to the poor (Box 1).
Box 1. Why targeting matters
Illustrative example
Total Population 100
Poor Population 50
Higher per capita transfer with (say, PhP1,000)
fixed budget
With perfect targeting : PhP20 benefit per beneficiary
With no targeting: PhP10 benefit per beneficiary
Smaller budget with fixed per (say, PhP10)
capita transfer to the poor
With perfect targeting: PhP500 (50% budget savings)
With no targeting: PhP1,000
Targeting mechanisms may be classified into
administrative targeting or self-targeting (Hoddinott
1999) depending on who implements the targeting
method. Self-targeted programs are technically open
to all but designed in such a way that the benefit
provided is preferred by the needy but not by the
better-off households. Thus, only the poor house-
holds self-select into participating in the pro-gram,
which makes screening procedures irrelevant and
minimizing leakage to the nonpoor. Common self-
targeting features of transfers include the use of low-
quality foodstuff, queuing to receive transfers, or
work requirement that carries a high opportunity
cost of time for the relatively better- off (Barrett 2002).
On the other hand, administratively targeted
interventions are those in which project staff
determine who will be eligible to participate or
receive the benefit on the basis of a set of criteria.
Administrative targeting may be further classified
according to the method or approach used to reach
the target group: means testing, proxy means
testing, community-based targeting, and categorical
or indicator-based targeting. 2 It should be
emphasized that these methods need not be used
on a mutually exclusive basis. In fact, in many
countries, they are used in combination with one
another.
• A verified means test is the gold standard of
targeting. It seeks to collect complete
information on household income and/or
2 This classification scheme is based on the World Bank Safety Nets website.
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wealth and verifies the information collected
against independent sources. When
implemented to the letter, verified means
testing is accurate. However, this approach
is very costly and administratively demanding.
Also, being based on household income, it
may discourage work effort.
• Proxy means test generates a score for
applicant households based on fairly easy-
to-observe household characteristics like
location and quality of dwelling, ownership of
durable goods, demographic structure of
household, and education/occupation of
household members. The indicators and the
weights used to generate a score are derived
from statistical analysis (typically principal
component analysis) of data from detailed
household surveys. Eligibility is then
determined by comparing the household‘s
score against a predetermined cut-off.
Because it does not measure income itself,
proxy means testing may discourage work
effort less. This approach also requires less
information than the true means testing but
is still objective. However, the formula used
may track chronic poverty well but not
transient poverty.
• Community-based targeting uses a group of
community members/leaders to decide who
in the community should benefit. This
approach is based on the assumption that
local knowledge of individual household‘s
circumstances is more accurate than the
results of a means test conducted by a
government field worker. However, this
approach has the following drawbacks: (i)
local actors may have other objectives other
than good targeting of the program; (ii) it may
lower cohesion of local actors; (iii) it may
exacerbate existing patterns of exclusion; and
(iv) it makes comparability across
communities difficult because local definitions
of welfare are used.
• Categorical or indicator targeting refers to a
method in which all individuals in a specified
category automatically become eligible to
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receive program benefit. In these programs,
eligibility is typically based on individual or
household characteristics that are easy to
identify like age, gender, ethnicity,
demographic composition, or geographic
location. Age and geographic location are the
most commonly used criteria. Categorical
targeting is fairly simple to administer. It works
best when poverty differs across categories
but is similar within categories, i.e., there is
within-category homogeneity.
Any targeting method will most likely fail to include
some of the poor while including some of the nonpoor
households. Targeting performance may be better
appreciated by referring to Table 1. Good targeting is
one which minimizes both errors of exclusion and
errors of inclusion. An error of inclusion is one in which
an intervention reaches individuals who are not
intended to be beneficiaries. On the other hand, an
error of exclusion occurs when intended beneficiaries
are not able or permitted to participate in intervention.
It should be emphasized that these errors are defined
relative to total population and are, therefore, difficult
to measure when evaluating different programs.
In assessing the performance of alternative targeting
mechanisms, one may estimate leakage rates and
undercoverage rates. The leakage rate is the ratio of
number of nonpoor beneficiaries to the total number
of beneficiaries. Thus, it is a measure of the inclusion
error. On the other hand, the undercoverage rate is
the ratio of the number of poor households who do
not participate in the program to the total number of
poor households. It is a measure of how effective the
program is in reaching the poor and is related to the
exclusion error. Still another measure of targeting
performance is the progressivity index or the ratio of
the share of the benefits received by the poor to the
proportion of the total population that is poor.
Targeting involves costs: administrative costs (e.g.,
costs of collecting information), private costs (i.e., cost
households incur in order to participate in the program),
social costs (refers to stigma involved in being publicly
identified as poor or needy), and incentive costs
(including negative incentive effects like reduced work
effort and crowding out of private transfers). These
costs mean that less of the program budget will be
3
When two or more siblings are enrolled in Grade 1 and/or preschool in public elementary schools or in identified day care centers, only one
child will receive the rice ration.
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available for distribution as benefits to the beneficiaries.
Thus, in evaluating which targeting method is
appropriate, one has to weigh the benefits from
reduced leakage against the cost of implementing finer
targeting methods.
Table 1. Errors of inclusion and exclusion
Poor Nonpoor
Participate Success (45) Inclusion error (20) 65
in program
Do not Exclusion error (15) Success (20) 35
participate
Total 60 40 100
Source: Coady et al. (2004).
FOOD-FOR-SCHOOL PROGRAM
Features
First and foremost, the Food-for-School Program
(FSP) is an intervention that is meant to address
hunger among poor families. It is also meant to
improve school attendance of the children of these
households. It provides one kilo of rice to families
who suffer from severe hunger for every day that
their children continue to attend school. In practical
terms, the rice ration is provided to each eligible
pupil after class.3 Thus, eligible households are
assured of having rice on their tables every day
as long as their children go to school or the day
care centers.
The FSP may thus be categorized as a conditional
in-kind transfer. Eligible households may only
receive the program benefit if they actually send
their children to school. As such, the FSP has dual
objectives: (i) address hunger and (ii) improve
school attendance by reducing the dropout rate.
The beneficiaries of the program are households
in selected geographic areas who have children
who are preschool or Grade 1 pupils in public
elementary schools or children who attend day
care centers (DCCs). The DepEd implements the
preschool/Grade1 component of the FSP while the
DSWD manages the DCC component of the FSP.
The geographic areas covered by the FSP include
the 17 cities and municipalities of the National
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Capital Region (NCR) and the 49 provinces that
have been identified by the Food Insecurity and
Vulnerability Information Mapping System
(FIVIMS) as either very, very vulnerable (VVV),
very vulnerable (VV), or vulnerable (V). Thus, the
FSP provides the rice ration to all eligible
schoolchildren in all public elementary schools and
DSWD-supervised day care centers in the NCR
and selected municipalities in the 49 FIVIMS
provinces.
Under the FSP, the DSWD organizes the parents
of DCC children into Day Care Parents Group to
encourage their participation and sustain their
support and commitment to the program. In like
manner, the DepEd mobilizes the Parents-
Teachers-Community Associations (PTCAs) to
assist the selected schools in the implementation
of the program.
In addition to the distribution of rice to eligible
children in selected schools, other complementary
activities are also put in place to help ensure
improvements in the nutrition status of children.
First, the height and weight of children are
measured by the school nurse or teacher-in-
charge at the start of the school year while another
assessment is done in November to determine
their progress from the baseline. On the other
hand, the day care worker prepares a permanent
growth monitoring record for each child enrolled
in the day care program. Second, deworming of
the children beneficiaries is undertaken at the start
of the program. Third, parents/caregivers are given
training on effective parenting and home care, the
adoption of desirable food, health and nutrition
practices, sustainable food production/gardening
technologies, and livelihood/self-sufficiency
projects by the LGUs in collaboration with NGOs
and other government agencies in order to sustain
family food security, increase school retention, and
improve nutritional status of children in the long
term. Fourth, school/home/community food
production is encouraged by:
• having the schools allot an area for selective
production of nutrient-rich fruits and
vegetables for feeding of underweight
children,
• having the Barangay Councils designate an
area in the community where parents of the
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children beneficiaries could establish a
communal vegetable garden, and
• having the LGU agriculture office provide
initial planting materials to the selected
schools and the communities.
The inclusion of these complementary activities
in the design of the FSP is commendable.
International experience suggests that the positive
effects of food-based transfer programs (which can
reasonably be provided only for a fixed period of
time) may not be sustainable in the longer term if
they are not used as a way to provide maternal
education on good nutrition/health practices
(Rogers and Coates 2002).
Coverage, targeting, and leakage of the FSP
The target number of beneficiaries of the FSP in
November 2005 March 2006 was 380,553
households with children in the preschool and
Grade 1 in public elementary schools and 74,261
households with children attending DSWD-
supervised day care centers or a total of 454,814
households. The program actually reached 97.6
percent of its target during this period (Table 2).
In school year (SY) 2006-2007, the target number
of beneficiaries is programmed to increase to a
total of 902,000 households with children in
preschool and Grade 1 in public elementary
schools and some 239,483 households with
children in DSWD-supervised DCCs. The actual
number of beneficiaries in the DepED-managed
preschool/Grade 1 component reached 596,939
households in SY 2006-2007 while that of the
DSWD-managed DCC component reached
289,877 (Table 2). It is notable that the DepEd-
implemented component of the FSP failed to
reach the target number of beneficiaries for SY
2006-2007 while the DSWD exceeded the
program target. This point is discussed in some
detail below relative to the consistency of the
program size as per the plan with the targeting
rules that are being followed.
If the target beneficiaries of the FSP were all poor,
then the 1.14 million households that are targeted
under the program as planned will account for
about 64 percent of the total number of poor
households as per the food threshold. On the other
hand, if the actual number of FSP beneficiaries
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were all poor, then they would account for 50 • ratio of food expenditure to total household
percent of the total number of poor households expenditure
as per the food threshold. The effectiveness of
the FSP to actually reach poor households • ratio of cereal food expenditure to total food
depends on the targeting mechanism used as well expenditure
as the way it is implemented. • unemployment rate

Table 2. Target beneficiaries and outreach • cohort survival rate at the elementary level
of the Food-for-School Program (SY 2005– 2006 • percentage of families with working children
and SY 2006–2007)
• percentage of households with safe water
Actual No. of Beneficiaries Actual No. of Beneficiaries
SY 2006–2007 SY 2006–2007 • percentage of underweight children
Region Grade 1 & PS DCC Total Grade 1 & PS DCC Total
NCR 294,997 123,311 418,308 272,459 30,820 303,279
• percentage of underweight adults
I 2,313 1,200 3,513 9,850 n.a 9,850
II 9,136 n.a. 9,136 7,768 2,446 10,214
• percentage of agricultural land under tenancy
IV-A and B 14,569 11,312 25,881 8,433 n.a 8,433
The FSP is targeted to include all the preschool/
V 60,461 36,772 97,233 6,337 7,423 13,760
VI 30,081 19,848 49,929 6,640 2,349 8,989 Grade 1 pupils in all the public schools as well as
VII 14,900 8,340 23,240 7,100 9,756 16,856 all the children enrolled in all the DSWD-supervised
VIII 40,783 29,294 70,077 6,078 8,335 14,413 day care centers in the following areas:
IX 11,274 6,777 18,051 9,010 2,750 11,760
X 16,592 10,153 26,745 5,387 2,335 7,722 • All the municipalities and cities (17) in the
CARAGA 17,447 10,500 27,947 6,748 460 7,208 National Capital Region (NCR);
XI 2,011 1,195 3,206 3,752 n.a 3,752
XII 20,060 11,771 31,831 5,364 4,884 10,248 • All the municipalities (49) of the provinces
ARMM 52,595 10,269 62,864 12,581 741 13,322
CAR 9,720 9,135 18,855 2,333 1,962 4,295
classified as very, very vulnerable (VVV) in
the FIVIMS;
Total 596,939 289,877 886,816 369,840 74,261 444,101
% to target 66.2 121.0 77.7 97.2 100.0 97.6
• All the 5th and 6th class municipalities (283)
of the provinces classified as very vulnerable
Memo item: (VV) and vulnerable (V) in the FIVIMS;
Target no. of
beneficiaries 902,000 239,483 1,141,483 380,553 74,261 454,814 • All the 4th class municipalities (27) in the very
Sources: For 2005-2006, National Nutrition Council; for 2006-2007, vulnerable and vulnerable provinces where
Department of Education and Department of Social Welfare and there are no 5th and 6th class municipalities;
Development.
and

Targeting Mechanism • All the 3rd class municipalities (3) in the very
vulnerable and vulnerable provinces where
To identify the geographic areas that are covered there are no 4 th , 5 th , and 6 th class
by the program, the FSP makes use of the Food municipalities (Annex Table 1).
Insecurity and Vulnerability Information Mapping
System. The FIVIMS is designed to identify food Thus, the FSP combines geographic targeting with
insecure and vulnerable provinces in the country. institutional targeting at the level of the public school
The FIVIMS is anchored on an index that is or day care center. Geographic targeting under the
composed of 12 core indicators (Valientes et al. FSP occurs at two levels. First, the most food
2006). These indicators are: insecure and vulnerable (i.e., poorest) provinces are
identified and selected. Second, because of an
• ratio of per capita income to per capita implicit recognition that the province is too big a
expenditure unit to be homogeneous in terms of food insecurity/
poverty, the FSP deems it appropriate to identify
• poverty incidence
and select the relatively more food-insecure (i.e.,
• median family income poorer) municipalities within each of the poorest

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provinces. Once a municipality is selected to be a
part of the FSP, however, all preschool and Grade
1 pupils in all the identified public schools (and all
children enrolled in the DSWD supervised day care
centers) in the municipality automatically become
eligible to receive the benefits of the program.
Weaknesses of Targeting Rules
The FSP shares the advantages of most other
geographically targeted social transfer programs.
It is administratively simple and inexpensive to
implement. However, the evidence available to
date suggests that the FSP‘s brand of geographic
targeting can still be improved to increase the
programs efficiency and effectiveness. Potential
efficiency gains may come from three sources and
may be better appreciated by considering three
counterfactual scenarios.
First, international experience suggests
geographically targeting works best when poverty
differs across regions but is similar within regions,
i.e., there is within region homogeneity (Hoddinott
1999). In the Philippines, evidence indicates that
the within province variation is more important than
the between province variation in explaining the
total variation in the poverty incidence across
municipalities. In particular, the analysis of variance
of the small area estimates4 of municipal level
poverty incidence shows that between province
variation accounts for a mere 32 percent of the
total variation in municipal level poverty incidence.
It is perhaps the implicit recognition of this result
that prompted the FSP implementers to
differentiate municipalities within the different
target provinces according to the LGU income
classification.
Second, the ranking of municipalities according
to their income class does not correlate well with
their ranking according to small area estimate of
poverty incidence. This is true whether one is
looking at the ranking of municipalities within a
province or at the ranking of municipalities across
4 The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB 2005) estimated small area estimates of municipal level poverty incidence by combining
data from the 2000 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), the 2000 Census of Population and Households (CPH), and the 2000
Labor Force Survey (LFS).
5 From hereon, said targeting rule will be referred to as —alternative targeting rule #1.”
6 From hereon, said targeting rule will be referred to as —alternative targeting rule #2.”
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the nation. For instance, 155 (or 50%) of the 313
municipalities in the VV and V provinces are found
not to be among the poorest municipalities even
within each of these provinces under the FIVIMS.
Also, the rank correlation between the ranking of
municipalities according to the NSCB‘s small area
estimates of poverty incidence and the ranking of
municipalities derived from the application of the
FIVIMS classification of provinces according to
vulnerability and the income class of municipalities
is found to be weak as indicated by a rank
correlation coefficient of 0.46.
In order to gain a better appreciation of these
issues, the leakage rates, the undercoverage
rates, the share of the poor in program benefits,
and the index of progressivity are estimated for
the existing targeting rule and for the two
counterfactual scenarios. The first counterfactual
scenario refers to the application of an alternative
targeting rule whereby the FSP is targeted to the
SAE poorest municipalities in each of the VV and
V provinces under FIVIMS rather than to the 5th
and 6th income class municipalities in the same
provinces. 5 On the other hand, the second
counterfactual scenario refers to the application
of another alternative targeting rule whereby the
FSP is targeted directly to the SAE poorest
municipalities overall instead of targeting first the
poorest provinces then selecting the target
municipalities within each of the target provinces.6
The results of the counterfactual simulations show
that both the leakage rate and the undercoverage
rates are reduced while both the share of the
benefits going to the poor and the index of
progressivity are increased when these alternative
targeting rules are applied (Table 3 and Table 4).
To wit, the leakage rate in the DepEd component
declines from 62 percent under the existing
targeting rule to 55 percent if alternative targeting
rule #1 were applied. In like manner, the leakage
rate in the DSWD component drops from 59
percent under the existing targeting rule to 53
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percent if alternative targeting rule #1 were Table 3. Leakage rate and undercoverage rate under
alternative targeting rules for DepEd component of
adopted. Conversely, these figures indicate that the FSP
the share of the poor in total program benefits Under- Share of
Leakage Index of
increases correspondingly from 38 percent to 45 Targeting rule
rate
coverage the poor
progressivity a
rate in total
percent for the DepEd component while the share transfers
of the poor in total program benefits improves from FIVIMS priority provinces & munici-
41 percent to 47 percent for the DSWD palities according to income class 62% 80% 38% 1.38

component. FIVIMS priority provinces & munici-

palities according to SAE 55% 72% 45% 1.64
Under alternative targeting rule #2, 230 (or 61%)
Directly to municipalities according 24% 53% 76% 2.76
out of the 379 cities/municipalities that were to SAE; same no. of actual
originally targeted under the FSP would not be beneficiaries as now

eligible to receive FSP benefits under the DepEd Directly to municipalities according 28% 43% 72% 2.62
to SAE; no. of municipalities
component. On the other hand, 200 (or 53%) of increased to reach exante target
the 379 target cities/municipalities under the FSP number of beneficiaries
would not be eligible to receive FSP benefits under a
ratio of share of benefits going to the poor divided by the propor-
the DSWD component. In other words, 61 percent tion of households that are poor; percentage of poor households is
27.5 percent in 2000.
of the municipalities/cities targeted under the
DepEd component while 53 percent of the
Table 4. Leakage rate and undercoverage rate under
municipalities/cities targeted under the DSWD alternative targeting rules for DSWD component of
component of the FSP at present are not the FSP
poorest municipalities/cities from a global Leakage
Under- Share of
Index of
Targeting rule coverage the poor
perspective. This number includes all the cities and rate
rate in total
progressivity a
municipalities in the NCR. transfers
FIVIMS priority provinces & munici-
Thus, it is not surprising that the resulting reduction palities according to income class 59% 75% 41% 1.49
in the leakage rate if alternative targeting rule # 2 FIVIMS priority provinces & munici-
were applied is dramatic. The leakage rate in the palities according to SAE 53% 69% 47% 1.71
DepEd component is estimated to drop to 24 Directly to municipalities according 44% 56% 56% 2.04
percent if the actual number of beneficiaries to SAE; same no. of actual
beneficiaries as now
reached to date is maintained (Table 3). That is,
76 percent of total program benefits in the DepEd Directly to municipalities according 46% 59% 54% 1.96
to SAE; no. of municipalities
component would have been received by poor increased to reach exante target
households if the said alternative targeting rule number of beneficiaries

were adopted. a
ratio of share of benefits going to the poor divided by the propor-
tion of households that are poor; percentage of poor households is
In like manner, the leakage rate in the DSWD 27.5 percent in 2000.

component is estimated to decrease to 44 percent

if alternative targeting rule #2 were applied while
maintaining the same actual number of
beneficiaries (Table 4). Conversely, 56 percent of
total program benefits in the DSWD component
would have been received by poor households if
the said alternative targeting rule were used.
The inclusion of all the cities and municipalities in
the NCR in the FSP results in a substantial leakage
of FSP benefits to nonpoor beneficiaries. The NCR
accounts for 49 percent of the total number of
beneficiaries under the DepEd compo-nent of the
FSP, yet it has the lowest poverty incidence (6.9%)
among all provinces/regions in the country.
Consequently, it accounts for 71 percent of the
total number of nonpoor households who benefits
from the program. One may argue from a political
economy perspective like Pritchett (2005) that the
cost of this leakage is the price government has
to pay to gain political support from a more visible
and vocal constituency thereby better ensuring
budget support for the program. Nonetheless, it is
important for policymakers to be made aware of
the relative magnitude of the trade-off involved
between benefit leakage and political
consolidation.

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On the other hand, the program‘s ability to reach Table 5. Comparison of budget allocation
poor households is found to improve with the and program requirements, 2006 and 2007
adoption of either one of the two alternative (in million pesos)
targeting rules. The undercoverage rate in the
DepEd component improves by eight percentage 2006 2007
points with the application of alternative targeting Budget allocation
rule #1 while that of the DSWD component DepEd component 2,665.00 4,013.00
improves by six percentage points. Thus, the DSWD component 269.50 1,085.00
Total 2,934.50 5,098.00
undercoverage rate of the DepEd component
decreases from 80 percent under the existing tar- Budget requirement with same actual number of beneficiaries
geting rule to 72 percent if alternative targeting DepEd component 1,432.65 2,626.53
DSWD component 695.70 1,275.46
rule #1 were applied. Similarly, the undercoverage
Total 2,128.36 3,901.99
rate of the DSWD component goes down from 75
percent to 69 percent. If alternative targeting rule Budget requirement with original target number of beneficiaries
DepEd component 2,164.80 3,968.80
#2 were followed, the undercoverage declines
DSWD component 574.76 1,053.73
further to 53 percent in the DepEd component and
Total 2,739.56 5,022.53
56 percent in the DSWD component.
Excess allocation with same actual number of beneficiaries
Program Size DepEd component 1,232.35 1,386.47
DSWD component (426.20) (190.46)
It has been a cause of concern to DepEd FSP Total 806.14 1,196.01

implementers that they are unable to come up with
902,000 pupil-beneficiaries that they have
originally targeted to reach (i.e., planned program
size). Closer scrutiny of the data reveals that the
exante target number of beneficiaries was not
reached not because of poor implementation but
precisely because the planned program size is not
consistent with the maximum number of pupils that
can be reached in the target areas of the FSP given
current enrollment rates. Note that the actual
number of beneficiaries represents very close to
100 percent of the current school enrollment in
the priority areas under the FSP. Thus, the
targeting rule would have to change if the exante
target number of beneficiaries were to be attained.
There are several ways of achieving this. Perhaps
the most efficient way (without resorting to means
testing) would be to target a total of 653
municipalities out of the poorest municipalities
ranked according to the small area estimate of
municipal level poverty incidence. If this were done,
the leakage rate would be 28 percent and the
undercoverage rate would be 43 percent.
As indicated earlier, the total budget allocation of
the FSP is PhP2.9 billion (PhP2.665 billion for the
DepEd component and PhP270 million for the
Excess allocation with original target number of beneficiaries
DepEd component 500.20 44.20
DSWD component (305.26) 31.27
Total 194.94 75.47
DSWD component) in 2006 and PhP5.098 billion
(PhP 4.013 billion for the DepEd component and
PhP 1.085 for the DSWD component). If the actual
number of beneficiaries reached as of end of
August 2006 is maintained, then the budget
allocation for the FSP will exceed the requirements
of the program by PhP0.8 billion in 2006 and
PhP1.2 billion in 2007 (Table 5). On the other
hand, if the original target number of beneficiaries
is reached, then the budget allocation for the FSP
will exceed the program requirements by PhP195
million in 2006 and PhP75 million in 2007.7
Implications on targeting of the use of public
schools and DCCs as distribution points
The choice of the distribution point is one of the
key issues in program design, which significantly
influences program effectiveness of conditional
in kind transfers. In this section, we consider the
ramifications of distributing program benefits at
public schools and DCCs.

7 These figures assume that the FSP will run for 120 days in 2006 and 220 days in 2007.

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The school as distribution point
The FSP makes use of the school as the point of
distribution. International experience suggests a
number of benchmarks pertinent to this design
feature against which the FSP can be assessed.
First, the implementation of similar programs in
other countries indicates that the effectiveness of
schools as distribution channel depends on the
ability of the school network to reach the poorest
areas as well as the ability of the implementing
agency to handle the logistics of storing, transport-
ing, and distributing the food commodity (Rogers
and Coates 2002). This situation appears to be
present in the Philippines where there is a public
elementary school in almost every barangay and
where the National Food Authority (NFA), which is
tasked to deliver the rice to schools in a timely
manner, has a well-established regional/provincial
network in place.
Second, delivering food transfers through public
schools may serve some self-targeting function
when the relatively well-off households use private
schools (Rogers and Coates 2002). This is true in
the Philippines where the share of the poor in total
public school enrollment has been found to be
greater than their share in the total population
(Manasan 2005). However, this tendency is
weakened by the fact that the share of the private
school system in total enrollment at the elementary
level is low (7 percent in SY 2003-2004).
Third, experience in other countries suggests that
targeting poor children within the school or class
should be avoided because it creates a stigma that
is likely to discourage the needy children from taking
advantage of the program. In turn, this finding
highlights the importance of targeting schools that
serve low-income populations (Roger and Coates
2002). This lesson resonates well in the Philippines
where high participation rates tend to result in a
high leakage rate with universal targeting (i.e., no
targeting) at the level of the school.
Fourth, studies (e.g., Glewwe et al. 2001) show
that better nutrition of children brought about by
cash/food transfer programs (whether conditional
or not) tend to result in higher school participation
rates. However, experience in a number of
countries (e.g., Bangladesh and Mexico) also
suggests that rapid expansion in access can
undermine service quality unless there is also an
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
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improvement in service provision (Chapman
2006). Given the already high participation rates
in the public elementary school system in the
Philippines, the potential improvement in school
attendance and the reduction in the dropout rate
that are expected to result from the FSP
accentuate the need to address the input deficits
in the basic education sector (i.e., the need to
strengthen the supply side).
The DCC as distribution point
The use of the DCC as a distribution point may be
justified on two grounds. First, delivering food
transfers through the DCC may be self-targeting
(even more so than through public elementary
schools) precisely because there is a greater ten-
dency for the DCCs to be patronized almost
exclusively by poorer households. Second, DCCs
serve younger children who are subject to the
greatest nutritional risk (Chapman 2006).
On the other hand, the use of the DCC as a
distribution point may not be appropriate
considering that the distribution of day care centers
across the country is not as extensive as that of
public elementary schools. Also, since DCCs are
largely funded by LGUs, they may not be present
in poorer areas. Note that 16 percent of the total
number of barangays has no DCCs while only 68
percent of the total number of DCCs are accredited
by the DSWD.
Other FSP issues
Size of the transfer
The FSP provides eligible beneficiary one kilo of
rice daily five days a week. There are indications
that the transfer is not large enough. An informal
survey conducted by the DepEd in February-March
2006 found that:
• 80 percent of HH reported that one kilo of
rice is not enough to provide their family with
three meals a day.
• Only 33 percent of HH reported not having
missed a meal in the last three months.
These numbers are consistent with the fact that
the FSP’s daily rice ration during school days is
just enough to cover about 41 percent of the
average rice consumption of a family with six
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8
members. Moreover, if the rice transfer is Table 6. Perceived gain from the FSP
converted to cash (PhP440 per month), the Feb/Mar 2006 Mar 2007
Gains
transfer is estimated to be equal to 39 percent of Percent* Percent*
the income gap based on the food threshold and No missed meals in
33.7 6.7
the past 3 months
26 percent of the income gap based on the overall
Decreased number
poverty threshold. of school days missed
62.1 55.2

Program benefits Increased weight of child 44.4 49.3

It is not possible to have a scientific assessment
of the outcomes of the FSP because of lack of
information. However, the output of NNC
monitoring of the FSP implementation conducted
in February/ March 2006 and March 2007 does
appear to validate experience in other countries
that social transfers can act as effective incentives
to increase poor people’s demand for services and
improve their education outcomes. In fact,
transfers do not need to be conditional on school
attendance to impact children’s education
(Chapman 2006). It shows that the program has
some positive impact on both the school
attendance and nutrition status of the pupils who
9
benefited from the FSP (Table 6). In particular,
62 percent of the respondents said that the number
of school days missed declined while 44 percent
of the children weighed gained weight. On the
other hand, 20 percent of the respondents reported
that they gained enhanced knowledge on basic
nutrition from the program.
TINDAHAN NATIN PROGRAM
Features
The Tindahan Natin Program (TNP) has two
components. On the one hand, SEA-K Kabayan,
SEA-K Association, or SEA-K individual
beneficiaries with retail store business in
strategically located sites that are accessible to
intended beneficiaries of the TNP may apply for
DSWD loan assistance. As such, the program
provides credit to the store owner for livelihood.
The identification of the target provinces for the
TNP stores is based on FIVIMS. The DSWD,
NFA, LGU, and the barangay council are tasked
to ensure that there are adequate TNP stores in
the identified target areas. The number of stores
Addtional food for the family 89.6 86.8
Enhanced knowledge on
20.1 22.5
basic nutrition
that will be designated in each area is
determined based on the following:
• Number of household beneficiaries to be
served; one TNP store is meant to serve
at least 250 households
• Geographical location of target areas
and clustering of beneficiaries
• Viability of store operation
• Accessibility
• Necessity of rice in the area
• Purchasing capability
On the other hand, as originally designed, only
eligible TNP household beneficiaries may
purchase food items at the NFA’s prescribed
selling price from the TNP store. Eligible
beneficiaries can only purchase 14 kg of rice at
the maximum per week.10 A family ID card cum
passbook is issued by the LGU-P/C/ MSWDOs
to the beneficiaries for identification and
monitoring purposes. The beneficiary presents
the ID card/passbook when purchasing the rice
allocation at the TNP stores.
The selection/identification of TNP household
beneficiaries is the responsibility of the DSWD
in coordination with the LGU-P/C/MSWDOs and
the barangay councils. In principle, the target
beneficiaries of the TNP are families who have
income below the food threshold. However, it is
not clear exactly how the individual household
assessments are made and what the basis is of
such assessments.

8 This figure is estimated based on a 0.32 kg allocation per member per day which is, in turn, based on the national average rice consumption.
9 Seventeen out of the 49 provinces included in the program were visited as part of the monitoring. Fifty-two elementary schools and day care
centers were visited, 401 children were weighed, and 412 parents/caregivers were interviewed.
10 The weekly allocation per family is based on the average per capita rice consumption of 115 kg per year.

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At present, however, there are no longer any
restrictions placed on who may buy the
subsidized rice/noodles from the TNP stores. As
such, all households within the catchment area
of the TNP store are allowed to purchase the
subsidized food items. The ID card/passbook
issued to families is only used as a means of
ensuring that households do not buy more rice
than is allowed.
Meanwhile, the DSWD sources the rice/noodles
that will be sold in the TNP stores from the NFA.
The NFA delivers the commodities to the stores
upon receipt of a guarantee letter for the delivery
of rice/noodles to the TNP stores. Subsequently,
the DSWD field office pays the NFA the total
cost of the commodities.
Size of the transfer
As with other food price subsidy programs, the
effective transfer benefit, b, to eligible
beneficiaries from the TNP is equal to q*(pm-
ps), where q is the quantity beneficiaries are
allowed to purchase, pm is the market price of
the rice, and ps is the subsidized price. At
present, this translates to PhP280 per month,
representing 25 percent of the income gap
based on the food threshold and 16 percent of
the income gap based on the overall poverty
threshold.
The effectiveness of the TNP to mitigate hunger
and to reach the poor is limited by the fact that
it simply provides a discount on the price of rice/
noodles. To access the transfer, eligible
beneficiaries are required to have the cash to pay
for the food items, albeit at a subsidized price. This
may deter the very poor from accessing the
program.
Coverage, targeting, and leakage of the TNP
The TNP aims to set up a total target number of
7,052 stores in the NCR and in the VVV, VV, and
V provinces under the FIVIMS (Table 7). As of
August 30, 2006, the TNP has reached 1.7 million
households (Table 8). If the beneficiaries of the
TNP are all poor, they would account for about
100 percent of the total number of poor households
11 This information was based on a telephone interview with an official of Region IV-A.
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as per the food threshold. The effectiveness of
the FSP to actually reach poor households
depends on the targeting mechanism used as well
as the way it is implemented.
The TNP like the FSP employs the FIVIMS to
implement geographic targeting at the level of the
province. To this extent, the TNP shares the same
problems related to the use of the FIVIMS.
The availability of the rice price subsidy to all
residents in the catchment area of the TNP store
underscores the importance of implementing
geographic targeting well below the level of the
Table 7. Target number of TNP stores by area
Target no. of %
TNP stores Distribution
NCR 619 9
VVV provinces 310 4
VV provinces 1,078 15
V provinces 4,975 71
other expansion areas/ 70 1
military camps
Total 7,052 100
province (i.e., municipal and barangay levels).
Targeting for the TNP below the level of the
province is done at the regional level jointly by the
NNC, DSWD, NFA, LGUs, and the local SWDOs.
The TNP targets the actual location of TNP stores
below the level of the municipality (i.e., at the
barangay level) on the basis of a rapid poverty
mapping that was conducted by the DSWD just
prior to the start of the TNP.11 Said poverty appraisal
focused on prevalence of malnutrition and lack of
rice supply. Such an approach has the potential
advantage of the fieldworker being able to detect
the special circumstances of the different areas in
a more timely manner. For instance, the TNP
stores in the NCR are located in the more
depressed areas of the region. Also, the inclusion
of Bulacan in the TNP is said to be justified
because the stores are located in areas where
informal settlers have been relocated. However,
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Table 8. Status of Tindahan Natin Project per Province/Municipality/District As of August 30, 2006

Region Province Total Number of Identified Operational

City Population Households Outlet/Operator TNO
Municipality

NCR 5,088,790 1,209,309 567 518

Priority areas 1,116,755 247,093 320 314
Expansion areas 3,972,035 962,216 247 204
CAR 0 0 56 42

Abra 0 0 15 13
Apayao 0 0 13 6
Ifugao 0 0 13 6
Mt. Province 0 0 13 12
Baguio City 0 0 6 6

CARAGA 153,681 30,397 67 65

Agusan del Norte 21,690 4,466 14 14
Agusan del Sur 43,826 8,695 16 14
Surigao del Norte 52,335 10,430 22 22
Surigao del Sur 35,830 6,806 15 15

I 0 4,500 18 18
La Union 0 4,500 18 18

III 0 11,066 16 16
Bulacan 0 11,066 16 16

IV-A 182,408 37,808 70 50

Quezon 182,408 37,808 70 50

IV-B 166,081 33,280 53 49

Occ. Mindoro 51,277 10,828 9 7
Marinduque 19,612 3,953 11 10
Romblon 20,796 4,494 11 10
Palawan 74,396 14,005 22 22

V 427,547 72,145 202 112

Albay 55,283 12,862 27 25
Camarines Norte 34,567 5,731 14 8
Camarines Sur 133,103 14,190 35 3
Catanduanes 30,714 6,001 16 16
Masbate 118,139 22,459 83 33
Sorsogon 55,741 10,902 27 27

VI 848,608 155,464 141 104

Aklan 56,658 10,767 13 8
Antique 31,502 7,078 8 3
Capiz 144,213 26,924 35 21
Iloilo 392,199 74,550 57 55
Negros 224,036 36,145 28 17

VII 40,994 24,579 103 80

Bohol 0 13,461 54 38
Negros Oriental 40,994 9,868 41 39
Cebu 0 1,250 8 3

VIII 268,482 51,000 133 58

Eastern Samar
Western Samar 11,104 1,969 7
Northern Samar 82,319 13,097 31 18
Southern Leyte 10,856 2,138 13 5
Leyte 114,914 23,587 59 13

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Region Province Total Number of Identified Operational

City Population Households Outlet/Operator TNO
Municipality

IX 0 16,314 75 60
Zamboanga Del Sur 0 10,300 22 16
Zamboanga Del Norte 0 6,014 53 44

X 0 0 100 93
Lanao del Norte 0 0 24 22
Misamis Occidental 0 0 24 22
Camiguin 0 0 6 3
Bukidnon 0 0 46 46

XI 171,012 32,429 49 40
Davao del 96,073 18,074 13 13
Norte Davao del Sur 74,939 14,355 36 27

XII 294,773 57,573 119 13

Sultan Kudarat 143,201 27,299 58 0
South Cotabato 13,981 2,960 6 2
North Cotabato 83,127 16,245 44 7
Sarangani 44,084 8,985 10 7
General Santos City 10,380 2,084 1 1

Grand Total 7,642,376 1,735,864 1,769 1,318

without NCR 2,553,586 526,555 1,202 800

the main drawback of this approach is the difficulty
in maintaining uniformity and consistency across
municipalities (barangays) within and, most
especially, across provinces (municipalities). Such
an approach may also be perceived as open to
favoritism and/or political interference.
Closer scrutiny of the actual location of the TNP
stores and the corresponding number of
beneficiaries served reveals the unevenness in the
quality of the targeting below the level of the
province. For instance, some target provinces
appeared to have made use of the LGU income
classification in targeting municipalities (e.g., Abra,
La Union, Surigao del Norte).12 Other provinces
(e.g., Agusan provinces, Surigao del Norte,
Palawan) seem to have a good sense of which
municipalities are SAE poor. Still, other provinces
appear to have no discernable targeting pattern
(e.g. Surigao del Sur, Ifugao, Romblon, Albay,
Camarines Norte) and have excluded many poor
municipalities while including many nonpoor
municipalities. Many provinces tended to err on
the side of including more municipalities than can
be justified as poor by whatever basis (e.g.,
Quezon13 Marinduque, Camarines Sur).
The location of TNP stores also appears to have
been constrained by their accessibility from major
road networks since the TNP store operator
shoulders the hauling cost of transporting the
commodities to the store. This may explain why
the TNP tends to have a greater presence in the
more urbanized areas. To wit, there is a
preponderance of TNP stores in poblacion
barangays. Note that 180 (or 40%) of the 452
target LGUs have TNP stores that are in poblacion
barangays. Also, a number of cities have also
been targeted by the TNP. The coverage of the
TNP is low as indicated by the fact that only 11
percent of the total number of barangays in the
target municipalities is served by the TNP.
Given the geographic distribution of the TNP stores
across the country as well the number of
beneficiaries served by these stores, the leakage
rate of the TNP is estimated to be equal to 66
percent for the entire program and 59 percent if
NCR stores are not included.14 This implies that

12 However, not all of the 5th and 6th class municipalities of Abra are targeted. The same is true of Surigao del Norte but it is notable that those
included are also those which are SAE poor.
13 Quezon did target all but 1 of the 13 SAE poorest municipalities.
14 These figures are computed based on the small area estimates of poverty incidence at the municipal level.

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66 percent of the program benefits accrue to
nonpoor households. Conversely, 34 percent of
program benefits are received by poor
households. These estimates of the leakage
may be on the high side if one takes into account
that the rice/noodles sold by the TNP stores are
inferior goods (i.e., goods that tend not to be
included in the consumption basket of better-
off households) and thus, some self-targeting
might be at play.
Also, with only 11 percent of the total number of
barangays in the target municipalities being
served by the TNP, it matters a lot where the
TNP stores are located within the municipality
or city. It is critical that some well-defined and
measurable indicator is used to target the TNP
below the level of the municipality. In this context,
it is worthwhile to explore possible efficiency
gains that might be forthcoming with the use of
a mechanism like the Community-Based
Monitoring System (CBMS) to improve targeting
below the level of the municipality. Prospectively,
it is important that a more systematic
assessment of the costs and benefits of the
adoption of this approach be undertaken.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The results of the assessment of the targeting
rules used to implement both the FSP and the
TNP highlight the pitfalls of geographic targeting
based on provincial level poverty incidence and
the income class of municipalities:
• Ranking of municipalities according to their
income class does not correlate well with
ranking according to small area estimate
of poverty incidence.
• Within-province variation is more important
than the between-province variation in
explaining the total variation in the poverty
incidence across municipalities.
These results suggest that significant
improvements in targeting can be achieved if
one targets municipalities directly using small
area estimates of poverty incidence that have
recently become available.
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International experience suggests that
combining household targeting (using verified
means test or proxy means test) with geographic
targeting can improve accuracy (Coady et al.
2004). Prospectively, it would also be useful to
assess the gains, if any, if geographic targeting
(using small area estimates) is complemented
by direct household targeting (using some
variant of community-based monitoring systems,
perhaps). These potential gains would then have
to be evaluated vis-à-vis the cost of direct
household targeting. Such an assessment would
require firm estimates of:
• full cost of installation and maintenance,
and
• potential gains from household targeting
in terms of exclusion rates and leakage
rates.
At the same time, the experience of the FSP
and the TNP underscores the importance of
thinking more carefully about the appropriate
role in targeting of the central government and
local government units (LGUS). On the one
hand, the FSP experience points to the
possibility of the central government getting it
wrong, i.e., central government failure occurring.
On the other hand, the TNP accentuates the
opportunities and risks involved in allowing LGUs
to play a major role in targeting. It demonstrates
how some provinces are able to perform better
than others in identifying the poor within their
jurisdictions. While some provinces seem to
have a good sense of which municipalities are
SAE poor, the actual targeting done by other
provinces reveals no discernable pattern. Said
provinces have excluded many poor
municipalities while including many nonpoor
municipalities. At the same time, many
provinces tended to err on the side of including
more municipalities than can be justified as poor
by whatever basis.
Given this perspective, it is important to balance
the lower transactions and information costs of
a greater local role in targeting and the
suboptimal outcomes from local rent-seeking
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and local capture. In principle, the proximity of
local governments to the people enables them
to deliver services more efficiently than the more
remote central government. However, the
decentralization of targeting decisions may
tempt local officials to manipulate and exploit
local information, especially when the gains from
program are perceived to be large.
In this regard, international experience reveals
the important advantages of a system involving
centralized design and database management
but where local governments are tasked with
actual collection of data. Such an approach
engenders greater transparency and lower risk
of manipulation by local authorities even as local
empowerment is promoted (Castañeda et al.
2005). Under such a setup, it is important that
mechanisms (like NG-LGU cost-sharing
arrangements and financial incentives to LGUs
if they are to be charged with implementing data
collection) be put in place to ensure quality at
all levels.
Lastly, the need for up-to-date and more
disaggregated statistics (at the level of the
municipalities at the very least) cannot be
overemphasized.
EPILOGUE: FSP IMPLEMENTATION IN 2007
The analysis done above refers to the
implementation of the FSP and the TNP in 2006.
However, targeting of the FSP in 2007 made use
of the 2003 Family Income and Expenditure
Survey (FIES) following its official release in
October 2006.
Thus, the FSP in 2007 targets all eligible pupils15
in all the public schools:
• All the municipalities and cities in the NCR;
• All the municipalities in the priority 1
provinces (i.e., the 10 poorest provinces
based on the 2003 subsistence incidence)
• All the 5th and 6th class municipalities of the
provinces classified as priority 2 provinces
(i.e., the 20 poorest provinces based on
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
17
the 2003 poverty incidence but not
including those classified as priority 1
provinces) and priority 3 provinces (i.e., 24
provinces with existing hunger mitigation
programs).
• All the 4th class municipalities in the priority
2 and priority 3 provinces where there are
no 5 th and 6th class municipalities; and
• All the 3rd class municipalities in the priority
2 and priority 3 provinces where there are
no 4th, 5 th, and 6th class municipalities.
The priority provinces are as follows: 16
• Priority 1 – Agusan del Sur, Camarines
Norte, Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao,
Masbate, Mountain Province, Sarangani,
Surigao del Norte, Zamboanga del Norte,
Zamboanga Sibugay, NCR
• Priority 2 – Abra, Antique, Biliran,
Bukidnon, Camarines Sur, Davao Oriental,
Lanao del Sur, Kalinga, Marinduque,
Misamis Occidental, Oriental Negros,
Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro,
Palawan, Romblon, Samar, Sultan
Kudarat, Sulu, Surigao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi
• Priority 3 – Agusan del Norte, Aklan,
Albay, Apayao, Basilan, Bohol, Camiguin,
Capiz, Catanduanes, Cotabato, Davao del
Norte, Davao del Sur, Eastern
Samar,Ifugao, Iloilo, Leyte, La Union,
Negros Occidental, Northern Samar,
Quezon, Sorsogon, Southern Leyte, South
Cotabato, Zamboanga del Sur
The application of the same counterfactual
analysis that was done to the 2007 FSP yields
similar results (Table 9). The leakage rate of
the program is reduced if the program were
targeted to the SAE poorest municipalities in
each of the priority 2 and priority 3 provinces
instead of being targeted to the 5 th and 6 th
municipalities (i.e., if alternative rule #1 were
adopted). Furthermore, the leakage rate is
reduced some more if the FSP were targeted to
the SAE poorest municipalities in a global sense
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

18
(i.e, if alternative rule #2 were applied). At the
same time, coverage rate improves
progressively as one shifts from the existing
targeting rule to alternative rule #1 and
alternative targeting rule #2.
Table 9. Leakage rate and undercoverage rate under
alternative targeting rules for DepEd component of
FSP, 2007
Leakage
Under- Share of
Targeting rule coverage the poor
rate
rate
transfers
FIVIMS priority provinces &
municipalities according 54% 69%
to income class
FIVIMS priority provinces &
municipalities according to SAE 50% 62%
Directly to municipalities 41% 52%
according to SAE; same no.
of actual beneficiaries as now
a
ratio of share of benefits going to the poor divided by the propor-
tion of households that are poor; percentage of poor households is
24.4 percent in 2003.
More recent or more disaggregated data?
The small area estimates of poverty incidence
at the municipal level that are used to arrive at
the estimates of the leakage and under-
coverage rates presented above are based on
the 2000 FIES and 2000 population census. On
the other hand, the data used to construct the
FIVIMS index as it is currently measured are at
least six years old. To wit, the ratio of per capita
income to per capita expenditure, poverty
incidence, median family income, the ratio of
food expenditure to total household expenditure,
and the ratio of cereal food expenditure to total
food expenditure (i.e., all the income/
expenditure-based indicators) are all based on
the 2000 FIES. Similarly, the unemployment rate
is based on the 2000 Labor Force Survey while
the cohort survival rate is based on the 2000
Basic Education Information System. On the
other hand, the data for two indicators (namely,
percentage of families with working children and
percentage of households with safe water) is
seven years old. The former indicator is based
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
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on the 1999 Survey of Children while the latter
indicator is based on the 1999 Annual Poverty
Indicator Survey (APIS). Meanwhile, the
percentage of underweight children and the
percentage of underweight adults are based on
the 1998 National Nutrition Survey while the
percentage of agricultural land under tenancy
is based on the 1990 Agriculture Census.
Index of
The average rate of change in the provincial
in total
progressivity a level poverty incidence between 2000 and 2003
is fairly modest at three percent. While the
poverty incidence ranking of a few provinces
46% 1.89 changed significantly, those of many others did
not (Annex Table 1). For instance, the poverty
incidence ranking of Sulu dropped from 5 in 2000
50% 2.05 to 12 in 2003. Similarly, the poverty incidence
ranking of Tawi-Tawi fell from 10 in 2000 to 40
59% 2.42
in 2003. In contrast, the poverty incidence
ranking of Zamboanga del Norte rose from 17
in 2000 to 1 in 2003 while that of Kalinga went
up from 37 to 13 and that of Biliran shot up
from 38 to 8.
It is not possible to update the FIVIMS index
nor the small area estimates of municipal level
poverty incidence for this study. However, a
comparison of the estimate of the leakage rate
and undercoverage rate based on the provincial
level poverty incidence estimates from the 2000
FIES against the estimates based on the
provincial level poverty incidence estimates from
the 2003 FIES indicates the impact of using
more recent data. The estimate of the leakage
rate for the DepEd component that is derived
when the 2003 FIES data are used is equal to
60 percent, i.e., three percentage points lower
than the estimate that is derived when the 2000
FIES data are used. In contrast, the
undercoverage rate when the 2003 FIES data
are used is estimated to be 75 percent, i.e., four
percentage points lower than the corresponding
estimate when the 2000 FIES data are used.
Thus, it appears that the difference in leakage/
undercoverage rates arising from the use of
more recent data is dwarfed by the difference
that results when the small area estimates of
poverty incidence are used.
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REFERENCES and social development. Manila: World

Barrett, C. 2002. Food aid effectiveness: it‘s the
targeting, stupid! Department of Applied
Economics and Management. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University.
Castañeda, T., K. Lindert, B. de la Brière, L.
Fernandez, C. Hubert, O. Larrañaga, M.
Orozco and R. Viquez. 2005. Designing and
implementing household tar-geting
systems: lessons from Latin America and
the United States. World Bank Social
Protection Discussion Paper Series No.
0526. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Chapman, K. 2006. Using social transfers to
scale up equitable access to education and
health services. Background Paper. DFID
Policy Division. London: Department for
International Development.
Coady, D., M. Grosh and J. Hoddinott. 2004.
Targeting of transfers in develop-ing
countries: review of lessons and
experience. Washington, DC: World Bank.
de Janvry, A. and E. Sadoulet. 2005. Making
conditional cash transfer programs more
efficient: designing for maximum effect of
the conditionality. Berkeley: University of
California.
Glewwe, P., H. Jacoby and E. King. 2001. Early
childhood nutrition and academic
achievement: a longitudinal analysis.
Journal of Public Economics 81:345œ368.
Bank.
Manasan, R., J. Cuenca and E. Villanueva. 2007.
Benefit incidence of public spend-ing on
education in the Philippines. Discussion
Paper 2007-09. Makati City: Philippine
Institute for Development Studies.
National Statistical Coordination Board. 2005.
Estimation of local poverty in the
Philippines. Manila, Philippines.
Pritchett L. 2005. A lecture on the political
economy of targeted safety nets. Social
Protection Discussion Paper Series No.
0501. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Rogers, B. and J. Coates. 2002. Food-based
safety nets and related programs.
Discussion Paper No. 12. The Gerald J. and
Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition
Science and Policy. Boston, MA: Tufts
University.
Valientes, R., E. R. Abella, M. del Mar, A. Reario,
M.-B. Flores and E. Bayani. Identifying food
insecure and vulnerable areas in the
Philippines through FIVIMS. Paper
presented by Deputy Executive Director
Maria-Bernardita Flores at the NEDA Social
Development Committee, Technical Board,
19 April 2006, Pasig City, Philippines.

Hoddinott, J. 1999. Targeting: principles and

practice. Washington, DC: International
Food Policy Research Institute.

Manasan, R. 2005. Education sector study

update 2005. Manila: Asian Development
Bank

Manasan, R. and J. Cuenca. 2006. Review of

government programs and spending
priorities for social welfare, social protection

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Annex Table 1. List of FSP target under alternative targeting rules

20
FIVIMS Provinces 2003 FIES Provinces Direct Targeting of
Total No. 5th/6th Class 5th/6th Class Municipalities as
Provinces of Municipalities Municipalities per SAE Remarks
Municipalities Target No. Target No. Target No.
of Municipalities of Municipalities of Municipalities

NCR NCR 17 17 0 17

WV=3 Masbate 21 21 20 21
Sulu 18 18 17 10 Poverty incidence ranking fell from 5 in
2000 to 12 in 2003 a/
Tawi-Tawi 10 10 7 1 Poverty incidence rank fell from 10 to 40
Total 49 49 44 32
W=8 Apayao 7 1 3 0 Poverty incidence rank fell from 56 to 66
Capiz 16 13 11 0 Poverty incidence rank fell from 30 to 60
Negros Oriental 20 2 14 1
Zamboanga del Norte 25 2 17 25 Poverty incidence rank rose from 17 to
1
Bukidnon 20 1 10 1
Basilan 6 2 4 2
Maguindanao 19 4 18 19 Poverty incidence rank is 2 in 2003
Lanao del Sur 38 5 25 14
Total 151 30 102 62
V=38 La Union 19 4 5 0 Poverty incidence rank fell from 47 to 58
Abra 27 24 11 24
Ifugao 11 4 7 0 Poverty incidence rank fell from 4 to 51
Mountain Province 10 5 5 5
Quezon 40 14 15 14
Palawan 23 6 19 6

Who
Who Benefits
Marinduque 6 3 2 4
Occidental Mindoro 11 1 7 1
Romblon 17 8 10 8

Benefit From
Albay 15 1 7 1
Camarines Norte 12 3 1 3
Camarines Sur 35 9 19 7
Catanduanes 11 7 4 7

Fromthe
Sorsogon 15 4 8 4
Aklan 17 3 7 4
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

theFood
Antique 18 5 10 4
Iloilo 43 8 22 3

Food-For-School...
Negros Occidental 19 2 12 2
Bohol 47 26 16 0 Poverty incidence rank fell from 13 to 52

-For-School...
Eastern Samar 23 15 7 15
Leyte 41 12 14 11
Northern Samar 24 15 14 14
Southern Leyte 18 12 0 10
Samar 25 15 20 12
Zamboanga del Sur
 Annex Table 1 continued
SOCIAL WELFARE

Who Benefit
FIVIMS Provinces 2003 FIES Provinces Direct Targeting of
5th/6th Class 5th/6th Class

BenefitsFrom
Total No. Municipalities as
Provinces of Municipalities Municipalities per SAE Remarks
Municipalities Target No. Target No. Target No.
of Municipalities of Municipalities of Municipalities

Fromthe
AND

& Zamboanga Sibugay 42 11 35 6

V=38 Camiguin 5 4 3 4

theFood
DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL

Lanao del Norte 22 14 21 14

Misamis Occidental 14 6 6 4

Food-For-School...
Davao del Norte 7 1 1 1
Davao del Sur 14 1 6 0 Poverty incidence rank is 69 in 2000 and

-For-School...
62 in 2003
Cotabato 17 2 15 1 Poverty incidence rank fell from 26 to 54
South Cotabato 10 3 3 0 Poverty inicdence rank fell from 45 to 55
Sarangani 7 3 7 2
Sultan Kudarat 11 2 10 1
Agusan del Sur 14 1 13 1
Agusan del Norte 11 3 7 1
Surigao del Sur 18 4 12 3
Surigao del Norte 27 23 20 16
Total 746 284 401 213
LV or NV Aurora 8 0 0 4 Poverty incidence rank rose from 57 to 45
Kalinga 8 0 6 1 Poverty incidence rank rose from 37 to 13
Oriental Mindoro 14 0 13 3 Poverty incidence rank is 28 in 2000 and
27 in 2003
Guimaras 5 0 2 2 Poverty incidence rank rose from 63 to 19
Biliran 8 0 2 4 Poverty incidence rank rose from 38 to 8
V or NV Siquijor 6 0 0 4 Poverty incidence rank rose from 59 to 48
Davao Oriental 11 0 8 2 Poverty incidence rank is 42 in 2000 and
22 in 2003
Compostela Valley 11 0 3 3 Poverty incidence rank is 35 in 2003
Misamis Oriental 24 0 3 0
Cebu 64 0 28 0
Batangas 31 0 5 0
Nueva Ecija 27 0 1 0
Bulacan 22 0 1 0
Tarlac 17 0 1 0
Nueva Vizcaya 15 0 4 0
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

Isabela 34 0 5 0
Cagayan 28 0 6 0
Ilocos Sur 32 0 8 0
Ilocos Norte 23 0 2 0
Pangasinan 45 0 3 0
Benguet 13 0 5 0
Total 446 0 106 23

21
Grand Total 1,409 380 653 347
 22

REVIEW OF LEGISLATIONS IN THE SOCIAL WELFARE AND

DEVELOPMENT SECTOR
By

Dr. Fernando T. Aldaba

ABSTRACT

T his paper presents the results of a review on

the significant social reforms introduced by
social legislations passed from the Eight to the
emphasis on welfare and protection of children and
youth sector followed by women’s sector.

Thirteenth Congress starting from the Aquino
Administration. It determined the weight of
importance given by the lawmakers to each social
sector as well as the identified social risks. An
important finding indicated that social legislations
during the years under review have placed strong
Likewise, among the conclusions and policy
recommendations are the need to: a) pursue
pending social legislations; b) monitor and
evaluate the implementation of social legislations;
and c) source funding for unfunded social laws

Introduction

T his paper provides a glimpse of the

significant social legislations passed in the
past two decades from the Eighth Congress to
the Children and Youth Sector. These laws were
passed to achieve the following objectives:

the Thirteenth Congress, which started under
the Aquino Administration. It summarizes the
social reforms introduced by these social
legislations as it determines the weight of
importance given by lawmakers to each social
sector and specific social risks by analyzing the
emphasis of these legislations on the said social
sector and identified social risks.
By reviewing the said social legislations, the paper
will be able to enumerate the modes of social
intervention employed by our lawmakers in trying
to address the social concerns confronted by the
social welfare and development sector in the past
20 years. It will also attempt to describe how these
social legislations strengthen existing social
arrangements, mitigate the hardships or handicaps
of particular individuals and social groups, pioneer
new services, stimulate better adaptation of the
social structure, and create new social programs.
Sectoral Classification
Children and Youth. For the past two decades,
seventeen (17) laws have been enacted to protect
§ Prevent child abuse, domestic violence,
human trafficking, and discrimination;
§ Protect them from child labor and
exploitation, unlawful international and
domestic adoption;
§ Provide child care through the establishment
of day care centers, promulgating a
comprehensive policy and a national system
for early childhood care and development
and establishment of a national system for
ensuring newborn screening;
§ Provide summer and vacation jobs,
opportunities for education, a coordinated
national development program for the youth
sector through the creation of the National
Youth Commission; and
§ Establish a Juvenile Justice and Welfare
System that will be put in place by a council
under the Department of Justice.

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ... 23

Table 1. Social Legislations for Children and Youth

Republic Act Title Congress Year

RA06809 AN ACT LOWERING THE AGE OF MAJORITY FROM TWENTY-ONE TO EIGHTEEN YEARS, 8th Congress 1989
AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBERED TWO HUNDRED NINE,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA06972 AN ACT ESTABLISHING A DAY CARE CENTER IN EVERY BARANGAY, INSTITUTING 1990
THEREIN A TOTAL DEVELOPMENT AND PROTECTION OF CHILDREN PROGRAM,
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT TO HELP POOR BUT DESERVING STUDENTS PURSUE THEIR EDUCATION BY
RA07323 1992
ENCOURAGING THEIR EMPLOYMENT DURING SUMMER AND/OR CHRISTMAS
VACATIONS, THROUGH INCENTIVES GRANTED TO EMPLOYERS, ALLOWING THEM TO
PAY ONLY SIXTY PER CENTUM OF THEIR SALARIES OR WAGES AND THE FORTY PER
CENTUM THROUGH EDUCATION VOUCHERS TO BE PAID BY THE GOVERNMENT,
PROHIBITING AND PENALIZING THE FILING OF FRAUDULENT OR FICTITIOUS CLAIMS,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR STRONGER DETERRENCE AND SPECIAL PROTECTION
RA07610 1992
AGAINST CHILD ABUSE, EXPLOITATION AND DISCRIMINATION, PROVIDING PENALTIES
FOR ITS VIOLATION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

RA07658 AN ACT PROHIBITING THE EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN BELOW 15 YEARS OF AGE IN 9th Congress 1993
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UNDERTAKINGS, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE SECTION 12,
ARTICLE VIII OF R.A. 7610
RA08043 AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE RULES TO GOVERN INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION OF FILIPINO 1995
CHILDREN, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

RA08044 AN ACT CREATING THE NATIONAL YOUTH COMMISSION, ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL 1995
COMPREHENSIVE AND COORDINATED PROGRAM ON YOUTH DEVELOPMENT,
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

RA08296 AN ACT DECLARING EVERY SECOND SUNDAY OF DECEMBER AS THE NATIONAL

10th Congress 1997
CHILDREN’S BROADCASTING DAY
CHILDREN’S TELEVISION ACT OF 1997
RA08370 AN ACT ESTABLISHING AN “ADOPT-A-SCHOOL PROGRAM,” PROVIDING INCENTIVES 1997
THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE RULES AND POLICIES ON THE DOMESTIC ADOPTION OF 1998
RA08525
FILIPINO CHILDREN AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT PROMULGATING A COMPREHENSIVE POLICY AND A NATIONAL SYSTEM FOR 1998
RA08552
EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT (ECCD), PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA08980 AN ACT TO INSTITUTE POLICIES TO ELIMINATE TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ESPECIALLY 11th Congress 2000
WOMEN AND CHILDREN, ESTABLISHING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS
FOR THE PROTECTION AND SUPPORT OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS, PROVIDING
PENALTIES FOR ITS VIOLATIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA09208 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ELIMINATION OF THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 12th Congress 2003
AND AFFORDING STRONGER PROTECTION FOR THE WORKING CHILD, AMENDING FOR
THIS PURPOSE
RA09231 REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7610, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE ‘SPECIAL 2003
PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST CHILD ABUSE, EXPLOITATION AND
DISCRIMINATION
RA09262 AN ACT DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN, PROVIDING FOR 12th Congress 2004
PROTECTIVE MEASURES FOR VICTIMS, PRESCRIBING PENALTIES THEREFOR, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA09288 AN ACT PROMULGATING A COMPREHENSIVE POLICY AND A NATIONAL SYSTEM FOR 2004
ENSURING NEWBORN SCREENING
RA09344 AN ACT ESTABLISHING A COMPREHENSIVE JUVENILE JUSTICE AND WELFARE SYSTEM, 13th Congress 2006
CREATING THE JUVENILE JUSTICE AND WELFARE COUNCIL UNDER THE DEPARTMENT
OF JUSTICE, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Women. Twelve (12) laws have been enacted to § Strengthening the protection of women
address the problems facing the women of the against discrimination in employment terms
country. These laws were passed with the aim of: and conditions;

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

 24 Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ...

§ Protecting the women against the mail order
bride practices; and
§ Providing opportunities for women to
participate and become equal partners in
development and nation-building as well as
granting representation in the Social Security
Commission;
Table 2. Social Legislations for Women
Republic Act Title
§ Increasing maternity benefits, providing
assistance to women engaging in micro and
cottage business enterprises;
§ Intensifying women’s protection against rape,
sexual harassment, domestic violence, and
human trafficking; and
§ Allowing for the retention of their lost
citizenship by virtue of their marriage to
foreigners.
Congress Year

RA06725 AN ACT STRENGTHENING THE PROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN 8th Congress 1989
WITH RESPECT TO TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT, AMENDING FOR THE
PURPOSE ARTICLE ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE OF THE LABOR CODE, AS AMENDED
AN ACT DECLARE UNLAWFUL THE PRACTICE OF MATCHING FILIPINO WOMEN FOR
RA06955 MARIAGE TO FOREIGN NATIONALS ON A MAIL-ORDER BASIS AND OTHER SIMILAR 1990
PRACTICES, INCLUDING THE ADVERTISEMENT, PUBLICATION, PRINTING OR
DISTRIBUTION OF BROCHURES, FLIERS AND OTHER PROPAGANDA MATERIALS IN
FURTHERANCE THEREOF AND PROVIDING PENALTY THEREFOR
RA07192 AN ACT PROMOTING THE INTEGRATION OF WOMEN AS FULL AND EQUAL PARTNERS 1992
OF MEN IN DEVELOPMENT AND NATION BUILDING AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT INCREASING MATERNITY BENEFITS IN FAVOR OF WOMEN WORKERS IN THE
RA07322 PRIVATE SECTOR, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION 14-A OF REPUBLIC ACT 1992
NO. 1161, AS AMENDED, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT GIVING REPRESENTATION TO WOMEN IN THE SOCIAL SECURITY COMMISSION,
RA07688 9th Congress 1994
AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION 3 (A) OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1161, AS AMENDED
RA07877 AN ACT DECLARING SEXUAL HARASSMENT UNLAWFUL IN THE EMPLOYMENT, 1995
EDUCATION OR TRAINING ENVIRONMENT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA07882 AN ACT PROVIDING ASSISTANCE TO WOMEN ENGAGING IN MICRO AND COTTAGE 1995
BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE REPATRIATION OF FILIPINO WOMEN WHO HAVE LOST
RA08171 THEIR PHILIPPINE CITIZENSHIP BY MARRIAGE TO ALIENS AND OF NATURAL-BORN 1995
FILIPINOS
AN ACT EXPANDING THE DEFINITION OF THE CRIME OF RAPE, RECLASSIFYING THE
RA08353 SAME AS A CRIME AGAINST PERSONS, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE ACT NO. 3815, 10th Congress 1997
AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE REVISED PENAL CODE, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
AN ACT PROVIDING ASSISTANCE AND PROTECTION FOR RAPE VICTIMS, ESTABLISHING
RA08505 FOR THE PURPOSE A RAPE CRISIS CENTER IN EVERY PROVINCE AND CITY, 1998
AUTHORIZING THE APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
AN ACT TO INSTITUTE POLICIES TO ELIMINATE TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ESPECIALLY
RA09208 WOMEN AND CHILDREN, ESTABLISHING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS 2003
FOR THE PROTECTION AND SUPPORT OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS, PROVIDING
PENALTIES FOR ITS VIOLATIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN, PROVIDING FOR
RA09262 PROTECTIVE MEASURES FOR VICTIMS, PRESCRIBING PENALTIES THEREFOR, AND 12th Congress 2004
FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Elderly and Persons With Disability. Five (5) laws
have been enacted to alleviate the plight of the
elderly and persons with disability. These laws
essentially provided the following social support
and assistance:
§ Granting of benefits and special privileges
to senior citizens in order to maximize their
contribution to nation-building as well as the
establishment of senior citizen centers in all
cities and municipalities in the Philippines;
§ Assisting persons with disabilities towards
their rehabilitation, self-development and self-
reliance thereby easing their integration into
the mainstream of society as well as granting
them the special privileges and benefits
essentially enjoyed by senior citizens.

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Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ... 25

Table 3. Social Legislations for Elderly and Persons with Disability

Republic Act Title Congress Year

RA07277 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE REHABILITATION, SELF-DEVELOPMENT AND SELF- 8th Congress 1992
RELIANCE OF DISABLED PERSONS AND THEIR INTEGRATION INTO THE MAINSTREAM
OF SOCIETY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT TO MAXIMIZE THE CONTRIBUTION OF SENIOR CITIZENS TO NATION BUILDING,
RA07432 GRANT BENEFITS AND SPECIAL PRIVILEGES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 1992

RA07876 AN ACT ESTABLISHING A SENIOR CITIZENS CENTER IN ALL CITIES AND MUNICIPALITIES 9th Congress 1995
OF THE PHILIPPINES, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR
AN ACT GRANTING ADDITIONAL BENEFITS AND PRIVILEGES TO SENIOR CITIZENS
RA09257 AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7432, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS ‘AN 12th Congress 2004
ACT TO MAXIMIZE THE CONTRIBUTION OF SENIOR CITIZENS TO NATIONAL BUILDING,
GRANT BENEFITS AND SPECIAL PRIVILEGES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES’
AN ACT GRANTING OTHER PRIVILEGES AND INCENTIVES TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITY
RA 09442 13th Congress 2007
(PWDs), AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE THE “MAGNA CARTA FOR DISABLED PERSONS”

Victims of Disasters. In response to major disasters
that occurred for the past two decades, four (4)
laws have been enacted. These laws basically
Table 4. Social Legislations for Victims of Disasters
Republic Act Title
provided the necessary funds for the aid, relief,
and rehabilitation of the victims of the July 1990
Earthquake, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, the
oil spill in Guimaras.
Congress Year

RA06960 AN ACT APPROPRIATING THE SUM OF TEN BILLION PESOS FOR THE AID, RELIEF, AND 8th Congress 1990
REHABILITATION SERVICES TO PERSONS AND AREAS AFFECTED AND FOR THE
SURVEY, REPAIR AND RECONSTRUCTION OF GOVERNMENT INFRASTRUCTURE
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED BY THE EARTHQUAKES OF JULY 16, 1990 AND THEIR
AFTERSHOCKS
AN ACT APPROPRIATING THE SUM OF TEN BILLION PESOS FOR THE AID, RELIEF,
RESETTLEMENT, REHABILITATION AND LIVELIHOOD SERVICES AS WELL AS
RA07637 INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE ERUPTION OF MT. PINATUBO, 9th Congress 1992
CREATING THE MT. PINATUBO ASSISTANCE, RESETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
COMMISSION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT TO AMEND REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED SEVENTYSIX HUNDRED THIRTY-SEVEN
RA07657 ENTITLED “AN ACT APPROPRIATING THE SUM OF TEN BILLION PESOS FOR THE AID, 1993
RELIEF, RESETTLEMENT, REHABILITATION AND LIVELIHOOD SERVICES AS WELL AS
INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE ERUPTION OF MT. PINATUBO,
CREATING THE MT. PINATUBO ASSISTANCE, RESETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
COMMISSION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A STANDBY FUND IN THE SUM OF EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTY
MILLION PESOS (P850,000,000.00) FOR THE CLEAN UP OF THE GUIMARAS OIL SPILL,
RA09359 FOR THE RELIEF OPERATIONS FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE ERUPTION OF MAYON 13th Congress 2006
VOLCANO, AND FOR THE EMERGENCY REPATRIATION FUND TO BE USED FOR THE
REPATRIATION, EVACUATION AND RELIEF OF OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKERS AND
OTHER FILIPINO NATIONALS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Family. Five (5) laws have been enacted to § Amend the Family Code to nullify the
strengthen the Family as the basic institution of prescriptive period for action or defenses
the Philippine society. These laws were framed to grounded on psychological incapacity;
pursue the following objectives: § Provide benefits to solo parents and their
children; and
§ Grant paternity leave of seven (7) days with
§ Allow illegitimate children to use the surname
full pay to married male employees;
of their father.
§ Establish the Family Courts, granting them
exclusive jurisdiction over child and family
cases;

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 26 Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ...

Table 5. Social Legislations for the Family

Republic Act Title Congress Year

RA08187 AN ACT GRANTING PATERNITY LEAVE OF SEVEN (7) DAYS WITH FULL PAY TO ALL 10th Congress 1996
MARRIED MALE EMPLOYEES IN THE PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTORS FOR THE FIRST
FOUR (4) DELIVERIES OF THE LEGITIMATE SPOUSE WITH WHOM HE IS COHABITING
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT ESTABLISHING FAMILY COURTS, GRANTING THEM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINAL
RA08369 JURISDICTION OVER CHILD AND FAMILY CASES, AMENDING BATAS PAMBANSA BILANG 1997
129, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE JUDICIARY REORGANIZATION ACT OF
1980, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA08533 AN ACT AMENDING TITLE I, CHAPTER 3, ARTICLE 39 OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 209, 1998
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE FAMILY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES, NULLIFYING THE
PRESCRIPTIVE PERIOD FOR ACTION OR DEFENSES GROUNDED ON PSYCHOLOGICAL
INCAPACITY
RA08972 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE BENEFITS AND PRIVILEGES TO SOLO PARENTS AND THEIR 11th Congress 2000
CHILDREN, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT ALLOWING ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN TO USE THE SURNAME OF THEIR FATHER,
RA09255 12th Congress 2004
AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE ARTICLE 176 OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 209,
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE ‘FAMILY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES’

Other Sectors. Complementary to the social
legislations enacted are the following major
statutes that strengthened the social sector:
§ The Local Government Code which
essentially devolved the provision of social
services to the Local Government Units
(LGUs);
§ The Indigenous Peoples Law which
recognize, protect and promote the rights of
indigenous cultural communities/indigenous;
Table 6. Social Legislations for Other Sectors
§ The National Anti-Poverty Law which
institutionalizes the social reform and poverty
alleviation program, creating also the
National Anti-Poverty Commission; and
§ The Magna Carta for Public Social Workers
which seeks to institutionalize social work as
a profession in recognition of their
contribution to nation-building, thereby
providing privileges and benefits to social
workers and social welfare and development
workers.

Republic Act Title Congress Year

RA07160 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE OF 1991 8th Congress 1991

AN ACT TO RECOGNIZE, PROTECT AND PROMOTE THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS
RA08371 CULTURAL COMMUNITIES/INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, CREATING A NATIONAL COMMISSION 10th Congress 1997
ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, ESTABLISHING IMPLEMENTING MECHANISMS,
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA08425 AN ACT INSTITUTIONALIZING THE SOCIAL REFORM AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION 1997
PROGRAM, CREATING FOR THE PURPOSE THE NATIONAL ANTI-POVERTY COMMISSION,
DEFINING ITS POWERS AND FUNCTIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA 09433 MAGNA CARTA FOR PUBLIC SOCIAL WORKERS 13th Congress 2007

Social Risks Classification

Unemployment and Underemployment. In the
review of social legislations passed in the period
of two decades, fifteen (15) laws addressing
unemployment and underemployment basically
provided the following social rights and
safeguards:
§ Increasing the daily minimum wage and
penalizing the violation of wage laws;
§ Requiring private contractors under their
contract with LGUs to hire at least 50% of
their unskilled labor requirements and at least
30% of their skilled labor requirements from
the local residents;

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 Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ... 27

§ Strengthen the constitutional rights of § Promote and develop small and medium
workers to self-organization, collective business enterprises especially in the
bargaining and peaceful concerted activities countryside;
to promote industrial peace and harmony;
§ Protect the welfare of overseas migrant
also reorganizing the National Labor
workers and their families;
Relations Commission;
§ Institutionalize a national facilitation service
§ Rationalize wage policy determination,
network through the establishment of public
adapting certain mechanisms and proper
employment service offices throughout the
standards;
country;
Table 7. Social Legislations Addressing Unemployment and Underemployment
Republic Act Title Congress Year
th
RA06640 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR AN INCREASE IN THE WAGE OF PUBLIC OR GOVERNMENT 8 Congress 1987
SECTOR EMPLOYEES ON A DAILY WAGE BASIS AND IN THE STATUTORY MINIMUM WAGE
AND SALARY RATES OF EMPLOYEES AND WORKERS IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT REQUIRING PRIVATE CONTRACTORS TO WHOM NATIONAL, PROVINCIAL, CITY
RA06685 AND MUNICIPAL PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS HAVE BEEN AWARDED UNDER CONTRACT 1988
TO HIRE AT LEAST FIFTY PERCENT OF THE UNSKILLED AND AT LEAST THIRTY PERCENT
OF THE SKILLED LABOR REQUIREMENTS TO BE TAKEN FROM THE AVAILABLE BONA
FIDE RESIDENTS IN THE PROVINCE, CITY OR MUNICIPALITY IN WHICH THE PROJECTS
ARE TO BE UNDERTAKEN, AND PENALIZING THOSE WHO FAIL TO DO SO
AN ACT TO EXTEND PROTECTION TO LABOR, STRENGTHEN THE CONSTITUTIONAL
RA06715 1989
RIGHTS OF WORKERS TO SELF-ORGANIZATION, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND
PEACEFUL CONCERTED ACTIVITIES, FOSTER INDUSTRIAL PEACE AND HARMONY,
PROMOTE THE PREFERENTlAL USE OF VOLUNTARY MODES OF SETTLING LABOR
DISPUTES, AND REORGANIZE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION,
AMENDING FOR THESE PURPOSES CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF PRESIDENTIAL DECREE
NO. 442, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE LABOR CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES,
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT TO RATIONALIZE WAGE POLICY DETERMINATION BY ESTABLISHING THE
RA06727 MECHANISM AND PROPER STANDARDS THEREFOR, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE 1989
ARTICLE 99 OF, AND INCORPORATING ARTICLES 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126 AND 127
INTO, PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 442, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE
LABOR CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES, FIXING NEW WAGE RATES, PROVIDING WAGE
INCENTIVES FOR INDUSTRIAL DISPERSAL TO THE COUNTRYSIDE, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE MAGNA CARTA FOR COUNTRYSIDE AND BARANGAY
RA06810 BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, GRANTING EXEMPTIONS FROM ANY AND ALL GOVERNMENT 1989
RULES AND REGULATIONS AND OTHER INCENTIVES AND BENEFITS THEREFOR, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT TO PROMOTE, DEVELOP AND ASSIST SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES
THROUGH THE CREATION OF A SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
RA06977 (SMED) COUNCIL, AND THE RATIONALIZATION OF GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE 1991
PROGRAMS AND AGENCIES CONCERNED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF ALL AND
MEDIUM ENTERPRISES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT REVISING THE EXCISE TAX BASE, ALLOCATING A PORTION OF THE
RA07654 9th Congress 1993
INCREMENTAL REVENUE COLLECTED FOR THE EMERGENCY EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM
FOR CERTAIN WORKERS AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION 142 OF THE
NATIONAL INTERNAL REVENUE CODE, AS AMENDED, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA07655 AN ACT INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE OF HOUSEHELPERS, AMENDING FOR THE 1993
PURPOSE ARTICLE 143 OF PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 442, AS AMENDED
AN ACT INSTITUTING LIMITED PORTABILITY SCHEME IN THE SOCIAL SECURITY
RA07699 INSURANCE SYSTEMS BY TOTALIZING THE WORKERS’ CREDITABLE SERVICES OR 1994
CONTRIBUTIONS IN EACH OF THE SYSTEMS
AN ACT TO INSTITUTE THE POLICIES OF OVERSEAS EMPLOYMENT AND ESTABLISH A
RA08042 1995
HIGHER STANDARD OF PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF THE WELFARE OF MIGRANT
WORKERS, THEIR FAMILIES AND OVERSEAS FILIPINOS IN DISTRESS, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES

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 28 Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ...

Republic Act Title Congress Year

RA08188 AN ACT INCREASING THE PENALTY AND IMPOSING DOUBLE INDEMNITY FOR VIOLATION 10th Congress 1996
OF THE PRESCRIBED INCREASES OR ADJUSTMENTS IN THE WAGE RATES, AMENDING
FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION TWELVE OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED SIXTY-SEVEN
HUNDRED TWENTY-SEVEN, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE WAGE RATIONALIZATION ACT
AN ACT INSTITUTIONALIZING A NATIONAL FACILITATION SERVICE NETWORK THROUGH
RA08759 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT SERVICE OFFICE IN EVERY 11th Congress 2000
PROVINCE, KEY CITY AND OTHER STRATEGIC AREAS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY
AN ACT TO PROMOTE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BARANGAY MICRO BUSINESS
RA09178 ENTERPRISES (BMBEs), PROVIDING INCENTIVES AND BENEFITS THEREFOR, AND FOR 12th Congress 2002
OTHER PURPOSE
AN ACT TO STRENGTHEN THE REGULATORY FUNCTIONS OF THE PHILIPPINE OVERSEAS
RA09422 EMPLOYMENT ADMINISTRATION (POEA), AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE REPUBLIC 13th Congress 2007
ACT NO. 8042, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “MIGRANT WORKERS AND OVERSEAS
FILIPINOS ACT OF 1995
AN ACT STRENGTHENING THE WORKERS’ CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO SELF-
RA09481 2007
ORGANIZATION, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 442, AS
AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE LABOR CODE OF THE PHILLIPINES

Food Security. To address food security issues,
eight (8) laws have been passed to attain the
following purposes:
§ Institute and strengthen a Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program;
Table 8. Social Legislations Addressing Food Insecurity
Republic Act
§ Promote rural development through a
10-year irrigation program;
§ Modernize the agriculture and fisheries
sectors of the country, enhance their
profitability and competitiveness through
adequate, focused, and rational delivery of
necessary support services;
Title Congress Year

RA06657 AN ACT INSTITUTING A COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM TO PROMOTE th

8 Congress 1988
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND INDUSTRIALIZATION, PROVIDING THE MECHANISM FOR ITS
IMPLEMENTATION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT TO PROMOTE RURAL DEVELOPMENT BY PROVIDING FOR AN ACCELERATED
RA06978 PROGRAM WITHIN A TEN-YEAR PERIOD FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRRIGATION 1991
PROJECTS
AN ACT AMENDING CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6657, ENTITLED “AN
RA07881 ACT INSTITUTING A COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM TO PROMOTE 9th Congress 1995
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND INDUSTRIALIZATION, PROVIDING THE MECHANISM FOR ITS
IMPLEMENTATION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT TO STRENGTHEN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN
RA07905 1995
REFORM PROGRAM, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA07907 AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED THIRTY-EIGHT HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR, 1995
AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “CODE OF AGRARIAN REFORM IN THE
PHILIPPINES”
AN ACT PRESCRIBING URGENT RELATED MEASURES TO MODERNIZE THE
RA08435 AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES SECTORS OF THE COUNTRY IN ORDER TO ENHANCE 10th Congress 1997
THEIR PROFITABILITY, AND PREPARE SAID SECTORS FOR THE CHALLENGES OF
GLOBALIZATION THROUGH AN ADEQUATE, FOCUSED AND RATIONAL DELIVERY OF
NECESSARY SUPPORT SERVICES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT STRENGTHENING FURTHER THE COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM
RA08532 PROGRAM (CARP), BY PROVIDING AUGMENTATION FUND THEREFOR, AMENDING FOR 1998
THE PURPOSE SECTION 63 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6657, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “THE
CARP LAW OF 1988
AN ACT TO STRENGTHEN AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES MODERNIZATION IN THE
RA09281 PHILIPPINES BY EXTENDING THE EFFECTIVITY OF TAX INCENTIVES AND ITS MANDATED 12th Congress 2004
FUNDING SUPPORT, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE SECTIONS 109 AND 112 OF
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8435

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Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ... 29

Shelter and Housing. Most of the legislations
enacted to address shelter and housing were
basically to regulate and control the rental of
residences. Other shelter and housing legislations
were passed for the following purposes:
§ Create a social housing support fund (abot-
kaya pabahay fund);
§ Provide for a comprehensive and continuing
urban development and housing program
and establish the mechanism for its
implementation;
§ Provide for a comprehensive and integrated
shelter and urban development financing
program by increasing and regularizing the
Table 9. Social Legislations Addressing Shelter and Housing
Republic Act
yearly appropriation of the major components
of the national shelter program;
§ Decriminalize squatting by removing the
penalties for squatting and other similar acts;
§ Rescue the National Shelter Program of the
Government by condoning the penalties on
all outstanding/delinquent housing loan
accounts with any of the government
institutions and agencies involved in the
national shelter program;
§ Strengthening the Home Guarantee
Corporation; and
§ Establishing reforms in the regulation of
rentals of certain residential units thereby
maintaining the rent control law.
Title Congress Year

RA06643 AN ACT EXTENDING THE EFFECTIVITY OF BATAS PAMBANSA BLG. 877, ENTITLED “AN ACT th
8 Congress 1987
PROVIDING FOR THE STABILIZATION AND REGULATION OF RENTALS OF CERTAIN
RESIDENTIAL UNITS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES,” FOR ANOTHER TWO YEARS
RA06846 AN ACT CREATING THE ABOT-KAYA PABAHAY FUND, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE SOCIAL 1990
HOUSING SUPPORT FUND ACT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE AND CONTINUING URBAN DEVELOPMENT
RA07279 AND HOUSING PROGRAM, ESTABLISH THE MECHANISM FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION, AND 1992
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT FURTHER EXTENDING THE RENT CONTROL PERIOD FOR CERTAIN RESIDENTIAL 9th Congress 1992
RA07644
UNITS, AMENDING THEREBY BATAS PAMBANSA BLG. 877, ENTITLED “AN ACT PROVIDING
FOR THE STABILIZATION AND REGULATION OF RENTALS OF CERTAIN RESIDENTIAL UNITS
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES,” AS AMENDED
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE AND INTEGRATED SHELTER AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT FINANCING PROGRAM BY INCREASING AND REGULARIZING THE YEARLY 1994
RA07835
APPROPRIATION OF THE MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE NATIONAL SHELTER PROGRAM,
INCLUDING THE ABOT-KAYA PABAHAY FUND UNDER REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6846, AUGMENTING
THE AUTHORIZED CAPITAL STOCK AND PAID-UP CAPITAL OF THE NATIONAL HOME
MORTGAGE FINANCE CORPORATION (NHMFC) AND THE HOME INSURANCE AND GUARANTY
CORPORATION (HIGC), IDENTIFYING OTHER SOURCES OF FUNDING AND APPROPRIATING
FUNDS FOR THE PURPOSES
AN ACT AMENDING SECTION FOUR AND SECTION SIXTEEN OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED 1995
RA07899
FOUR THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED TWENTY-SIX, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE
CONDOMINIUM ACT
RA08368 AN ACT REPEALING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 772, ENTITLED ‘PENALIZING SQUATTING 10th Congress 1997
AND OTHER SIMILAR ACTS’
AN ACT FURTHER EXTENDING THE RENT CONTROL PERIOD FOR CERTAIN RESIDENTIAL
RA08437 UNITS AMENDING THEREBY BATAS PAMBANSA BLG. 877 ENTITLED: “AN ACT PROVIDING 1997
FOR THE STABILIZATION AND REGULATION OF RENTALS OF CERTAIN RESIDENTIAL UNITS,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AS AMENDED
AN ACT TO RESCUE THE NATIONAL SHELTER PROGRAM OF THE GOVERNMENT BY
RA08501 CONDONING THE PENALTIES ON ALL OUTSTANDING/DELINQUENT HOUSING LOAN 1998
ACCOUNTS WITH ANY OF THE GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS AND AGENCIES INVOLVED IN
THE NATIONAL SHELTER PROGRAM AND BY AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1752,
AS AMENDED
AN ACT CONSOLIDATING AND AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NOS. 580, 1557, 5488, AND 7835
RA08763 AND EXECUTIVE ORDER NOS. 535 AND 90, AS THEY APPLY TO THE HOME INSURANCE AND 11th Congress 2000
GUARANTY CORPORATION WHICH SHALL BE RENAMED AS HOME GUARANTY
CORPORATION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT ESTABLISHING REFORMS IN THE REGULATION OF RENTALS OF CERTAIN
RA09161 RESIDENTIAL UNITS, PROVIDING THE MECHANISMS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 12th Congress 2001
AN ACT ESTABLISHING REFORMS IN THE REGULATION OF RENT OF CERTAIN RESIDENTIAL 13th Congress 2005
RA09341
UNITS, PROVIDING THE MECHANISMS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

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 30 Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ...

Health and Illness. The past two decades saw
numerous legislations addressing health and
illness. Nineteen (19) laws were enacted to
address the problem of health and illnesses. These
laws cover the following objectives:
§ Providing a Magna Carta for Health Workers;
§ Promoting voluntary blood donation;
§ Requiring compulsory immunization against
Hepatitis-B for infants and children below
eight (8) years old;
§ Instituting a National Health Insurance
Program for all Filipinos and establishing the
Philippine Health Insurance Corporation;
§ Granting health benefits and incentives to
barangay health workers;
§ Fortification of food, salt iodization and
strengthening of the meat inspection system
in the country;
§ Prescribing measures to prevent and control
Diabetes Mellitus in the Philippines and
creating the National Commission on Diabetes;
§ Prohibiting and punishing the use and sale
of counterfeit drugs;
Table 10. Social Legislations Addressing Health and Illness
§ Penalizing the refusal of hospitals and
medical clinics to administer medical
treatment and support in emergency or
serious cases;
§ Creating the Philippine Institute of Traditional
and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) to
accelerate the development of traditional and
alternative health care in the Philippines;
§ Providing for the promotion of health research
and development and establishing for the
purpose the National Institute of Health;
§ Promulgating policies and prescribing
measures for the prevention and control of
HIV/AIDS in the Philippines;
§ Instituting the Comprehensive Dangerous
Drugs Act of 2002;
§ Regulating the packaging, use, sale,
distribution and advertisements of tobacco
products;
§ Strengthening the regulatory capacity of the
Department of Health in quarantine and
international health surveillance; and
§ Prohibiting the detention of patients in
hospitals and medical clinics on grounds of
nonpayment of hospital bills or medical
expenses.

Republic Act Title Congress Year

RA07305 THE MAGNA CARTA OF PUBLIC HEALTH WORKERS 8th Congress 1992
AN ACT PROMOTING VOLUNTARY BLOOD DONATION, PROVIDING FOR AN ADEQUATE
RA07719 SUPPLY OF SAFE BLOOD, REGULATING BLOOD BANKS, AND PROVIDING PENALTIES 9th Congress 1994
FOR VIOLATION THEREOF
RA07846 AN ACT REQUIRING COMPULSORY IMMUNIZATION AGAINST HEPATITIS-B FOR INFANTS 1994
AND CHILDREN BELOW EIGHT (8) YEARS OLD, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 996, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR
AN ACT INSTITUTING A NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM FOR ALL FILIPINOS
RA07875 AND ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE HEALTH INSURANCE CORPORATION FOR THE 1995
PURPOSE
AN ACT GRANTING BENEFITS AND INCENTIVES TO ACCREDITED BARANGAY HEALTH
RA07883 1995
WORKERS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA08172 AN ACT PROMOTING SALT IODIZATION NATIONWIDE AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES 10th Congress 1995
AN ACT PRESCRIBING MEASURES FOR THE PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF DIABETES
RA08191 MELLITUS IN THE PHILIPPINES, PROVIDING FOR THE CREATION OF A NATIONAL 1996
COMMISSION ON DIABETES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES

RA08203 AN ACT PROHIBITING COUNTERFEIT DRUGS, PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS 1996
AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR
AN ACT PENALIZING THE REFUSAL OF HOSPITALS AND MEDICAL CLINICS TO
RA08344 ADMINISTER APPROPRIATE INITIAL MEDICAL TREATMENT AND SUPPORT IN 1997
EMERGENCY OR SERIOUS CASES, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE BATAS PAMBANSA

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Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ... 31

Republic Act Title Congress Year

BILANG 702, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “AN ACT PROHIBITING THE DEMAND OF DEPOSITS
OR ADVANCE PAYMENTS FOR THE CONFINEMENT OR TREATMENT OF PATIENTS IN
HOSPITALS AND MEDICAL CLINICS IN CERTAIN CASES
AN ACT CREATING THE PHILIPPINE INSTITUTE OF TRADITIONAL AND ALTERNATIVE
RA08423 HEALTH CARE (PITAHC) TO ACCELERATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADITIONAL AND 1997
ALTERNATIVE HEALTH CARE IN THE PHILIPPINES, PROVIDING FOR A TRADITIONAL
AND ALTERNATIVE HEALTH CARE DEVELOPMENT FUND AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RA08503 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE PROMOTION OF HEALTH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, 1998
ESTABLISHING FOR THE PURPOSE THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH (NIH),
DEFINING ITS OBJECTIVES, POWERS AND FUNCTIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT PROMULGATING POLICIES AND PRESCRIBING MEASURES FOR THE
RA08504 PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF HIV/AIDS IN THE PHILIPPINES, INSTITUTING A 1998
NATIONWIDE HIV/AIDS INFORMATION AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM, ESTABLISHING A
COMPREHENSIVE HIV/AIDS MONITORING SYSTEM, STRENGTHENING THE PHILIPPINE
NATIONAL AIDS COUNCIL, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE FOOD FORTIFICATION PROGRAM AND FOR
RA08976 11th Congress 2000
OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT INSTITUTING THE COMPREHENSIVE DANGEROUS DRUGS ACT OF 2002,
RA09165 REPEALING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6425, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE DANGEROUS DRUGS 12th Congress 2002
ACT OF 1972, AS AMENDED, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
RA09211 AN ACT REGULATING THE PACKAGING, USE, SALE, DISTRIBUTION AND 2003
ADVERTISEMENTS OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7875, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS ‘AN ACT
RA09241 INSTITUTING A NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM FOR ALL FILIPINOS AND 2004
ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE HEALTH INSURANCE CORPORATION FOR THE PURPOSE

RA09271 AN ACT STRENGTHENING THE REGULATORY CAPACITY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 2004

HEALTH IN QUARANTINE AND INTERNATIONAL HEALTH SURVEILLANCE, REPEALING
FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 123 OF 1947, AS AMENDED
RA09296 AN ACT STRENGTHENING THE MEAT INSPECTION SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY, 2004
ORDAINING FOR THIS PURPOSE A ‘MEAT INSPECTION CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES’ AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
AN ACT PROHIBITING THE DETENTION OF PATIENTS IN HOSPITALS AND MEDICAL
RA09439 CLINICS ON GROUNDS OF NONPAYMENT OF HOSPITAL BILLS OR MEDICAL EXPENSES 13th Congress 2007

Clean Water and Sanitation. Five (5) laws providing § Granting of tax exemption privileges to
for clean water and sanitation were passed from local water districts;
the 8th to the 13th Congress. These laws were
enacted with the aim of: § Addressing the National Water Crisis;

§ Providing for the construction of water wells, § Providing for a comprehensive water
rainwater collectors, development of springs quality management; and
and rehabilitation of existing water wells in
all barangays in the Philippines; § Amending the Provincial Water Utilities Act
Table 11. Social Legislations Addressing Clean Water and Sanitation
Republic Act Title Congress Year

RA06716 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATER WELLS, RAINWATER 8th Congress 1989
COLLECTORS, DEVELOPMENT OF SPRINGS AND REHABILITATION OF EXISTING WATER
WELLS IN ALL BARANGAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES
RA07109 AN ACT GRANTING TAX EXEMPTION PRIVILEGES TO LOCAL WATER DISTRICTS 1990
RA08041 AN ACT TO ADDRESS THE NATIONAL WATER CRISIS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 9th Congress 1995
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND FOR
RA09275 OTHER PURPOSES 12th Congress 2004

RA09286 AN ACT FURTHER AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 198, OTHERWISE KNOWN 2004
AS ‘THE PROVINCIAL WATER UTILITIES ACT OF 1973’, AS AMENDED

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 32
Armed Conflict. For a span of almost 20 years,
only a single law was enacted to address armed
conflict and that is the controversial “Human
Table 12. Social Legislations Addressing Armed Conflict
Republic Act Title
RA09372 AN ACT DEFINING TERRORISM, ESTABLISHING INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS TO
PREVENT AND SUPPRESS ITS COMMISSION, PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Trends Analysis of Social Legislations
Legislative Trends by Social Sector
By looking at the cumulative enactment of social
legislations by sector, using historical data from
1987 to 2007, it can be seen that social legislations
have placed strong emphasis on the welfare and
protection in the Children and Youth Sector (17
laws passed), followed by the Women’s Sector with
twelve (12) laws passed. Compared to these two
sectors, very few laws were passed to support the
Elderly and Persons with Disabilities, Family,
Victims of Disasters, and other sectors. However,
this does not mean that the magnitude of support
translated by these legislations may necessarily
be less in terms of financial allocation and
budgetary support. Nevertheless, there has not
been any significant audit of all these financial and
budgetary allocations to determine the economic
magnitude of support provided by these laws to
the respective sectors.
Figure 1. Cumulative Enactment of Social
Legislations by Sector
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ...
Security Act” which defines terrorism while
establishing institutional mechanisms to prevent
and suppress its commission.
Congress Year
13th Congress 2007
Legislative Trends by Social Risks
By taking stock at the laws passed by Congress
from 1987 to 2007, it can be seen that much of
the laws passed had so much to do with addressing
the Health and Illness concerns in the Philippines
with nineteen (19) laws passed. Secondary
emphasis was placed on addressing
unemployment and underemployment concerns
(15 laws passed) as well as housing and shelter
concerns (12 laws passed). Food and water
concerns followed in the hierarchy of legislative
emphasis but it will be noticed no legislation
whatsoever was passed to address the burgeoning
problem of overpopulation. Note that large family
households is one of the social risks that adds to
the vulnerability of the poor but no legislation has
ever been passed to address this problem.
Furthermore, it is also worth noting that after twenty
years, it is only now that armed conflict has been
addressed by legislation.
Figure 2. Cumulative Enactment of Social
Legislations by Social Risks
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
Reveiw of Legislations in the Social ...
Conclusion and Policy Recommendations
Need to Pursue Pending Social Legislations
There are still quite a number of very important
social legislations that needs to be pursued. For
instance, in the pass 20 years, not a single
legislation was passed to address overpopulation
and the preponderance of large family households
in the Philippines as it hinders economic growth
and worsens poverty incidence in the country.
There are also many pending social legislations
in the DSWD legislative agenda that were taken
up during the 13th Congress but still remains to be
pursued in the new 14th Congress. These bills
include the following:
§ Magna Carta for Day Care Workers;
§ Providing special protection to internally-
displaced person;
§ Strengthening and propagating foster care
for abandoned and neglected children and
other children with special needs;
§ Requiring certification of DSWD to declare
a child legally available for adoption
proceedings;
§ Creating the Persons With Disabilities
Affairs Office in every province, city, and
municipality;
§ Seeking to improve child protection against
abuse, exploitation, and discrimination;
§ Magna Carta for Women;
§ Penalizing prostitution, defining the
persons liable therefor, providing measures
and support services for its victims;
§ Strengthening the Youth Development
Program by creating a local youth
development council in every city,
municipality, and province;
§ Lowering the age requirement for
Professional Social Workers to take social
work licensure examinations from 21 years
old to 18 years old;
§ Harmonization of Domestic and
Intercountry Adoption (DIA) laws; and
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
33
§ Regulating the operations of social welfare
and development agencies.
Need to Monitor and Evaluate the Implementation
of Social Legislations
Without effective monitoring, new policies to
correct or polish rough edges of the law will not
be effectively made. Documenting of outcomes
and feedbacks from the implementation of these
social laws has not been fully institutionalized.
The absence of a fully institutionalized
documentation of the impact of these social
legislations in the social welfare and development
sector makes the evaluation of these social
legislations, for purpose of developing further
social reforms, rather precarious.
In relation to this, it is also being recommended
that Monitoring and Evaluation, especially of social
legislations be institutionalized within the
Department of Social Welfare and Development,
lodging this primordial responsibility under its
appropriate Policy Development and Planning
Bureau. This policy decision will definitely require
infusion of additional manpower and financial
resources for the purpose of building a strong M&E
capability for the DSWD.
Need To Source Funding for Unfunded Social
Laws
There are at least 3 social legislations that remain
to be unfunded; namely, the Solo Parents Act, the
law establishing the women’s crisis centers, and
the law establishing detention centers for minors.
The habit of putting up sectoral support centers
nationwide for the children, youth, women, and
other vulnerable sectors through legislation without
an accompanying provision for appropriation has
always been the bane in the implementation of
these social legislations.
The DSWD must be very active in pointing out
these legislative oversights as it bears the burden
of ensuring implementation of these social
legislations.
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
 34
HERBAL MEDICINE AND THE PURSUIT OF
AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE FOR FILIPINOS
By
Cyril Wendy V. Maaño
ABSTRACT
T hree of the country’s Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) pertain to health. These are
MDG 4: Reduce under-5 child mortality; MDG 5:
Decrease maternal mortality; and MDG 6: Prevent
the spread of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other
communicable diseases. But because health care
is related to other issues such as poverty and
environmental degradation, the pursuit of quality
health care has not exactly been easy for the poor.
Government efforts such as the expansion of the
PhilHealth’s area of coverage, as well as the
establishment of Botika ng Barangays (BnBs) are
just some of the interventions it is undertaking to
improve the poor’s access to health care. This is
Introduction
T hree of our country’s Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) pertain to health. MDG 4 aims
to reduce under-5 child mortality by two-thirds or
26.7 deaths/1,000 live births by 2015. MDG 5, on
the other hand, seeks to decrease maternal
mortality ratio from 209/100,000 in 1993 to 52 in
2015. Lastly, MDG 6 aims to prevent the spread
of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other communicable
diseases by providing children with immunization
shots and medicine.1 These MDGs reflect that
human development cannot be achieved nor
sustained without improving the status of health
care in the country. This necessitates programs
to improve the poor’s access to affordable good
quality medicines, as well as health insurance.
Government efforts along this line include
prioritizing the health budget (PhP11B) in 2007,
which contributed to the fast-paced establishment
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
supplemented by investments in reforestation and
environment conservation.
Proper preparation and use of herbal medicine,
which the Department of Health is also promoting
through its Traditional Health Program, serves the
dual purpose of improving the poor’s access to
remedies supplementing medical care and
supporting initiatives to create a cleaner and
greener environment. This is exemplified by the
positive results of DSWD’s experiment at using
the Neem decoction as an alternative to
conventional scabicide and treatment for head lice
of children in its centers.
of Botika ng Barangays (BnB) offering low-cost
but good quality medicines. As of 2007, 11,833
BnB outlets are already operational, way above
the targeted 8,800 BnB outlets by 2010.2 While
approval of the Cheaper Medicines Bill (Senate
Bill No. 2263) is still pending in Congress, steps
were undertaken to reduce the cost of fast-moving
drugs by as much as 41% in 2006.3 Further, the
Department of Health (DoH) reports that the
percentage of Filipinos buying generic drugs has
increased from 47% in 2003 to 54% in 2006,
indicating that more Filipinos are exercising their
right to choose medicines they can afford.4 With
regard to health insurance, the PhilHealth’s
Indigent Program enrollment has already reached
4.5M families or 22.5M poor Filipinos in 2006. Its
regular insurance area coverage has also
expanded from 64% in 2005 to 77% in 2006,
benefiting 64.8M Filipinos.5
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
Herbal Medicine and the Pursuit ...
Aside from establishing BnBs and expanding the
PhilHealth, government has also engaged in
programs facilitating the achievement of health-
related MDGs. An example of such is the DSWD’s
Ahon Pamilyang Pilipino (APP) Conditional Cash
Transfer Program, which ties its objectives to
health-related conditionalities. Specifically, the APP
Health Package worth PhP6,000 annually is given
to selected poor households. This grant requires
pregnant women to seek pre- and post-natal care,
as well as birth delivery by a health care
professional. Households also commit to bring
children below 5 years of age to health centers for
regular immunization and check-ups. Through
such conditionalities, the APP enhances the
capacity of poor households to spend for health
care: an expense that poor families usually forgo
in favor of rent, food and basic commodities. The
APP program has been benefiting 6,000
households since 2007 and would be scaled up to
include as many as 300,000 households in 2008.6
Such efforts to improve access to health care have
resulted in gains for the MDGs. The targeted
under-five mortality ratio of 32/1,000 was achieved
ahead of schedule. Infant mortality ratio was
reduced from 32/1,000 live births in 2003 to 24 in
2006. Downtrend in maternal mortality, while not
as fast as in infant mortality, was also observed
from 209/100,000 live births in 1993, to 172 in
1998, and 162 in 2006.7
Despite these notable achievements, a lot still
needs to be done with regard to interagency efforts
to sustain health care gains. This is because the
problem of poor health care is tied to other issues
such as environmental degradation, particularly
water pollution and depletion of natural resources.
It is also inseparable from economic issues since
poverty gravely limits the ability of poor families to
avail of quality health care services. As noted in
the recent Family Income and Expenditure Survey
(FIES 2006), poverty prevalence in the country has
worsened from 24.4% in 2003 to 26.9% in 2006.
This translates to 32.9M Filipinos living below the
poverty line who cannot afford quality health care.8
Although 45% of Filipinos generally believe that
prices of medicines have gone down in recent
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
35
years, Senator Mar Roxas, in his sponsorship
speech for the Cheaper Medicines Bill, cited large
discrepancies in prices of medicines between the
Philippines and other third world countries. For
example, Buscopan, a medicine for stomach upset
which is priced at PhP 9.61 in local drug stores,
sells for only PhP0.60 in other countries. Norvasc,
a drug for high blood pressure, is sold at PhP44.75
in the Philippines while the poor in India pays only
PhP5 for the same drug.9
Environmental degradation has also affected the
status of health care in the country. Our forest
cover has been reduced to only 24%.10 This is
dismal considering that the country needs at least
30% forest cover to maintain its ecological
balance. 11 Rapid industrialization amidst slow
progress in water sanitation and sewage treatment
has reduced potable public water supply such that
it now comes from only 33% of our river systems.
In urban areas, 58% of groundwater is already
contaminated. 12 Due to perceived poor water
quality, urban households pay at least PhP40 per
gallon of potable drinking water.13
Herbal medicine and the pursuit of affordable
health care
Problems regarding the cost of health care also
affect DSWD’s centers and institutions. The
DSWD NCR’s Nayon ng Kabataan and the
Regional Study Center for Children (RSCC), in
particular, used to spend at least PhP8,000/
quarter, or PhP24,000 annually for medicines such
as Eurax and Kwell Shampoo to treat scabies and
head lice of all its 220 wards. 14 A substantial
amount that can be allocated for other needs such
as vitamins for children, food and maintenance of
centers.
In 2006, the Nayon ng Kabataan and RSCC, upon
the recommendation of Secretary Esperanza I.
Cabral, M.D., experimented with herbal treatment
for scabies and head lice using decoctions from
the Neem tree. The Neem is regarded as the
Village Pharmacy in India due to its medicinal
properties. It can be used as an anti-viral, anti-
bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-malarial, anti-tubercular,
and anti-scabic medicine, among many others.
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
 36
Decoction from boiled Neem leaves and fruits
can also be used to repel dengue-causing
mosquitoes.15
To treat skin and scalp parasitic infections such
as scabies and head and body lice, a Neem
shampoo is used to wash the body and scalp
every one to two weeks as necessary. The
Neem decoction is prepared by washing its fresh
leaves including its fruits in a basin. Two liters
of water should be added for every kilo of Neem
leaves to be used. This should be boiled for a
few minutes, until the water level has receded
to a volume of one liter. Afterwards, 500 milliliters
of body wash or shampoo should be mixed with
every liter of decoction. The Neem decoction/
shampoo should be applied thoroughly on
affected areas. Let the decoction stay for five
minutes before washing off. Every 1.5 liters of
the said decoction/shampoo can treat as many
as 50 children or 30 adults.16
The decoction/shampoo may also be used to rid
infested items of clothing and furniture of
parasites. Clothing should be soaked for 15
minutes before rinsing. For furnitures, apply the
decoction thoroughly and let dry. Do not rinse.17
According to Dr. Jose Mari Castro of DSWD
NCR, good results (i.e., significant reduction of
parasitic load or total reduction of the infestation)
of treatment for scabies and head lice using the
Neem decoction/shampoo are already
noticeable within a month of its use. The rate of
treatment is actually similar with that of using
Eurax and Kwell Shampoo, only cheaper and
safer. This is because excessive exposure of
children to man-made toxic substances such as
lindane and permethrin are avoided. Moreover,
scabies parasites and lice have not been
observed to develop resistance to the Neem
decoction, making it more potent at killing the
parasites than conventional scabicides.18
Aside from its medical benefits, the wide
branches of the Neem have also provided shade
for DSWD NCR’s centers. Since 2006, the
region has undertaken Neem tree planting
projects, with hundreds of Neem trees and
saplings already growing in its centers. 19
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Herbal Medicine and the Pursuit ...
The Neem is not the only plant recognized for its
medicinal properties. Chinese medicine and
Ayurvedic medicine, which started around 2000
BCE, for example, have promoted the use of plants
such as garlic, mint and mandrake to cure
ailments.20 The Indians have been using turmeric
as an antiseptic.21 The albularyos in rural areas of
the Philippines have likewise attested to the
healing powers of garlic as an antiseptic.
But despite the medical benefits of herbs,
necessary precaution should be taken, especially
with regard to ingesting herbal solutions. First,
some herbs have toxic properties. The Chinaberry
tree, for example, looks very similar to the Neem,
but is highly poisonous. Second, some herbs may
have adverse effects on the body when mixed with
foods or drugs, or if ingested in inappropriate
amounts.22
Recently, the DOH released a list of top ten herbal
medicines in the Philippines as part of its
Traditional Health Program. The top ten herbs are
as follows: acapulco (cures ringworm and fungi
infections), ampalaya or bitter gourd (helps control
blood sugar), garlic (may reduce blood cholesterol
and platelet aggregation), guava (an antiseptic for
wounds, as well as mouth wash), lagundi or 5-
leaved chaste tree (may relieve coughs and
asthma), niyog-niyogan or Chinese honeysuckle
(helps eliminate intestinal worms), sambong or
blumea camphora (serves as a diuretic and may
help expel urinary stones), tsaang gubat
(improves intestinal motility and can also be used
as a mouthwash due to its high flouride content),
ulasimang bato or pansit-pansitan (may relieve
arthritis and gout), and yerba buena or peppermint
(may reduce body pains). Tips on handling these
medicinal plants, as well as preparations for the
intake of herbs were also released.23
Aside from supplementing treatment provided by
prescribed medicines, promoting herbal medicine
also accomplishes the dual task of increasing
availability of treatments to the poor, and
supporting initiatives to create a cleaner and
greener environment. Studying the healing
properties of these herbs can also help local drug
manufacturers develop low-cost drugs.24 In relation
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
Herbal Medicine and the Pursuit ...
to this, efforts at preventing biopiracy of medicinal
herbs in the Philippines have already been
undertaken. Executive Order 247 on the internal
rules and regulations for bioprospecting was
passed by former President Fidel V. Ramos on 18
May 1995. The Philippine Council for Health and
Research Development (PCHRD) is currently
developing a system to protect the country’s
biomedical indigenous knowledge. The PHRC’s
national digital library containing data on local
communities’ health practices is already on the
works.25 The government has supplemented these
initiatives by allotting PhP5B for conservation and
PhP300M for reforestation programs respectively
in 2008.26
Summary and Conclusion
Access to health care is not a privilege but a right
of every Filipino. But due to socio-economic,
political, and environmental factors, access to
basic health care has not exactly been within reach
of the poor. This situation is compounded by the
massive deployment of health workers to foreign
countries in recent years. Most notable is the
number of deployed nurses, which nearly doubled
from 8,968 in 2003 to 13,526 in 2006. This figure
includes physicians who have taken up nursing in
order to be able to migrate to the United States.27
The large population of the country, which is
expected to hit 90 M by the middle of 2008, has
also affected the quality of service in overcrowded
hospitals. This calls for more vigilant measures to
curb population growth rates by aggressively
promoting natural family planning and similar
reproductive health methods.
The paucity of access to health care tells us that
the solution is not an outright decrease in prices
of medicines. It requires synergized efforts of
References
1 Philippines, National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA), Flier on the
Millennium Development Goals, 2007.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
37
government and non-government agencies to
address the issue. Low-cost but low-quality
medicines are disastrous for health care. Gains
achieved at providing low-cost good quality
medicines to the poor will be derailed if
environment conditions, particularly for air and
water, do not improve. The service provided in
hospitals will remain insufficient if population
continues to grow beyond its human and financial
capacities. The ability of local drug manufacturers
to provide affordable good quality medicines will
be limited if healing properties of herbs readily
available in the country are not studied and its use
maximized. Requisite economic structures should
also be put in place to enhance the
competitiveness of local drug companies vis-a-vis
multinationals, as articulated by the first guiding
principle of the proposed Cheaper Medicines Bill.
The DSWD’s Neem tree project is not just a
simple example of making alternative, affordable
herbal treatment work for the poor. It is a
microcosm of the interrelatedness of health care,
social and environmental issues. Poverty will
exacerbate if the poor cannot access basic
medicine and services for minor ailments such
as scabies. Herbal medicine will not benefit the
poor if environmental degradation continues and
if measures are not taken to ensure safe
preparation and dosage of herbal solutions.
Prices of over the counter medicines in the
country will remain high if local drug
manufacturers are not capacitated to develop
their own medicines in order to compete with
the market. It is a call for agencies to synergize
efforts towards making good quality health care
within reach of the poor Filipino. It shows that
solutions, while not easy, are achievable if we
work on the same goals, like branches from the
same tree.
2 Philippines, Department of Budget and
Management, PGMA’s Budget Message for 2008,
<http://www.dbm.gov.ph/dbm_publications/
pbm_2008/THE_PRESIDENT.pdf> accessed 10
April 2008
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
 38 Herbal Medicine and the Pursuit ...

3 Philippines, Sponsorship Speech of Senator Mar
Roxas, 16 August 2006 <http://www.cptech.org/
ip/health/c/phil/speech.htm> accessed 10 April
2008; and NEDA Socio-Economic Report 2006,
page 98
16The Miracles of Neem Tree by Dr. Jose Mari de
Castro and Ms. Mary Jane Abello
17 TheMiracles of Neem Tree by Dr. Jose Mari de
Castro and Ms. Mary Jane Abello

4 18 TheMiracles of Neem Tree by Dr. Jose Mari de

Philippines, Department of Health (DOH) Official
Statement on the Cheap Medicines Bill, 8 January Castro and Ms. Mary Jane Abello and
2008 <http://www.doh.gov.ph/node/1819> <en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neem>, accessed 10 April
accessed 10 April 2008 2008

5 19 Information received through a phone

NEDA SER 2006, Chapter 12: Responding to
Basic Needs of the Poor, page 98
6 Philippines Development Forum (PDF) Working
Group on the MDGs and Social Progress Report
2007, page 12
7 PGMA’s Budget Message for 2008 <http://
www.dbm.gov.ph/dbm_publications/pbm_2008/
THE_PRESIDENT.pdf>
8 Philippines, FIES 2006, NSCB Stats cited in End
Poverty Now <http://endpovertynow.org.ph/
index.php?option=com_content&task =view&id
=51&Itemid=2> accessed 22 February 2008
9 Sponsorship Speech of Senator Mar Roxas, 16
August 2006
10 World Bank, The Little Green Data Book,
information on the Philippines, 2006
11 Philippines, Center for Alternative Rural
Technology (CART) Study presented by Ben Cyrus
Ellorin to the Regional Forum on Land Issues,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 4-6 June 2002
12 ADB, Country Paper for the Philippines, Water
for All: the Asian Water Development Outlook
2007, distributed during the Philippine
Development Forum, 26-27 March 2008, page 4
13 Standard rate of a company supplying potable
water to UP Diliman dormitories and faculty centers
conversation with Dr. Jose Mari de Castro on
14 April 2008 and consultation with Secretary
Esperanza I. Cabral on 16 April 2008
20Herbal medicine in <en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Herbalism>, accessed 10 April 2008
21 Filipino
Scientists Developing System to Stop
Biopiracy <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/84338/
Filipino-scientists-developing-system-to-stop-
biopiracy>, accessed 10 April 2008
22 UsingHerbs Simply and Safely by Susan S.
Weed <http://www.holisticheathtools.com/
herb.html>, accessed 10 April 2008
23 TenHerbal Medicines in the Philippines
Approved by the Department of Health, <http://
www,philippineheralmedicine.org/
doh_herbs.htm>, accessed 10 April 2008
24 Filipino Scientists Developing System to Stop
Biopiracy
25 Filipino Scientists Developing System to Stop
Biopiracy
26 PGMA’s Budget Message for 2008
27 <http://www.poea.gov.ph/stats/2006Stats.pdf>,
accessed 10 April 2008 and Secretary
Esperanza I. Cabral’s speech on Inclusive Growth
for the PDF, 26 March 2008

14 DSWD NCR,The Miracles of Neem Tree

by Dr. Jose Mari de Castro and Ms. Mary Jane
Abello, submitted to DSWD on 10 March 2008.
15 TheMiracles of Neem Tree by Dr. Jose Mari de
Castro and Ms. Mary Jane Abello

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1


ARE VOTERS CHOOSING LEADERS AS THEIR
CONSCIENCE DICTATES?
By
Ayn L. Regalado and Tricia L. Maligalig
ABSTRACT
T his paper highlights the results of a
survey to determine the voting patterns of
Filipinos during the May 2007 elections.
Conducted by the Research, Monitoring and
Evaluation team of DSWD’s KALAHI-CIDSS
(KC) Project, the study aimed to find out whether
KC and non-KC communities voted according
to their conscience. Specifically, it tried to answer
three questions: What is the most important
characteristic of a local official according to the
communities’ point of view? Why did the
communities vote who they voted for? Was
there a significant difference between how KC
I. Background
Exercising the right to vote as one’s conscience
dictates is an indicator of empowerment. The
recently concluded election created an opportunity
to see whether KALAHI-CIDSS (KC) and Non-KC
communities voted according to the dictates of
their conscience or whether they are coerced or
bribed into voting for a specific candidate.
The paper aims to answer the following questions:
• Do KC and Non-KC communities tend to vote
based on the dictates of their conscience?
Is there a significant difference between how
KC and Non-KC communities vote?
• Why did the communities vote who they
voted for?
• From the communities’ point of view, what is
the most important characteristic of a local
official? Consequently, what do they think is
the most important factor to be elected?
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
39
and non-KC communities voted? The survey
covered 40 randomly selected municipalities
from KC and non-KC areas. KC areas were
selected from Phases 1, 2 and 3A of the project
while non-KC areas were selected from the next
25% poorest municipalities in 12 regions. A total
of 1,802 respondents were included in the study.
Results of the study reveal that generally,
respondents tended to vote based on their
concept of an ideal leader. However, the data
show that more respondents from KC areas
voted for their ideal leader than those from non-
KC areas.
II. Analytical Framework and Methodology
Conscience is defined as the person’s own
sense of right and wrong which constrains
behavior and causes feeling of guilt if its
demands are not met. It is believed to be an
expression of values, which is different from
person to person. The manifestations of a
special set of values are from the examples and
instructions of parents and teachers, and the
value structure that essentially defines the
personality of the individual. 1 Conscience may
also represent the person’s “Ideal Self.” Ideal
self is the composite of all good things that an
individual wants to be; it is the definition of the
person who totally lives up to the values that
he/she holds dear. This is different from what
is called the “Real Self.” The real self is made
up of what each individual actually does. It
represents the “I am” of the person, in contrast
to the “I should” of the ideal self. 2
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
 40 Are Voters Choosing Leaders as . . .

The concept of the “ideal” as a reflection of
one’s conscience and “real” as a representation
of the actual is used in this paper. Prior to
voting, each person has a concept of what is an
“ideal” elected official. Conversely, each person
also has an idea that in reality the ideal elected
official does not always get elected; therefore,
the actual elected official may have
characteristics that differentiates him/her from
the ideal elected official. For example, one may
articulate that the ideal elected official may be
someone who has an impeccable public service
record and has practiced transparency, while in
reality, those who get elected are the ones who
have the resources to launch massive political
campaigns. By voting, one decides whether s/
he chooses the ideal, by voting for one with the
good public service record, or the real, by voting
for one with the grand campaign.
For this paper, a conscience vote is defined as
the vote that coincides with what is articulated
as ideal. A non-conscience vote is a vote that
coincides with what is real.
The primary concern of this paper is whether
people are voting according to what their
conscience dictates or whether they vote
because of bribes received or harassment. Due
to the sensitivity of the question at hand, the
survey was designed to indirectly ask
respondents the research question.
First, three questions were asked to determine
the motivation for choosing their leaders in the
recent elections. (Annex 1). The first question
aims to identify the respondent’s ideal leader.
Answers may include character traits,
capabilities, possession of social capital and/or
material assets. The second question aims to
identify the factors that the respondent thinks
are important to win the elections. This will allow
respondents to articulate realities that make a
candidate “winnable”. While answers identified
may be the same as the first question, it may
also be different. For example, a respondent
may identify having a good public service record
as the most important characteristic of a leader
and yet acknowledge that having money is the
most important factor to win the election.
The third question aims to identify the
respondent’s motivation for choosing his/her
leader in the recent election. Answers to this
question will allow the researcher to categorize
the vote into two: conscience votes and non-
conscience votes.
The study defines conscience vote as the
respondent’s choice of leader that is closest to
his/her concept of the ideal leader. Conversely,
a non-conscience vote is a vote that is closest
to the respondent’s identified factors to win the
election. Therefore, answers to questions 1 & 3
are the same. Likewise, a non-conscience vote
will result if the answers to questions 2 & 3 are
similar. Figure 1 shows the relationship between
answers to question 1, 2, and 3 in relation to
whether the respondent voted according to
conscience or not.

Figure 1
Characteristic of
Conscience Vote
an Ideal Leader
(Q.1 = Q.3)
(Answer to Q.1)

Reason for Voting

for the Candidate
(Answer to Q.3)
Important Factor to Non-Conscience
Win Elections Vote
(Answer to Q.2) (Q.2 = Q.3)

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

Are Voters Choosing Leaders as . . .
Answers to these three questions are then
categorized into the following primary responses:
• Capabilities, Platforms & Vision, Character
– This includes responses that are intrinsic
to the candidate such as being a good
person, demonstrated capabilities,
education, etc.
• Conscience – This is an explicit response.
However, due to the manner that data was
processed, these votes will not be counted
as conscience votes.
• Exercised Right to Vote – This is also an
explicit response to question 3.
• Leader’s Social Capital & Interpersonal Skills
– This includes responses that refer to
interpersonal and communication skills,
social affiliations that do not imply any direct
personal gain to the respondent.
• Leader’s Material Assets – This refers to
financial resources.
• Personal gains from unethical election
practices and indebtedness or anticipated
personal gains should the candidate win –
This category includes responses such as
acceptance of bribes of any form, personally
or collectively, votes made because of past
gains received from the candidates.
In addition, a Chi-Square Test was employed to
test the hypothesis that there is a relationship
between the number of voters voting for their ideal
leader and their being resident of a KALAHI-CIDSS
municipality.
Table 1. Distribution of Respondents
Respondents No. of Respondents
Volunteers in KC Areas 584
Non-Volunteers in KC Areas 618
Individuals in Non-KC Areas 600
Total 1802
Results showed that among the respondents, 1,007 are women and this accounts for almost 56% of the
total sample for both KC and Non-KC areas.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
41
Stated below is the Null and Alternative Hypothesis
for the study:
• H o: There is no significant difference
between how residents from a KALAHI-
CIDSS and non-KALAHI-CIDSS area vote.
Thus, the likelihood that a resident will vote
for his/her ideal leader is the same for both
KC and non-KC areas.
• Ha: There is a significant difference between
how residents from a KALAHI-CIDSS and
non-KALAHI-CIDSS area vote. Thus, the
likelihood that a resident will vote for his/her
ideal leader is NOT the same for both KC
and non-KC areas.
Respondents
The survey covered 40 randomly selected
municipalities from KC and Non-KC areas. KC
areas were selected in Phases 1, 2, and 3A. While
non-KC areas were selected from the next 25%
poorest municipalities in 12 regions. Eight sample
municipalities from non-KC areas were pre-
determined; these municipalities are part of the
impact evaluation of KALAHI-CIDSS, considered
as control with similar characteristics to KC areas.3
(See Annex 2)
A total of 1,802 respondents are included in the
study. Table 1 shows the distribution of
respondents in KC and Non-KC municipalities;
respondents from KC areas are further distributed
to volunteer and non-volunteer. The median age
of the respondents is 42.
Percentage Median (Age)
32.40% 43
34.30% 40
33.30% 43
100% 42
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
 42 Are Voters Choosing Leaders as . . .

Table 2. Gender Distribution of Respondents

KC Areas Non-KC
Gender Total Percentage
Volunteer Non-Volunteer Areas
Male 267 271 256 794 44%
Female 317 346 344 1007 56%
Bad Data 0 1 0 1 0%
Total 584 618 600 1,802 100%
Results of the study are discussed in the succeeding section.

III. Discussion of Results

Reasons for Not Voting
Out of the total 1,802 respondents, 1,649 or 92%
did exercise their right to vote (See Annex 2). The
reason identified for not voting was none registration
(27%). Other reasons were they were out working
on the day of elections (14%), they were not able
to transfer registration (12%), or they were missing
from the voters list despite having previously
registered (12%).

Table 3. Reasons for Not Voting

KC Areas Non-KC Areas

Reasons for Not Voting Total Percentage
Volunteer Non-Volunteer N/A
Not Registered 4 28 9 41 27%
Out Working 5 9 8 22 14%
Not in Voters List but
Previously Registered 6 4 9 19 12%
Was Not able to Transfer
Registration 1 10 7 18 12%
Out of Town 3 4 9 16 10%
No Reason Given 2 4 0 6 4%
Dislike the candidates 1 3 2 6 4%
Not interested to vote 0 3 2 5 3%
Sick 2 1 2 5 3%
Physical Disability 0 3 1 4 3%
Improper voting practice 2 0 2 4 3%
Others 1 0 2 3 2%
Out of the Country 0 0 3 3 2%
Cannot Read/Write 0 1 0 1 1%
Total 27 70 56 153 100%

Most Important Characteristic of the Leader

As shown in Table 4 a leader’s capabilities, leader for both areas, followed by interpersonal
platform/vision and character were identified skills and having resources needed for the
as the most important characteristics of a campaign.

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

Are Voters Choosing Leaders as . . . 43

Table 4. Characteristics of an Ideal Leader

KC Areas Non-KC
Characteristic of an
Ideal Leader Volunteer Non-Volunteer Areas
No. % No. % No. %
Leader’s Capabilities, Platform &
512 92% 498 91% 493 91%
Vision, Character
Leader’s Social Capital and
Interpersonal Skills 37 7% 33 6% 38 7%

Leader’s Material Assets 3 1% 9 2% 4 1%

Others 3 1% 5 1% 6 1%
No Answer/Not Applicable 2 0% 3 1% 2 0%
Engaged in Unethical Election
Practices 0 0% 0 0% 1 0%

Total 557 100% 548 100% 544 100%

Most Important Factor to be Elected

Table 5 shows the most important factors a platform or plan of action. Possession of
to win the elections. Results are consistent with material assets is the second most important
Table 4 as the factors identified refer to a factor in winning the elections.
leader’s capabilities, characteristics and having

Table 5. Most Important Factors to Win the Elections

KC Areas Non-KC
Most Important Factor to
Win the Elections Volunteer Non-Volunteer Areas
No. % No. % No. %
Leader’s Capabilities, Platform & 308 55% 252 46% 276 51%
Vision, Character
Leader’s Material Assets 142 25% 154 28% 142 26%
Leader’s Social Capital and 88 16% 116 21% 107 20%
Interpersonal Skills
Engaged in Unethical Election 8 1% 10 2% 7 1%
Practices
Others 8 1% 7 1% 4 1%
No Answer/Not Applicable 3 1% 9 2% 8 1%
Total 557 100% 548 100% 544 100%

Most Important Reason Why Voters Chose Their Leaders

A leader’s capabilities, platform/vision, and character are the top reasons, why respondents
chose to vote for a specific leader, followed by having good interpersonal skills.

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

 44 Are Voters Choosing Leaders as . . .

Table 6. Most Important Reason for Choosing a Leader

KC Areas Non-KC
Most Important Factor to
Win the Elections Volunteer Non-Volunteer Areas
No. % No. % No. %
Leader’s Capabilities, Platform 422 76% 411 75% 419 77%
& Vision, Character
Leader’s Social Capital and 81 15% 66 12% 54 10%
Interpersonal Skills
Others 19 3% 10 2% 12 2%
Exercised Right to Vote 3 1% 25 5% 20 4%
Engaged in Unethical Election 9 2% 15 3% 15 3%
Practices
Conscience 12 2% 8 1% 12 2%
No Answer/Not Applicable 6 1% 9 2% 6 1%
Leader’s Material Assets 5 1% 4 1% 6 1%
Total 557 100% 548 100% 544 100%

IV. Analysis and Conclusion Chi-Square Test of Independence

The preceding tables provide interesting insights on The calculated chi-square for the data set is X²=11.94
the relationship between what the respondents think with two (2) degrees of freedom. Referring to the chi-
are ideal, real and how they voted. square distribution table results to a p-value= .001.
Hence the null hypothesis is rejected at p=.001 level
Comparing Results: KC and Non-KC of significance. There is a significant difference in the
Municipalities way KC and Non-KC areas vote.
A quick look at the above tables for both KC and Non-
KC municipalities shows that a leader’s capacity, Composition of the Conscience Votes
character and platform consistently figure as the ideal
characteristic of the candidate, the most important How the ideal relates to the actual choices is shown
factor to win the election and subsequently, the most in Table 8. KC and Non-KC respondents (76% and
important reason why respondents voted for a 77%) who said that having leadership capabilities is
particular candidate. the ideal characteristic of a leader have voted leaders
with this characteristic. Notably, regardless of what
In comparing individual responses, 72% of the voters respondents think is the most important characteristics
from KC municipalities did choose based on what they of a leader, they based their votes on a leader’s
think is ideal. This is considerably higher compared to capability, character, platform, and vision, (as indicated
the conscience vote from Non-KC municipalities by the consistently high column shares of row 1). It is
(65%). also interesting to note that none of the respondents
Table 7: Conscience Votes: Ideal-Real-Choice from KC areas said that engaging in unethical election
Responses pratices is an important characteristic to win in the
elections compared to Non-KC municipalities.
Weak Conscience Votes KC Non- KC
Conscience 72% 65% On the other hand, Table 9 shows the relationship
Neither 22% 29% between the characteristics of an ideal leader and
most important factors to win the elections. Fifty-one
Non-Conscience 6% 6%
percent of those who think that the ideal leader should
Total 100% 100% possess certain capabilities, characters and must

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

Are Voters Choosing Leaders as . . . 45

Table 8. Relationship of Characteristics of an Ideal Leader (Ideal) and Most Important Reason for Choosing a Leader (Choice)
Characteristics of an Ideal Leader
Most Important Leader’s Leader’s No Answer/ Not Engaged in
Reason for Capabilities, Leader’s Material Interpersonal Applicable unethical election
Others
Choosing a Leader Platforms & Assets Skills practices
Vision, Character
KC Non-KC KC Non-KC KC Non-KC KC Non-KC KC Non-KC KC Non-KC
Leader’s Capabilities,
Platforms & Vision, 76%* 77%* 71% 75% 71% 74% 40% 0% 75% 100% - 100%
Character
Conscience 2% 2% 1% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% - 0%
Exercised Right to 2% 4% 6% 0% 6% 3% 0% 50% 13% 0% - 0%
Vote Leader’s
1% 1% 0%* 0%* 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% - 0%
Material Assets
Leader’s
13% 10% 17% 0% 17%* 18%* 20% 0% 0% 0% - 0%
Interpersonal skills
No Answer /
1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 3% 40%* 50%* 0% 0% - 0%
Not Applicable
Others 2% 2% 0% 0% 2% 3% 0% 0% 13%* 0%* - 0%
Engaged in unethical 2% 3% 8% 25% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% - 0%*
election practices
Grand Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% - 100%
* Conscience Vote (Discrepancies in column totals are due to rounded off figures)

have a platform also think that the same are important of material assets as the most important characteristic
factors to win; this is true for both areas. Notably for of a leader also think that this is the most important
non-KC areas, 75% of those who view possession factor in winning the elections.

Table 9. Relationship of Characteristics of an Ideal Leader (Ideal) and Most Important Factor to Win the Elections (Real)
Characteristics of an Ideal Leader
Most Important Leader’s Leader’s Material Leader’s No Answer/ Not Others Engaged in
Reason for Choosing Capabilities, Assets Interpersonal Skills Applicable unethical
a Leader Platforms & Vision, election
Character practices
KC Non-KC KC Non-KC KC Non-KC KC Non-KC KC Non-KC KC Non-KC
Leader’s Capabilities,
Platforms & Vision, 51% 51% 25% 25% 54% 58% 0% 0% 38% 50% - 0%
Character
Leader’s Material
27% 27% 58% 75% 20% 18% 0% 0% 25% 17% - 0%
Assets
Leader’s
18% 20% 17% 0% 26% 18% 0% 0% 13% 33% - 100%
Interpersonal skills
No Answer /
Not Applicable 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 5% 100% 100% 0% 0% - 0%
Others 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 25% 0% - 0%
Engaged in unethical 2% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% - 0%
election practices
Grand Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% - 100%

Generally, respondents tend to elect leaders based
on their concept of an ideal leader. However, the
data shows that more respondents from KC areas
voted for their ideal leader than those from
Non-KC areas and, based on the statistical
analysis using the chi-square test, the results
clearly showed the significant effect of the Project
on how communities chose their leaders. It is
therefore concluded that the Project has achieved
its objective of empowering communities and has
made them more responsible in choosing the right
person to lead them towards development.

1 http://www.answers.com/topic/conscience (September 07, 2007) 2 http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/rogres.html (September 14, 2007)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscience # Differing Views of Conscience 3Pre-determined Municipalities: Polangui, Oas, Pontavedra, President
(September 07, 2007) Roxas, Tambulig, Dimataling, Bayugan, and Veruela

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

 46 Are Voters Choosing Leaders as . . .

Annex 1: Questionnaire

Sex:
Age:

1. Are you a KC Volunteer?

a) Yes b) No
(If Yes proceed to Question 2. If No, proceed to Question 3)*

2. For how many months? ________*

3. Did you vote?

a) Yes b) No
(If Yes proceed to Question 5. If No, proceed to Question 4)
4. Why not? (Please get 3 most important reason why s/he did not vote)
a. ___________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________

**** End of Interview for those who did not vote ****

5. What do you think are the five (5) most important characteristics of an elected official?
(Please ensure that the reasons are ranked from the most to the least important. Note that
characteristics may include character traits, political affiliations, possession (or lack of) of assets.)
a. ___________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________
d. ___________________________________________________
e. ___________________________________________________

6. What do you think are the five (5) most important factors to win the election?
(Please ensure that the reasons are ranked from the most to the least important. Note that
characteristics may include character traits, political affiliations, possession [or lack of] of assets.)
a. ___________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________
d. ___________________________________________________
e. ___________________________________________________

7. Please give five (5) reasons why did you vote whom you voted for?
(Please ensure that the reasons are ranked from the most to the least important. Note that
characteristics may include character traits, political affiliations, possession [or lack of] of assets.)
a. ___________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________
d. ___________________________________________________
e. ___________________________________________________

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

Are Voters Choosing Leaders as . . . 47

Annex 2: Survey Results

Table 1. No. of Respondents for KC and Non-KC Areas By Region and Municipality

Region Municipality KC Covered Areas (Y/N) Total

CAR Tinoc Y 62
Hungduan N 30
IV-A Buenavista Y 60
Mulanay Y 60
Catanauan N 30
IV-B Bulalacao Y 60
Bansud N 30
V Libon Y 60
Jovellar Y 60
Polangui N 30
Oas N 30
Bacacay N 30
VI Dumarao Y 60
Janiuay Y 60
Lambunao Y 60
Pontavedra N 30
President Roxas N 30
VII Danao Y 60
Dagohoy N 30
Sierra Bullones N 30
VIII Leyte Y 60
Pinabacdao Y 60
Villareal N 30
Barugo N 30
San Miguel N 30
IX Dumingag Y 60
Gutalac Y 60
Tambulig N 30
Dimataling N 30
X Don Victoriano Y 60
Bonifacio N 30
XI Sto. Tomas Y 60
Talaingod Y 60
Kapalong N 30
XII Malapatan Y 60
Glan N 30
Caraga Esperanza Y 60
San Isidro Y 60
Bayugan N 30
Veruela N 30
Grand Total 1802

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

 48 Are Voters Choosing Leaders as . . .

Table 2. No. of Respondents By Area and Voting

Category KC Non-KC Total Percentage

Volunteer Non-Volunteer N/A
Voted 557 548 544 1649 92%
Not Voted 27 70 56 153 8%
Total 584 618 600 1802 100%
Chi-Square Statistics

2
2
O E
1
1
E
= (389-419.53)²/ 419.53 + (871-840.47)²/ 840.47 + (36-34.30)² / 34.30
+ (67-68.70)²/ 68.70 + (175-146.17)² /146.17 + (264-292.83)²/ 292.83
= 2.22 + 1.11 + 0.08
+ 0.04 + 5.69 + 2.8
= 11.94
Degree of Freedom

= (r-1) (c-1)

= (3-1) (2-1)

=2
Corresponding p-value in the Chi-Square Distribution Table: p = 0.001
(See Reference Table Below)

Chi-Square Distribution Table4

Degrees of
Freedom Probability (p)
(df)
0.95 0.90 0.80 0.70 0.50 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.05 0.01 0.001
1 0.004 0.02 0.06 0.15 0.46 1.07 1.64 2.71 3.84 6.64 10.83
2 0.10 0.21 0.45 0.71 1.39 2.41 3.22 4.60 5.99 9.21 13.82
3 0.35 0.58 1.01 1.42 2.37 3.66 4.64 6.25 7.82 11.34 16.27
4 0.71 1.06 1.65 2.20 3.36 4.88 5.99 7.78 9.49 13.28 18.47
5 1.14 1.61 2.34 3.00 4.35 6.06 7.29 9.24 11.07 15.09 20.52
6 1.63 2.20 3.07 3.83 5.35 7.23 8.56 10.64 12.59 16.81 22.46
7 2.17 2.83 3.82 4.67 6.35 8.38 9.80 12.02 14.07 18.48 24.32
8 2.73 3.49 4.59 5.53 7.34 9.52 11.03 13.36 15.51 20.09 26.12
9 3.32 4.17 5.38 6.39 8.34 10.66 12.24 14.68 16.92 21.67 27.88
10 3.94 4.86 6.18 7.27 9.34 11.78 13.44 15.99 18.31 23.21 29.59
Non-significant Significant

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1


Administrative Order No. 02
Series of 2008
SUBJECT : GUIDELINES ON THE TRANSFER OF DSWD RESIDENTS TO OTHER
SOCIAL WORK AGENCIES (SWAS)
RATIONALE
T h e D e pa r t m e n t o f S o c i a l We l f a r e a n d
Development (DSWD) is the primary welfare
agency of the government mandated to set
standards, accredit and provide consultative
services to public and private institutions,
organizations and persons engaged in social
welfare activities, and monitor performance
and compliance to standards by institutions,
organizations and persons engaged in social
welfare activities, both public and private.
At present, there are sixty one (61) residential
care facilities being managed by the
Department. Aside from being a service
provider, DSWD is also a regulatory office,
where it is mandated to register, license and
accredit Social Welfare and Development
Agencies (SWDAs) and Social Work Agencies
( S WA s ) p r o v i d i n g s o c i a l w e l f a r e a n d
development programs and services to the
poor, the disadvantaged and marginalized
individuals.
As of September 11, 2007 DSWD has licensed
a total of 2,135 SWADs and SWAs. Of the said
number, 264 have been accredited with 145
providing residential care service. The license
and accreditation certificates issued by the
Department to the concerned Social Work
Agency is an assurance that these SWAs
have met the required standards and are
capable of providing quality service to its target
beneficiaries.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
49
Further, through this initiative, the Department
w i l l p u r s u e i t s e ff o r ts i n s t r e n g t h e n i n g
partnership and collaboration with SWAs
through the development of standards,
programs and interventions appropriate to the
type of residents being served, and provision
of technical assistance and capability building
among others. Said transfer is also in
recognition of SWAs potentials in the delivery
of quality residential care service in response
to the recommendations made by Mr. Joseph
Hoffman in his study of the DSWD residential
care facilities which is, “to consider using Non-
Government Organizations as exclusive
providers of residential care in selected areas
of service and/or selected regions.
This is also in preparation for the devolution
of DSWD program and services to concerned
LGUs and the provision of appropriate
programs and services to clients with special
needs that are not available in DSWD facilities.
It is therefore in this context, that in the event
that DSWD deemed it necessary to transfer
the residents, primary consideration should
always be the best interest and welfare of the
residents and ensure that their rights are
protected and quality services are delivered.
Hence, these guidelines are developed to
operationalize a system of transfer of residents
from DSWD residential care facilities to other
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
 50
social work agencies (SWAs) duly licensed
and accredited by DSWD.
MANDATE AND LEGAL BASES
1. PD 603 or the Child and Youth Welfare
Code – the code recognizes the rights of
the child to a wholesome family life that
will provide him with love, care and
understanding, and it is also recognized
that in the event that her/his parents or
guardian fail or unable to provide him with
his fundamental rights, the child has the right
to the care, assistance and protection of the
State.
2. Republic Act 7160, otherwise known as the
Local government Code of 1991 which
transfers the responsibility for the delivery
of basic services and related facilities to
Local Governments. It also promotes the
establishment and operation of People’s
Organizations (PO’s) and Non-government
Organizations (NGOs) to become partners
in the pursuit of local autonomy.
3. MC no. 22 s 2004 “Policy Paper on De-
Institutionalization of Children emphasizes
Alternative family care as one of the
significant interventions through adoption,
foster care, legal guardianship or residential
care, although the latter is considered as the
last resort, when no other options are
available. The policy also stressed the
detrimental effects of institutionalization to
the emotional, psychosocial, mental and
physical development of children.
4. A.O 6, Omnibus Guidelines on the
Registration and Licensing of Social Welfare
and Development Agencies and
Accreditation of Social Welfare and
Development Programs and Services, as
Amended, stipulates the DSWD’s regulatory
function through registration, licensing and
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
A.O. No. 02 S. 2008: Guidelines on the Transfer ...
accreditation of SWDAs engaged in social
welfare and development activities
5. A.O 11, series of 2007 Revised Standards
on Residential Care Service states that “the
Department set standards and provides
consultative services to enable institutions,
organizations and persons engaged in social
welfare activities in both public and private
settings to comply with said standards and
monitor compliance”.
COVERAGE
These Guidelines shall apply to all DSWD
residential care facilities providing 24-hour
residential care service.
OBJECTIVES
These guidelines intend to:
1. Protect the welfare and best interest of its
residents;
2. Set an effective and efficient system in the
transfer of residents from DSWD residential
facility to a licensed and accredited SWA;
3. Determine the roles and responsibilities of
involved agencies, bureaus, units and
offices specifically on the financial and legal
aspects to ensure the delivery of quality
service to the residents.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Residential Care Facility- refers to a center
or institution that provides residential care
s e r v i c e t o t h e p o o r, v u l n e r a b l e a n d
disadvantaged individuals or families in
crisis providing appropriate intervention
geared towards the healing, recovery and
reintegration of residents with the family or
community.
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
 A.O. No. 02 S. 2008: Guidelines on the Transfer ...
2. Residential Care Service – refers to a
service delivery mode that provides 24 hour
group care living as an alternative family
care arrangements to residents whose
needs cannot be adequately met by their
families.
3. Social Work Agency (SWA) – refers to a
person, corporation, or organization, private
or governmental, that engages mainly and
generally, or represents itself to engage in
social welfare work, whether casework,
groupwork, community organizing, and
obtains its finances either totally or in part,
from any agency or instrumentality of the
government and/or fund drives, and/or
private endowment.
4. Transfer of Resident – refers to the physical
t u r n - o v e r o f c u s t o d y, c a r e a n d c a s e
management of resident/s from DSWD
residential care facilities to a licensed and
a c c r e d i t e d S WA s f o r t h e p u r p o s e o f
providing continuing social work
interventions. Such transfer could either be
free of charge or through purchase of
service.
5. Receiving SWA - refers to a licensed and
accredited SWA , private and government
operated who shall take over the physical
custody and care of residents transferred
by DSWD for continued case management.
GENERAL POLICIES
1. All efforts for the reconciliation/reintegration
of the resident to his/her family must be
exhausted before the transfer to another
social work agency is considered. Best
interest of the resident should always be the
primary consideration in any action and
decision.
2. All residents shall only be transferred to
DSWD licensed and/or accredited SWAs.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
51
3. Priority in the selection of a Social Work
Agency where residents will be transferred
is the willingness and capacity of the
receiving SWAs to admit the residents.
4. Location of the prospective SWA should be
considered in the selection. It should be near
the place of the resident’s family or
community for easy access and reintegration
purposes.
5. The FO shall maintain an updated roster of
DSWD licensed and accredited SWAs
managing residential care facilities to
facilitate the immediate identification of the
most appropriate SWA where DSWD
residents will be transferred.
6. Parent/s and child/ren and sibling groups
should not be separated.
7. For transfer of residents needing purchase
of service, there should be a Memorandum
of Agreement (MOA) between DSWD and the
receiving SWAs stipulating agreements on
the roles and responsibilities of both agencies
relative to the case management and other
concerns related to their transfer. This may
include agreement/s on financial aspects or
other forms of subsidies in compliance with
existing relevant laws/policies.
PROCEDURES
Transfer of residents from DSWD facilities to a
licensed and accredited Social Work Agency.
1. Identify the most appropriate SWA from the
roster of DSWD licensed and accredited
SWAs that shall respond to the resident’s
needs/problems;
2. Prepare/send referral letter and summary of
the case to the identified SWA;
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

52
3. Conduct pre-admission conference with the
identified SWA to discuss the following:
3.1 Case of the resident/s (nature of the
case, family background, physical,
medical and psychological needs and
problems)
3.2 Diagnosis and Intervention plan
3.3 Programs and services of the receiving
SWA. If after the pre-admission
conference, the licensed and
accredited SWAs do not respond to the
needs of the resident, the social worker
shall explore other SWAs who could
appropriately address the needs of the
residents.
3.4 Documentary requirements
3.5 Subsidy either monetary or human
resource
3.6 MOA Signing
4. Actual transfer of resident/s and turn-over
of documents to include the following:
4.1 Duly accomplished general intake form
4.2 Medical certificate/clearance
4.3 Updated social case study report
4.4 Transfer summary report with
recommended intervention / treatment
plan
4.5 Legal documents depending on the case
of the resident, such as foundling/birth
certificate, decision and finality on the
Declaration of Abandonment issued by
the court, notarized DVC, barangay/
police clearance, medical reports and
other pertinent documents related to the
case.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
A.O. No. 02 S. 2008: Guidelines on the Transfer ...
4.6 For transfer needing purchase of
service the following should be
considered:
§ Approved project proposal as basis
for the purchase of service. The
funds needed shall be taken from
the approved work and financial
plan of the concerned DSWD
residential care facility. Agreements
on financial matters or other forms
of subsidies shall be in compliance
with the existing relevant laws/
policies.
§ Computation on the cost of care to
be purchased shall be based on
Administrative Order No. 22 series
of 2005.
§ The end user or concerned
residential staff or its representative
shall be invited to attend the pre-
procurement conference (internal) to
further clarify the requirements/
specifications in the purchase of
such service.
5. Monitoring and Technical Assistance:
5.1 The FO shall conduct regular
monitoring every quarter on the case
of transferred residents until the case
or contract has been accomplished or
terminated, afterwhich, a closing
summary report must be prepared.
5.2 Technical Assistance shall be provided
to sustain delivery of quality services
by the FO concerned to the receiving
SWAs.
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
1. Standards Bureau: (SB)
1.1 Provide technical assistance to the
concerned DSWD-FO in the transfer
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
A.O. No. 02 S. 2008: Guidelines on the Transfer ...
53

of residents to other licensed and 5. Receiving Social Work Agency

accredited SWA;
5.1 Submit a documentation / accomplish-
1.2 Ensure dissemination of the guidelines ment report on a quarterly basis to the
in the transfer of residents. sending DSWD Center/Institution on
the healing, recovery and re-integration
2. Program Management Bureau: (PMB) of the residents with his/her family/
relatives or foster care family. (See
2.1 Provide technical assistance to the Annex A for the template)
Field Office on case management
5.2 Exhaust all possible means/resources
2.2 Extend resource augmentation in case for the healing, recovery and
the resident/s are still in the custody of reintegration to family/community of the
FO until such time that an appropriate transferred resident/s.
SWA shall be identified.
5.3 Maintain compliance to standards set
3. DSWD Field Office:
by the DSWD in the management of
residents and residential care facility.
3.1 Provide technical assistance to DSWD
residential staff and the receiving
EFFECTIVITY
SWA;

3.2 Monitor and follow-up of residents
transferred to SWAs; and
3.3 Submit feedback report to PMB on
residents transferred to other SWAs.
4. DSWD Residential Care Facility:
This order shall take effect immediately
and supersedes other DSWD guidelines and
issuances inconsistent thereof. Let copies
of this Administrative Order be given to all
DSWD Field Offices, Local Government Units,
Social Work Agencies and other government
agencies.

4.1 Conduct of quarterly case inventory/

case review on all remaining cases;
Issued this 26th day of F e b r u a r y,
4.2 Coordinate and facilitate the transfer 2008 at Quezon City.
of residents to other SWAs with similar
programs and services and ensure
completion of required documents prior
to said transfer; DR. ESPERANZA I. CABRAL
DSWD Secretary
4.3 Coordinate with concerned Local Social
Welfare and Development Office and
other SWAs for other services that may
be needed by the resident/s and his/
her family;

4.4 Facilitate actual transfer of the resident

to other SWA or return of resident to
his/her family or relatives.

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

 54
Administrative Order No. 3
Series of 2008
SUBJECT : SUPPLEMENTAL GUIDELINES ON ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER
NO. 11 SERIES OF 2007 (REVISED STANDARDS ON RESIDENTIAL
CARE SERVICE)
RATIONALE
Executive Order No. 15 series of 1998 as
amended by Executive Order No. 221 dated June
30, 2003 authorizes the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD) to set
standards, accredit and provide consultative
services to public and private institutions,
organizations and persons engaged in social
welfare and development activities. Likewise,
Administrative Order (AO) No. 140 series of 2002
as amended by AO No. 6 series of 2005 also
known as the Omnibus Guidelines on the
Registration and Licensing of Social Welfare and
Development Agencies and Accreditation of Social
Welfare and Development Programs and Services
was developed to enforce standards in the
registration, licensing and accreditation of
agencies engaged in social welfare and
development activities for purposes of authorizing,
regulating and monitoring the operation of such
agencies in the Philippines.
Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 24 series of 2004
also known as Procedures for the Selection of
Residential Care Centers of Excellence serve as
reference to the implementation of AO No. 1 series
of 2004 entitled “Indicators for Residential Care
Centers of Excellence which was prepared in line
with the Department’s effort to improve service
delivery and provide the best quality care for the
clients being served. Primarily the nomination and
assessment conducted was focused on DSWD
residential care facilities considering that the
DSWD is the lead agency on social welfare
concerns and to be in the forefront of
demonstrating and providing the best quality care
for the sectors it serves.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Further, AO No. 11 series of 2007 also known as
Revised Standards on Residential Care Service
presents the ladderized standards on the operation
of a residential care facility using the indicators
for “must, “desired” and “exemplary” standards.
The standards are developed encompassing the
five (5) work areas of operations as a residential
care facility namely: (1) Administration and
Organization; (2) Program Management; (3) Case
Management; (4) Helping Strategies/Interventions;
and (5) Physical Structures and Safety.
With AO No. 11 series of 2007, provisions of MC
No. 24 series of 2004 and AO 1 series of 2004
have been covered hence the need for this
supplemental guidelines.
COVERAGE
This guideline shall apply to those residential care
facilities managed by the DSWD, LGU and NGO
that are recommended by the Standards Bureau
(SB) for accreditation having met the exemplary
indicators per AO No. 11 series of 2007
OBJECTIVES
The following are the objectives of the guideline:
1. Encourage all residential care facilities
managed by DSWD, LGUs or NGOs to strive
towards achieving excellence and determine
their exemplary performance on the delivery
of programs and services to their respective
clientele based on the set standards
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
 A.O. No. 03 S. 2008: Supplemental Guidelines ...
2. Recognize and provide awards/incentives to
DSWD, LGU and NGO residential care facility/
ies proclaimed as Centers of Excellence
3. Enable DSWD, LGU and NGOs residential
care facilities to be models or learning
laboratories in providing quality services and
venue for training, research and
documentation of good practices
PROCEDURE IN IDENTIFYING A CENTER OF
EXCELLENCE
A. Assessment:
Assessment shall be conducted at two levels which
shall include the following:
1. Standards Bureau (SB) Accreditation
Assessment
The SB shall assess the residential care facility
following the procedure stated in the AO No 6,
series of 2005 and using the ladderized
accreditation assessment tool of AO No. 11 series
of 2007.
A residential facility that has complied with the
exemplary indicators shall be endorsed by the SB
to the DSWD Validation Team within 10 working
days from the last day of visit. The endorsement
shall be accompanied by the SB assessment
report and the following basic supporting
documents:
a. Certified true copy of the updated General
Information Sheet and Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) Registration
with Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws
(applicable to NGOs)
b. Information, Education & Communication
Materials (IEC) e.g. brochures, flyer etc.
c. Manual of operation for program and
administration policies / Handbook for the
residents
d. Organizational Chart
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
55
e. Profile of governing board, copy of visas
and/or BID clearance of foreign nationals,
when applicable
f. Profile of employees
g. Work and financial plan for two (2) years -
current and succeeding year
h. Audited financial report for two (2)
consecutive years by a Certified Public
Accountant (if NGOs) or by Government
Accountant Officer (if DSWD or LGU) and
other financial records
i. Agency accomplishment reports covering
the period of two (2) years prior to the
assessment
j. Caseload inventory and profile of residents
served
k. Photo/video documentation of the facility’s
physical structure, best practices and other
innovative programs or strategies
implemented
l. Project-end evaluation reports
m. Safety certificates such as building
structural, fire safety inspection and water
potability certificates
n. Evacuation/exit plan
Original copies of the above documents
shall be made available during the
validation visit of the Validation Team.
2. Validation Assessment by the DSWD
Validation Team
The DSWD Validation Team shall be organized at
the Central Office to be chaired by the Assistant
Secretary for Policy and Programs Group (PPG).
Its members shall compose of a permanent and
an alternate representative from each of the three
(3) clusters namely: PPG, Operations and
Capability Building Group (OCBG) and General
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
 56
Administration and Support Service Group
(GASSG) and a representative from the Area
Based Standards Network (ABSNET). The cluster
permanent and alternate representatives shall not
be lower than a Division Chief while ABSNET
representative should be an accredited NGO/LGU
and operating near the facility being validated. A
Special Order shall be issued for the purpose of
creating a DSWD Validation Team.
Within five (5) working days upon receipt of the
SB endorsement, the DSWD Validation Team shall
hold a meeting to review the documents endorsed
by SB and to schedule the validation visit among
others.
The DSWD Validation Team shall conduct an on-
site assessment of the residential care facility upon
confirmation of the agency’s availability. The
assessment may involve but not limited to the
following activities using the ladderized
accreditation assessment tool for residential care
facility:
a. Review of pertinent documents such as
records, reports, written plans and other
materials;
b. Ocular survey/observation of facilities,
offices, project sites, actual conduct of
agency activities;
c. Individual or group discussion/interview
with residents on relevant information on
service delivery by the agency;
d. Individual or group interview with persons
exercising managerial or supervisory
functions in the agency;
e. Individual or group interview with
administrative and program staff;
f. Interview with practicum students, group/
individuals rendering volunteer services,
City/Municipal Social Welfare and
Development Office (C/MSWDO),
barangay officials and key leaders in the
community where the residential facility is
located
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
A.O. No. 03 S. 2008: Supplemental Guidelines ...
g. Interview with the agency’s partner
organizations and other networks, if
necessary
Before the end of the last day visit, the DSWD
Validation Team shall discuss among themselves
their findings, observations and result of the
assessment. Afterwards, the Team shall have an
exit conference with the agency head and other
key staff on the summary of their findings and
recommendations.
Within five (5) working days after the visit, the
DSWD Validation Team shall submit a feedback
report with recommendation to the Office of the
Undersecretary for PPG.
a. If the agency complied with all the highest
standards, the certificate of accreditation
to be issued to the agency is valid for five
(5) years and will be awarded a plaque and
cash incentive. The Certificate of
accreditation, plaque and voucher of the
cash incentive will be prepared and
facilitated by SB
b. If not, a report on the areas for improvement
with corresponding recommendations to
enable it to meet the exemplary level shall
be prepared and forwarded to the SB. The
latter shall then prepare a certificate of
accreditation with corresponding validity
period of three (3) or four (4) years based
on compliance to set indicators.
The SB shall serve as the secretariat of the DSWD
Validation Team. As a secretariat, SB shall be in-
charge of the administrative activities of the
Validation Team to include: preparation of
communications to concerned DSWD/LGU/NGO
residential care facilities, minutes of meeting,
facilitate certificate of accreditation, plaque of
recognition and cash incentive and coordination
with the Office/Bureau/Service/Unit on the
awarding ceremony among others.
B. Monitoring
Monitoring visits, announced or unannounced, on
the recognized agency as Center of Excellence
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
A.O. No. 03 S. 2008: Supplemental Guidelines ... 57

shall be conducted at least every six (6) months
by the SB and FO or its authorized representative/
s to ensure its compliance to exemplary indicators
is sustained.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
The DSWD, LGU and NGO residential care
facilities that have been validated by the DSWD
Validation Team to have met the indicators and
have demonstrated exemplary performance in all
aspects of the five (5) work areas of operations as
a residential care facility shall be proclaimed as
Center/s of Excellence.
The Secretary or his/her duly authorized
representative shall award the agency the
corresponding certificate of accreditation, plaque
of recognition and cash incentive in a fitting
ceremony during the nearest event or major activity
of DSWD-Central Office e.g. DSWD Anniversary,
Family Day, Social Welfare and Development Week
etc. The amount of the cash incentive shall be
determined depending on the availability of funds
and shall be used as augmentation fund for program
implementation. A report on the utilization of the
cash incentive shall be submitted by the agency.
The selected Center of Excellence shall be made
a model residential care facility and/or venue for
trainings, research and documentation of good
practices. The Center staff may serve as resource
persons to share their experiences and practices
in the Center. To sustain and/or exceed the level
of excellence, financial and technical assistance,
either local or foreign, may be provided e.g. referral
to resource agencies and nomination to trainings.
Further, other benefits to be provided to the
awarded Center of Excellence shall include write-
ups to be published in the DSWD official
newsletters and Social Welfare and Development
Journal and posting on the DSWD website.
diem of the DSWD Validation Team members who
are DSWD staff shall be charged against their
respective office/bureau/service/unit funds while
the ABSNET representative’s traveling expenses
shall be charged to the ABSNET mobilization fund
alloted to the concerned Field Office. Amount to
be spent shall be in accordance with Commission
on Audit (COA) rules and other rules and
regulations pertaining thereto.
REPEALING CLAUSE
Memorandum Circular No. 24 series of 2004 and
all other issuances inconsistent with the provisions
of this Order are hereby revoked.
SEPARABILITY CLAUSE
In the event that any provision of this guideline is
held invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions
not affected thereby shall remain valid and
subsisting
EFFECTIVITY
This Administrative Order shall take effect after
fifteen (15) days following its publication in the
Official Gazette or one newspaper of general
circulation.
Issued this 10th day of March , 2008 at
Quezon City, Philippines.
DR. ESPERANZA I. CABRAL
DSWD Secretary

FINANCIAL REQUIREMENT

Source of funds for the plaque of recognition, cash

incentive, supplies and other expenses to be
incurred during meetings of the DSWD Validation
Team shall be charged against the SB regular fund.
However, the transportation expenses and per

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

 58
Guidelines for Contributors
Original Communications
The Social Welfare and Development (SWD)
Journal accepts original and preferably
unpublished articles on SWD-related programs,
such as an assessment of DSWD’s community
and center-based programs, DSWD Projects, and
other SWD-related initiatives from NGOs and other
development agencies/workers. The copyright of
published articles shall be owned by the Journal.
The SWD Journal Editorial Board composed of
the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Managing
Editor, and Assistant Managing Editor will review
all submitted articles based on clarity of language
and validity of supporting evidence. The articles
shall also be subjected to peer review. The SWD
Journal Editorial Board reserves the right to reject
articles, as well as the right to edit articles to
conform to editorial policy.
Manuscripts
Clear manuscripts, tables and illustrations must
be encoded in Times New Roman font size 12
double-spaced on A4-sized bond paper with one
(1) inch margin on all sides. Articles should be a
maximum of 50 pages long including tables,
charts, annexes, and title page.
The title page should contain the manuscript’s
complete title as well as the author’s full name,
degrees obtained, organization, academic
affiliations, address and contact numbers. Page
numbering should begin with the title page,
followed by the disclosure of conflicts of interest
as page 2, abstract as page 3, etc. Abbreviations
must be spelled-out or defined at first appearance
in the text, tables, figures, or summary. American
spelling, as indicated in the Webster’s International
Dictionary, is preferred. Mathematical equations/
formula, if any, should be written in a single line.
For example:
a+b=c; dy/dx=B; [(a-b) (c+d)] / (m+n) = r
Manuscripts must be printed on one side
of the page only and submitted in triplicate along
with a soft copy (diskette or CD-RW).
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Conflicts of Interest
Submitted manuscripts should contain the author’s
full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest.
Conflicts of interest arise when an author and/or
the institutions he/she is affiliated with have
financial or personal relationships that may
inappropriately influence the author’s opinions.
These relationships are also known as dual
commitments, competing interests, or competing
loyalties. As such, financial relationships such as
employment, consultancies and the like should be
disclosed.
Authors should also state explicitly whether
potential conflicts do or do not exist and provide
pertinent details in a separate page following the
title page. Journal editors reserve the right to
publish this information if deemed necessary.
Summary (Abstract)
Abstracts with a maximum of 500 words should
accompany all submitted articles. They should
contain the salient points of the paper and follow
the format prescribed for manuscripts.
References
The Modern Language Association (MLA) Style
should be used for text format and reference notes.
1. Book and journal titles should be italicized (i.e.
People’s Journal). Title of journal articles,
working papers, and other reference
documents, however, should not be italicized
nor set in quotation marks but written in all caps
(i.e. AN ANALYSIS OF DSWD PROGRAMS
AND PROJECTS).
2. Reference notes or references are indicated
in superscript after the quotation, paraphrased
sentence, or summarized material from books,
journals and other sources.
References should be numbered consecutively.
There should be no space between the
punctuation and the references. Only Arabic
Numbers (1, 2, 3...) should be used and not
Roman Numeral Numbers (I, II, III...).
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1
 Guidelines for Contributors 59

3. Indicate references at the end of the article 1Madame Curie: A Biography (New York:
using the following formats: Oxford University Press, 1995), 12.

Books
Reference Books
nName of Author/s, Title of the Book (City of n“Name of Article,” Name of Encyclopedia, Year
Publication: Name of Publishing Company,
Date of Publication), Page Number/s. of Publication ed.

* n = the number of the reference note (i.e., For example:

1, 2, 3...)
3 “Philippines,” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2007 ed.
For example:
Government Documents
1Martin V. Kingsley and Christine N. Brown,
Madame Curie: A Biography (New York: nName of Country, Name of Government Office,
Oxford University Press, 1995), 12.
Title of the Article (Place of Publication: Publisher,
For books with three or more authors, use “et Year of Publication), Page Number/s.
al.” For example:
For example:
1Martin V. Kingsley, et al., Madame Curie: A
Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 6Philippines, Department of Social Welfare and
1995), 12. Development, Annual Report 2006 (Philippines:
DSWD, 2006), 10-15.
Books edited or compiled should be cited, as
follows:
References Authored by Companies/
nName of Author/s, “Title of Article,” in Title Organizations
of the Book, ed. Name of Editor (City of
nName of Organization, Title of the Article (Place
Publication: Name of Publishing Company,
Date of Publication), Page Number/s. of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication),
Page Number/s.
For example:

1
For example:
Martin V. Kingsley, “Madame Curie: A
Biography” in Biographies of Women 7 Philippine Development Organization,
Scientists, ed. Harris C. Johnston (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1995), 12. Development Report 2006 (Philippines: PDO,
2006), 15-20.
Books with no author or editor stated should
be cited as follows:
Journals
nTitle of the Book (City of Publication: Name
of Publishing Company, Date of Publication), nName of author, “Title of the Article,” Title of the
Page Number/s. Journal, Magazine or Newspaper Volume Number,
Issue Number (Date): Page/s.
For example:

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1

 60 Guidelines for Contributors

For example: paper. Likewise, tables with content that can be

fully incorporated in the text should be removed
8 Wilbur M. Mason, “Rice Farming in the to minimize the number of tables.
Philippines,” The Agriculture Review vol. 6, issue
no. 2 (June 2007): 25. Brief Reviews

Online sources In addition to original research, the SWD Journal

nName of author, “Title of the Article,” Cite Link
(last accessed: date)
For example:
9 Hanna G. Folger, “What is Color Therapy?” http:/
/www.colortherapy.com/hannah_g_folger.htm
(last accessed: June 20, 2007)
If sources will be used repeatedly, the shortened
form for citations may be used, as follows:
will also publish brief reviews that summarize and
analyze SWD-related articles or major papers.
Reprints
Each principal author will be furnished with two
(2) copies of the Journal free of charge. Additional
reprints will be furnished at cost when ordered in
advance of publication with senior author’s
permission.

nLast name of author, “First Words of Article Title,”

Page Number.

For example:

10 Kingsley and Brown, “Madame Curie,” 62.

The SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT
Illustrations
JOURNAL is the official journal of the Department
of Social Welfare and Development. It is published
Clear original drawings/pictures may also be
four times a year (quarterly).
submitted along with the manuscript. Drawings/
pictures should be properly identified at the back
All communications, including submission of
or on a separate sheet, properly numbered, with
articles, as well as those concerning editorial
the name of artist/s, a short caption, as well as
matters, subscriptions and change of address
the title of the manuscript where the drawing/
should be forwarded to:
picture will be used. Clear and sharp photographic
prints should be submitted in sizes that
The Editor-in-Chief
complement the width of the journal (8 ý inches).
Social Welfare and Development Journal
Drawings and photographs may also be scanned, Office of the Undersecretary for Policy and Programs,
saved in jpeg format, and included as a separate 3rd Floor, DSWD Central Office, IBP Road,
file attachment in the CD-RW or diskette containing Batasan Pambansa Complex,
the manuscript/s to be submitted. Constitution Hills, QC 1117
email: dswdjournal@gmail.com .
Tables
Authors will be notified by mail or email if their
Tables should have a brief informative title and a manuscripts have been accepted.
Roman number separately from the figures. Each
table should be encoded on a separate sheet of

SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL Volume No. 2 Issue No. 1