Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Many factors affect economic prosperity; however, it’s often driven by innovative ideas. Here are some Government Assistance Programs to help maintain the nation’s social stability.

The Philippines is a country that has always believed that all people are equal. This belief was prominently portrayed by their national hero, Jose Rizal, who advocated for the Filipinos to be equally treated as Spanish citizens by their colonizers. 

Adopting this concept, the Philippine government also prioritizes that the less fortunate individuals and families should have the same opportunities for prosperity. Accordingly, various government policies and programs have been enacted to reflect the Filipino culture of helping one another.

Department of Social Welfare And Development (DSWD)

Development, implementation, and coordination of social protection and poverty reduction strategies for the underprivileged, vulnerable, and destitute are the core responsibilities of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The Local Government Code of 1991 mandated DSWD act together with the Local Government Units to increase the effectiveness of their programs, making DSWD a part of many LGUs.

7 Government Assistance Programs in the Philippines

#1 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)

Pantawid Pamilya is a conditional cash transfer program that offers cash grants to low-income families with children ages 0 to 14 and/or pregnant moms, as long as they abide by the rules established by the initiative.

4Ps also functions as a social assistance program that offers low-income families conditional cash assistance to meet their immediate needs, such as short-term poverty alleviation. Moreover, it also serves as a social development program to end poverty by investing in human capital.

What do the 4Ps offer?

Conditional grants provided by 4Ps to their beneficiaries are the following:

• Php 6000 yearly per household for health and nutrition expenses. 
• P3000 for one school year per child for educational expenses. Only three children per household are catered to.

Families with three qualified children can have a subsidy of P15,000 annually or P1,400 monthly if they comply with the conditions. To become a beneficiary, they should abide by the following requirements:

• Pregnant women must get prenatal, postnatal, and labor support from skilled/trained professionals.
• Parents or guardians must participate in responsible family development seminars.
• Regular vaccinations and preventive health exams are required for children aged 0 to 5.
• Children ages 3-5 attending Preschool or daycare must be present in school at least 85% of the time.
• Children 6-14 years old are required to enroll in elementary or high school and must be present at least 85% of the time.
• Every five months, children aged 6 to 14 must take deworming pills.

#2 Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS)

DSWD’s Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi CIDSS) employs a community-driven development (CDD) strategy to reduce poverty. 

The program encourages citizen participation in governance while providing resources to underdeveloped rural municipalities to purchase public goods. In addition, it allows these families to pinpoint their issues, suggest solutions, and implement those suggestions.

#3 National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (Listahanan)

NHTS-PR is an information management system that determines who and where indigent households are in the Philippines. It creates and develops a socioeconomic database of impoverished families.

This is necessary to make sure that the poorest people can benefit from the scarce resources of the various social protection agencies. The policy also intends to harmonize the selection criteria for the poorest people and enhance coordination across social protection agencies.

#4 Sustainable Livelihood Program

According to DSWD, conditional cash transfers are insufficient to keep the poor from adequately funding their access to healthcare and education. Additionally, becoming a business owner or getting employed is the best and most ideal course of action to escape poverty.

The sustainable Livelihood Program is a community-based initiative that provides capacity building to raise the socioeconomic standing of the program members. It helps microbusinesses develop organizationally and financially. Additionally, it connects participants with work opportunities.

Supplementary Feeding Program

The Supplementary Feeding Program provides children in daycare centers with food in addition to the usual meals. It’s served hot at break times in childcare facilities, as the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) advises.

Children aged three and four who attend daycare but are not in the Department of Education’s preschool range are the beneficiaries. 

#5 Social Pension Program

One of the elements outlined in Section 5 of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 is the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens. Its goal is to give additional government assistance in the form of a P500 monthly stipend to supplement the daily necessities and other medical requirements of elderly people who are impoverished, subject to review by Congress every two years in cooperation with the DSWD.

The ones eligible for this program are the following:

1. Senior Citizens that are frail, sickly, or have a disability
2. Elderly that has no pension
3. Senior Citizens have no source of income, financial assistance, or compensation to support their basic needs.

#6 Residential Care Facilities

These care facilities focus on rehabilitating vulnerable members of society, such as minors and women. The goal of these care facilities is to help them reintegrate into society and provide them with health care and counseling.

Home for Girls

Home for Girls is a temporary housing facility. It’s an alternate form of family care offered to girls under 18 with special needs, a 24-hour group living temporarily when such conditions cannot be sufficiently supplied by their own homes and relatives over time. It gives the resident a chance to receive proper care for a brief period in a supervised therapy setting.

The Home for Girls often takes girls who are victims of abuse. The program aims to assist these young women by rehabilitating them and helping them reintegrate into society to develop their potential and regain their dignity and self-worth.

Regional Center for Women

A residential facility for battered women and their children, the Regional Center for women provides protective and rehabilitative assistance. Additionally, it offers skill training so its beneficiaries can acquire the fundamental skills necessary for a living.

The program focuses on underprivileged women and children who experience domestic violence, are physically abused, are recruited illegally, or are forced into prostitution against their will, and children who experience abuse, neglect, and abandonment.

Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth

The Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth (RRCY) is a residential treatment center for Juvenile Offenders under 18. Through reintegration/reunification with their family/relatives and being an active participant in the community and society, this program will help young offenders recover their social functioning.

#7 Assistance to Individuals or Families in Crisis Situations

The program serves as a social safety net to assist people and families recovering from unforeseen crises such as illness, loss of a family member, fires, floods, and other setbacks. This program has created a special unit known as the Crisis Intervention Unit that serves as an Action Center during emergencies to respond promptly to these cases.

The CIU offers integrated services, including emergency rescue, protection, direct financial and material aid, catastrophe augmentation, and referrals for urgent medical, legal, and psychosocial care referrals.

They also operate through the DSWD Social Welfare and Development Teams in the different provincial clusters in the region. These teams accept clientele categorized as either walk-in, rescued, or referred. 

Individuals and families with no means to provide for medical, transportation, burial, and other immediate needs make up most clients. In addition, abandoned, abused, and exploited adults and children benefit from this program.

Closing Remarks

Part of the reason for the government’s existence is to help distribute the nation’s wealth to the populace. However, the fact that plenty of these social programs exist proves that many Filipino people still struggle to survive daily. 

Although that might be the case, these social programs are also helping improve the lives of many by giving them opportunities to get out of poverty. However, it is still up to the people if they want to either maintain the status quo or strive harder to improve. –WhatALife!/Vaughn

Sources:(1), (2), (3)

---

Also Read: UPDATE: DSWD Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-Asa Program 2022