1

MESSAGE

Dear Readers,

When the Social Welfare and Development (SWD) Journal began its publication in July 2007,
the Department envisioned it as a platform for promoting social development programs and
studies, not just of government agencies, but of NGOs, LGUs and similar organizations as
well. Interestingly, the launch of the SWD Journal also coincided with the jumpstart of the
National Sector Support for the Social Welfare and Development Reform Program (NSS-SWDRP):
a reform process that the DSWD has undertaken to maximize its capacity as a leader in the
field of social protection, especially in social welfare and social safety nets; a process that has
resulted in an assessment of DSWD’s capacities and identification of reforms that will improve
its service delivery and leadership capacity.

For the Journal’s first anniversary issue we are sharing with you some of the condensed
studies, which have provided direction for the NSS-SWDRP. These studies by our consultants,
Dr. Fernando T. Aldaba and Dr. Leonardo A. Lanzona, discuss the implications of the devolution
on the SWD sector (Aldaba); assess the country’s social risks and vulnerabilities (Aldaba); and
tackle the proposed monitoring and evaluation system for DSWD (Lanzona). We are also
featuring an article on the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Conditional Cash Transfer,
the Department’s latest anti-poverty strategy, which aims to capacitate the poorest to invest in
human development capital, specifically in education and health.

We hope these articles will not only enlighten our readers on the challenges that the DSWD is
facing as regards its reform process, but also reflect the Department’s determination to overcome
these hurdles and provide better service to the poor and vulnerable.

Happy reading!

Alicia R. Bala
Undersecretary and Editor-in-Chief

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

 2
A REVIEW OF THE DSWD DEVOLUTION*
By
Dr. Fernando T. Aldaba
ABSTRACT
T he Local Government Code of the
Philippines was enacted in 1991 to address
the problems associated with a highly
centralized Philippine bureaucracy. It was
enacted to by the state “to ensure the autonomy
of local governments” as contained in the
Philippine constitution.
One of the major features of the Code was the
transfer of the responsibility for the delivery of
basic services, including appropriate personnel,
assets, equipment, programs, and projects, to
the local government units. The Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was
Introduction
T he Philippine bureaucracy was highly
centralized prior to the Code. The DSWD was
formerly called the Social Welfare Administration,
which was under the Office of the President. This
highly centralized unit of government attended to
the social welfare needs of the country. In 1968,
the SWA became a department, called the
Department of Social Welfare, under former
President Ferdinand Marcos. When the country
shifted to parliamentarism in 1978, it became the
Ministry of Social Services and Development. In
1987, the office was re-named the Department of
Social Welfare and Development under former
President Corazon Aquino.
I. The DSWD Prior to Decentralization1
The DSWD’s role in its early years under postwar
Philippines focused on the provision of social
* This review is based on existing literature on the DSWD devolution and internal documents of the Department
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
one of national government agencies that was
devolved almost immediately after the
enactment of the Code. Fifteen years after
devolution, the DSWD continues to identify and
resolve the institutional and financial challenges
that it faces to fulfill its mandate under a devolved
set-up. This paper seeks to present the
devolution process that the Department went
through in the past fifteen years and the issues
and challenges that it continues to face. This
study was based on the review of existing
studies on the subject and does not present a
comprehensive assessment of the Department’s
performance under a devolved set up.
welfare services to those who were considered as
“destitute, the unfortunate victims of calamities and
dissidence, and others who are unable to fend for
themselves or to be taken care of by relatives and
friends. Under the Garcia administration its
services to the destitute shifted to attaining self-
sufficiency through income generating projects for
the needy, training of physically handicapped
persons, and gradual establishment of a social
security system. Child welfare services were
expanded to include probation and parole, child
guidance clinics, Boy’s Town to house offenders,
and child aid and placement.
Under the Marcos administration, a “holistic
developmental perspective” in social welfare
services was adopted with economic,
psychological, physical and social programs
responding to potential or actual problems of the
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A Review of the DSWD Devolution
marginalized. Instead of mere treatment and
rehabilitation of individual victims, there was a shift
in focus on organized groups such as families and
barangays. In the 1978-1982 Five-Year Plan, social
services were intentionally extended to the lowest
30 percent of the population especially in depressed
regions, along with the mobilization and development
of human resources at the barangay level to increase
productivity and instill self-reliance. The Department
shifted its emphasis from the traditional, often
institution-based, social welfare to community-
oriented programs and services that increased
people’s own capacities for problem solving.
It was also during the Marcos regime when a policy
of coordination between public and private social
service organizations was adopted by the social
welfare sector in order to expand clientele outreach
and maximize the efficient use of resources However,
the government applied a very utilitarian role to civil
society, that of efficient user of resources. In spite of
calls for better cooperation between these two
sectors, “real coordination” still had to be maximized
and “clearly defined.”
Under the Corazon Aquino administration, gender
and development programs were promoted in the
DSWD. A Bureau of Women’s Welfare was
established to ensure the empowerment of women.
Women’s productivity skills and capability building
centers were established for this purpose. Besides
women, the disabled and rebel returnees were also
given priority. In addition, the role of non-government
organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations
(POs) became constitutionally mandated, pushing
the DSWD to forge collaborative efforts between
government and civil society.
Toward the end of President Aquino’s term, Congress
passed the Local Government Code, which
introduced significant modifications in the provision
of basic social services by transferring the provision
of social welfare services to local government units
(LGUs). Thus began the transformation of the DSWD
from a highly centralized department to one with a
devolved set up.
II. The DSWD After Decentralization
The Local Government Code mandated the
transfer of the following social services to the Local
Government Units (LGUs): At the barangay level,
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
3
these services include the maintenance of daycare
centers. At the municipal and city levels, these
include children and youth, elderly and disabled
persons welfare projects and programs;
community based rehabilitation programs, family
planning and nutrition programs, livelihood projects
for the poor and women projects and programs.
At the provincial level, these include programs and
projects on rebel returnees and evacuees, disaster
and relief operations and population development.
However, by a legislative mandate the DSWD
continues to implement national programs and
projects funded through its own budget or from
external sources. These are the Self Employment
Assistance- Kaunlaran Project (SEA-K),
Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social
Services (CIDSS), Productivity Skills Capacity
Building for Disadvantaged Women and the Early
Childhood Care and Development (ECCD).
Under the Code, devolution involved the transfer
of basic services and facilities including records,
equipment and other assets and personnel of
national agencies and offices to LGUs. The LGUs
will fund these services from its internal revenue
allotment or IRA share in national taxes and/or from
it locally sourced revenues. In addition, the
functions of the DSWD’s regional offices should
be devolved to the provincial, city or town
government units within one year from the approval
of the Code. The DSWD may however establish
field units to monitor and provide technical
assistance to LGUs. Thus, the Code transformed
the DSWD from being the main, direct service
provider of basic services to an enabler or provider
of technical assistance and augmenter of funds.
The “Master Plan (1993-1998) for the Sustained
Implementation of the Local Government Code of
1991” presents three major phases that guided
the implementation of the Code:
Phase One: Change-over Phase (1992 to 1993),
which involved the transfer to LGUs of devolved
functions, with the corresponding assets and
personnel.
Phase Two: Transition Phase (1994 to 1996),
wherein the national government agencies (NGAs)
and the LGUs shall institutionalize their
adjustments to the decentralized schemes
introduced by the Code.
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Phase Three: Stabilization Phase (1997 RA 7160 (Sec. 17) D.O. 005 (Sec. III)
onwards), wherein the LGUs would have built Barangay Barangay
adequate capacities in managing local affairs, and q Day Care Center q Day Care Service
the NGAs would provide constant support and Municipality/City Municipality/City
technical assistance to LGUs.
Programs and Projects on: A. Self Employment
Thus, five years after its enactment, it is expected Assistance (SEA)

that the bureaucracy has already been fully q Child and Youth Welfare
B. Family and Community
Welfare Programs
implementing the Code and its units functioning q Family and Community
Welfare q Parent Effectiveness
under a totally devolved set-up. q Welfare of the Elderly and q Marriage Counseling
Disabled Persons q Responsible Parenthood
In this section, the evolution of the DSWD from a q Community-based Rehab, q Family Casework /
highly centralized unit to a decentralized unit of programs for vagrants, Counseling
beggars, street children, q Social Preparation for
government is presented in three major phases, People’s Participation
scavengers, juvenile
the first five years since the enactment of the Code, delinquents and victims of q Community Volunteer
the next five years or a decade after the enactment drug abuse Resource Devt.
q Nutrition services
of the Code and finally fifteen years after q Family Planning Services
C. Women Welfare Program
devolution. q Self-Enhancement Skills
Devt.
1. The first five years after devolution q Maternal and Child Care
Skills Devt.
(1991-1996) q Productivity Skills/
Livelihood Devt.
Policy Support to Devolution2 q Community Participation
Skills Devt.
Under Executive Order No. 503, the guidelines and D. Emergency Assistance
implementing rules on devolution, the devolution Program
of basic services was required to be finished by q Supplemental Feeding
June 30, 1992 consistent with the Code, and q Food for Work
q Emergency Shelter
December 31, 1992 was placed as the final Assistance
deadline for those services that cannot be q Balik Probinsya
q Crisis Intervention
devolved by June 30, 1992. Memorandum No. q Disaster Mgt. Capability
27 of the President also mandated that national Bldg.
departments and agencies should improve their E. Program for Disabled
operations and guide the process streamlining Persons and Elderly
criteria. Implementing procedures were also q Information Dissemination
on Disability Prevention
detailed. q Assistance for Physical
Restoration
As a response, on 13 March 1992 the DSWD q Self/Social Enhancement
issued Department Order (D.O.) 005 Series of for Disabled persons
q Social / Vocational
1992 that contained the Implementing Guidelines Preparation for
for the Department’s devolution process. It Employment Services
identified the particular programs of the q After Care and Follow-up
services
Department that would be handed over to the q Special Social Services for
LGUs as well as the programs that would be the Elderly
q Social and Vocational
retained. It also contained the guidelines for the Preparation for Job
devolving of personnel and assets as well as the Placement
time frame. Shown below are the programs that Province Province
were devolved to the LGUs in compliance with the q Disaster Relief Assistance
q Programs and Projects for
Department Order and the provisions of the Code. Rebel Returnees
According to the DSWD, the D.O. enabled them q Relief Operations
q Population Development
to comply more than what was required by the Service
Code.

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A Review of the DSWD Devolution
In the last quarter of 1992, the Department began
the turnover of manpower and budget as
mandated by the Code. By the end of 1996,
around 66% of the Department’s personnel were
devolved to the LGUs. Also in 1996, the
Department issued D.O. 22 Series of 1996 that
aimed to alleviate poverty in the poorest areas of
the country through community organization and
provision of basic needs. It was here that the
Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social
Services (CIDSS) Program was born. CIDSS
became the flagship project of the Social Reform
Agenda and later under E.O. 443 became the
national delivery mechanism for the minimum
basic needs approach.
TIME PERIOD
RELATED EVENTS
TO DECENTRALIZATION PROCESS
1992 q Executive Order (E.O.) No. 503:
contained the rules and regulations
1993 implementing the Transfer of Assets,
Liabilities and Records of NGAs whose
1995-96 Functions are to be Devolved to the LGUs
q Memorandum Order (M.O.) 27:
Mandating All Heads of Departments,
Agencies, Instrumentalities of National
Governments to Streamline and Improve
their Operations and Organization
q An Ad Hoc Committee on Restructuring/
Streamlining the DSWD as created with
then Undersecretary Milagros Llanes as
Chairman.
q Department Order (D.O.) 005:
Implementing Guidelines of R.A. 7160 was
issued outlining the Devolution Process for
the Department.
q DSWD submitted to DBM its streamlining
report per M.O. 27 Guidelines
q Workshops and Consultations with DBM
and AIM
Trends in Implementing the Code3
Both local governments and field offices of NGAs
view the implementation of the Code as a valuable,
relevant and necessary step towards local
autonomy. However, the enthusiasm for achieving
local autonomy is seriously constrained by the
problems prevailing at the local level regarding the
implementation of the Code. In 1992, the LGUs
and local level national government personnel
were confused, resistant and had a very cautious
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
5
wait-and-see attitude in implementing the Code. By
1993, the LGUs started to seriously implement the
Code moving beyond personnel devolution to
having a positive effect on service delivery, political
accountability, local planning, private sector and
NGO participation and a host of other areas. Both
local governments and NGA local offices are doing
much to work out solutions to problems without
further recourse to central offices. Generally,
however, the devolved agencies at both the central
and local levels continue to be very slow to respond
to the operational demands of decentralization. By
1994 the process of devolving personnel and assets
has essentially been accomplished and a
“transitional” phase in the decentralization process
has thus begun. Local governments turned to the
substantive aspects of local control including
reorganization in the context of the new
responsibilities devolved to them such as learning
the essentials of delivering social welfare services.
In 1995, there was widespread evidence of
increased allocation for basic services. Innovative
planning and delivery of social services took place
throughout the country with NGOs and POs
participating in this delivery. By 1996, basic service
delivery became more integrated with local
operations, more focused on local priorities, and
more efficient in terms of both services and costs.
Both local executives and devolved personnel
discovered and developed more creative support
service modes as a result of decentralization. In
many instances, devolved personnel attested to the
improvements in their ability to develop and pursue
more relevant projects because they were closer
to the decision making and could define activities
in relation to local need. Where devolved personnel
oppose devolution, they do so because of concerns
about career security and advancement, not
because they believe that LGUs are incapable of
delivering services.
The devolution of social welfare services has been
in most respects the “success story” of
decentralization. The DSWD willingly and
aggressively managed the devolution of its
personnel. DSWD personnel were typically well
respected by local executives and readily absorbed
into local organizational structures. Overall in the
first five years of devolution, the change-over
process went well. Services continued to be
delivered without too many difficulties.
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
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The DSWD’s main concern in the first year of
implementing the Code was how to reorganize
to deliver technical assistance to the LGUs and
how to reorient their own field operations to
better serve locally-based service delivery. In
1992, the DSWD devolved its personnel to the
local level by entering into a Memorandum of
Agreement (MOA) with the LGUs. This MOA
helped both parties in the management of
devolved assets and personnel as well as
operational issues. By 1993, DSWD personnel
who had been appointed to local plantillas and
operate under local guidance, continued to
deliver services at least as consistently as when
NGAs had control. By 1994, service delivery has
continued without major disruption and, in some
cases, has improved as LGUs exercised
management of devolved services. However,
there has been minimal re-direction of the pattern
of service delivery inherited from NGAs and most
devolved personnel are simply tasked to
continue as they have been prior to devolution.
By 1995, the DSWD acknowledged that
operations have improved. Provincial and
municipal social welfare personnel frequently
reported that the transfer of DSWD functions to
LGUs strengthened their operational capacity,
especially in terms of access to resources, quick
decision-making and the ability to reorient
services where they are needed most. DSWD
personnel were most frequently cited by local
officials as being the easiest to integrate into
LGU operations. In 1996, social welfare received
increased financial support from LGUs due to
greater understanding of the needs of
beneficiaries resulting from closer supervisory
and planning support from chief executives. The
combination of more rapid access to funds and
quick decision-making, coupled with more
targeted interventions had improved the impact
of social welfare programs. LGUs expanded their
social service “nets” to add programs co-financed
and supported by NGOs and private sector
institutions with particular capabilities in
addressing sectoral or special needs. Thus, in
addition to the standard services for indigents,
pre-school children, youth and the elderly, LGUs
innovated with programs co-funded and
co-managed by the social welfare personnel and
NGOs.
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Issues and Concerns4
DSWD faced the following constraints in the
devolution process in the first five years of
implementation:
1. Overlaps and gaps in the social services
sector which need to be rationalized by
means of a development agenda, rather
than by means of just responding to
circumstance.
2. Unfunded mandates and funding
constraints especially for lower class
municipalities that had greater numbers of
indigent clients as a portion of their
population. Local executives observe that
NGA budgets were not as dramatically
affected by devolving personnel and
functions to LGUs, as were LGU budgets
(even with increased IRA shares) effected
by absorbing personnel and functions from
NGAs. Similarly, NGAs say they do not
have the funds to provide technical
assistance in their new “consultancy” role
with respect to the LGUs.
3. Political considerations adversely intrude
on social welfare issues. The extension of
services to one group is seen as partisan
favoritism and the rejection of ineligible
clients is sometimes countermanded by
executives seeking to do political favors.
4. LGUs’ difficulty in adjusting administrative
systems to accommodate new functions
and responsibilities. Treasury, budgeting,
accounting and general services had
cumbersome system and LGUs needed
assistance in complying with requirements.
5. Absence of clearly defined complemen-
tation of roles between NGAs and LGUs,
particularly with respect to reorienting NGA
regional offices toward prioritizing LGU
technical assistance. NGA regional
personnel often tend to see their role as
primarily continuing to deliver and/or
monitor their own national programs, rather
than undertaking the fundamental changes
needed to become providers of technical
assistance in response to locally defined
needs. The persistence to implement only
the programs of the “mother agency,” while
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A Review of the DSWD Devolution
helping with the continuity of service,
crowds out local innovation—since
implementers’ attention is already taken
with these NGA-initiated programs. Local
level executives and personnel felt that the
national government agencies often try to
focus on programs with high visibility like
the Social Reform Agenda, which leads to
a tendency to bypass the LGUs. This was
what DSWD did when it hired its own
personnel for the CIDSS (Comprehensive
Integrated Delivery of Social Services)
program.
6. No specific division or group was in charge
with coordinating and delivering services
to LGUs. Most retain familiar functional
arrangements; there is no apparent design
for cross-coordinating functional activities
with LGU needs, leaving the impression
that regional offices continue to emphasize
their own functional programs and will
respond to LGUs on an “as needed”, rather
than pro-active basis. The Regional SWD
personnel were most concerned with how
to monitor activities which are no longer
under their authority.
2. Ten years after devolution (1997-2001)
Policy support5
Three Department Orders (D.O.) were issued
within this period to transform the Department’s
function from direct service deliverer to LGU
enabler. The D.O. 20 Series of 1997 restructured
its organization and intensified capacity building
efforts to strengthen the DSWD’s steering role.
The Department then issued D.O. 26 Series of
1997 to localize the DSWD’s centers and
institutions. The Department was ordered to
transfer these institutions to capable LGUs and
assist them in meeting the financial requirements
of these centers and institutions. The D.O. 16
Series of 1999 provided planning guidelines for
the integrated implementation of social services.
The Corporate Plan 2001-2010 was later proposed
to make the DSWD systemically and
organizationally attuned to its changed nature and
transformed environment.
Administrative Orders 140 and 157 Series of 1997
further enhanced the DSWD Field Offices’ capacity
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
7
to perform their steering role capacity through a
redefinition of Field Office-Central Office relations
and re-clarification of the Field Offices’ functions
post-devolution. The D.O. 01 Series of 1998 pilot-
tested a program to grant full decentralization
powers to selected DSWD Regional and Field
Offices. The D.O. 22 Series of 1997 provided the
framework for Synchronized LGU-DSWD Planning
vis-à-vis the CIDSS project and D.O. 21 Series of
1998 was drafted to interface DSWD and LGU
workers at the Barangay-Municipal levels not just
to integrate planning but also to prepare the way
for the localization of CIDSS.
RELATED EVENTS
TIME PERIOD TO DECENTRALIZATION PROCESS
1997 q D.O. 22: Guidelines for the Implementation
of the Comprehensive and Integrated
Delivery of Social Services (CIDSS)
q E.O. 443: Adoption of CIDSS as National
Delivery Mechanism for the Minimum Basic
Needs (MBN) Approach
q ACTION-TOPS constituted with Secretary
Laigo as Chair
q A.O. 57: Enhancing the DSWD Field
Offices to Perform their Steering Role
q Administrative Order (A.O.) 69 Task
Forces for the DSWD Repositioning were
constituted.
q D.O. 11: Development Agenda for 1997
q D.O. 20: Strengthening DSWD’s Steering
Role Capability and Improving Its Effectivity
in Contributing to Poverty Alleviation Efforts
q D.O. 26: Localization of DSWD Centers ,
Programs and Institutions
q D.O. 22: Strategy for Synchronized LGU-
CIDSS Planning
q A.O. No. 157: Enhancing the DSWD’s Field
Offices to Perform Steering Roles
q Special Order No. 880: Assignments of
Staff in the Repositioned DSWD
1998 q D.O. 01: Piloting of Full Decentralization
of Powers to Selected DSWD Regional and
Field Offices
q D.O. 21: Guidelines on the Interfacing of
DSWD and LGU Workers at the Barangay-
Municipal Levels for the Localization of
CIDSS
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RELATED EVENTS TO
TIME PERIOD DECENTRALIZATION PROCESS
q E.O. 15 Redirects the Functions and
Operations of DSD from Direct Service
Deliverer to Technical Assistance provider
due to Devolution
1999 q EO 221, s. 1998: amended E.O. 15
Enabler of LGUs, NGOs and other NGAs,
POs Implementer of statutory laws and
specialized programs and services
Developer & monitor of standards in SWD
Licensor & accreditor of SWD agencies and
service providers
q D.O. 16: Planning Guidelines for an
Integrated and Coordinated Implementation
of Social Welfare and development Services
2001 q D.O. 02: Planning Guidelines for CY 2000
for Social Welfare and Development
Implementation of the Code
The RFA 1997-2000 described DSWD and LGU
continuing partnership as very productive in delivering
social services. Devolved personnel do not feel cut
off from the “mother agency,” as there is continued
coordination in programming and prioritizing. The role
of non-government organizations (NGOs) in service
delivery and coordination was less contentious in the
area of social services. Thus there was a strong
effective linkage among local governments, NGOs,
and the Department during this period. The Minimum
Basic Needs (MBN) approach and its data system
were seriously utilized to direct social services; and
this tends to broaden service delivery from short-
term crisis response to more wide-ranging help for
clients. However, it could not be said that the MBN
approach has had an abiding impact on how planning
is done. Finally, efforts towards the Social Reform
Agenda have had an impact at the local level. While
there were problems with funding releases for the
first year of the Poverty Alleviation Fund (when
guidelines were released late in the year), for the
second year local respondents cited considerable
impact.
In 1997, a report entitled Delivery of Social Welfare
Services after Devolution and Factors Affecting This
was completed by Asia Development Consultants,
Inc. (ADC). The study was an assessment of the
role and performance of LGUs in SWD and covered
101 municipalities from Luzon, Visayas, and
Mindanao. Respondents were DSWD Regional
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Officers, senior LGU officials, NGO representatives,
DSWD devolved personnel, and beneficiaries. The
following were the findings of the study: 6
1. The MSWDO was made up of four staff
members, such as the Municipal Social
Welfare and Development Officer
(MSWDO), other social welfare staff, and a
utility staff. Day care workers provide staff
support and are based in the different day
care centers. At the provincial level, an
average of four to six staff members
manages the Provincial Welfare and
Development Office (PSWDO). The office
was organized according to the programs
and services devolved to LGUs, such as
emergency assistance, family and
community welfare, relief and rehabilitation,
and a special concerns unit. The PSWDO
provided the directions and program thrusts
for the MSWDOs, which was different from
the previous process where planning and
needs assessment were done at the local
level, with the national government setting
overall goals and targets.
2. The MSWDOs performed 76.3%
responsibility in implementing social welfare
services at the municipal level. Only about
one-third engage in both planning and
supervision while others engage in other
activities such as networking and
establishing linkages; provision of technical
assistance; advocacy; and monitoring/
evaluation. Planning activities are often
preceded by a needs assessment exercise
with some using the MBN information. Other
activities such as population, nutrition, and
serving as consultants to Local Chief
Executives (LCEs) not stipulated in the
function of the office are also performed by
the social welfare personnel.
3. At least 30% of PSWDO survey
respondents said that the roles of the
province were mainly that of implementing
social welfare services and providing
technical assistance to municipalities. There
was very minimal involvement of the
province in monitoring and evaluation,
identification of basic needs, training and
information dissemination.
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4. The type of training extended to MSWDOs
was primarily on program requirements (i.e.,
disaster management and relief operations;
and trainers’ training on community disaster
preparedness). There were no trainings on
how to interface with LCEs, mobilize
resources, strengthen social welfare
sectors, or how to manage social welfare
services at the municipal level. This partly
explains why performance of these tasks
was quite low among LGUs.
5. The MSWDOs implemented the following
programs: Self-Employment Assistance
Program; Family and Community Welfare
Program; Women Welfare Program; Child
and Youth Welfare Program; Emergency
Assistance Program; Program for Disabled
and Elderly; and Day Care Service. Services
were delivered in a sectoral way. Of the total
number of 30 services listed or devolved to
LGUs, the following services are the ones
most commonly provided in the municipality:
Day Care services, loan assistance, parent
effectiveness, marriage counseling,
supplemental feeding, and information
dissemination for disability prevention.
About 85% of LGUs engage in these
services.
6. Services not adequately implemented were
entrepreneurship development and
capability building services; Child and Youth
Programs; community-based services for
street children and delinquent youths; and
services for disabled persons and elderly.
7. In provincial offices, disaster management
was the key program that is implemented
in four of the six services prioritized, with
40% or more of SWD staff working under
this program.
8. In terms of accomplishment of targets, most
of the MSWDOs had fulfilled 70%-100% of
their targets. The study pointed out,
however, that MSWDOs tend to lower their
targets because of limited funds.
9. Social welfare clients surveyed by ADC said
they were satisfied particularly with self-
employment assistance, family welfare,
women, and youth. Programs with less
satisfaction ratings were emergency
assistance, day care services, and those for
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the elderly and disabled. There were also
duplication of services and target
beneficiaries for the livelihood projects of
LGUs and regional offices.
10. MSWDOs and PSWDOs complaints
included: low prioritization given by LCEs
to social welfare programs, political
intervention especially in the appointment
or upgrading of positions, lack of regularity
in monitoring social welfare programs, and
lack of dialogue and consultation with
different stakeholders.
11. NGO contributions were mainly channeled
to the provision of capital and materials,
financial assistance, and technical support.
These are often directed to self-
employment assistance, emergency
assistance, and capability building of
clients. NGOs tend to implement their own
programs and services instead of linking
up with the SWD office. Limited funds
prevented them from expanding the
coverage of their SWD projects.
12. POs mainly served as clients of the MSWD
office especially in livelihood, health, and
nutrition projects. Their leaders lacked
managerial skills and their members lacked
involvement in program development.
13. The DSWD National Office support was
mainly the provision of technical assistance
in the form of training to improve SWDO
staff capabilities. This is in keeping with the
role of DSWD to “steer” rather than “row”
responsibility. There are few guidelines and
preparatory activities regarding monitoring,
however, which could explain the poor
submission of information on the status of
SWD services by LGUs.
The 1999 (9 th ) RFA revealed that the local
governments were struggling to implement
developmental initiatives within an environment of
traditional dole-out approaches to social service
provision. Local governments were receptive to the
collaborative focus of the minimum basic needs
(MBN) approach to community-based planning
and were increasingly incorporating it into their
planning efforts at all levels. The 9th RFA showed
the Department’s considerable national attention
to issues of decentralization and partnership. The
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2

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Department reorganized and created the Office for
Regional Operations to better respond to the
technical assistance requirements and needs of the
DSWD regional offices and local governments. The
Department also designed its Human Resource
Development and Capability Building activities to
prepare regional offices for their new role in
technical assistance delivery. These important
organizational developments were brought about
by presidential executive order issued to redirect
the functions and operations of the department from
direct service deliverer to technical assistance
provider to local governments. At the same time,
the CIDSS was also being expanded to cover more
local governments. Local governments met the
CIDSS initiatives of the department with a
willingness to provide counterpart funding,
especially absorbing CIDSS workers into the
plantilla of local government personnel. Local
governments also worked out strategies to sustain
the project, despite difficulties in financing due to
resource constraints at the national and local levels.
In the June 1999 SWS national survey, 56% of
respondents were satisfied with the quality of
devolved social services in their communities.
Issues and Concerns7
According to the ADC report, 79% of municipal
SWD staff said they were hampered by limited
financial resources. Thirty-nine percent said they
lacked administrative support, as exemplified by
limited travel allowance, slow release of funds, and
failure to provide benefits to staff. About 20% cited
problems of manpower lack, political intervention
in the selection of beneficiaries, implementation of
services for political purposes, low priority given to
SWD programs by LGUs, dole-out mentality of
clients, and lack of technical assistance from regions
and/or the national office.
The RFA reports cited the following as major
constraints in the delivery of services:
1. Preference of some local governments for
concrete, visible infrastructure, as these
were perceived to be better means of
getting votes.
2. The structure of projects under the Social
Reform Agenda restricted local
governments to selecting from a pre-
identified list or menu, rather than being able
to design their own projects to meet the
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goals of alleviating poverty and meeting
minimum basic needs.
3. Since national government agencies served
as conduits for the Poverty Alleviation Fund,
their internal procedures delayed the
release of moneys.
4. Local governments have found CIDSS to
be a very successful approach but were
worried about where to find the resources
to sustain this project.
5. Low priority for LGU-initiated and funded
capability-building programs for social
workers.
3. Fifteen years after devolution (2002-2007)
Dr. Bautista described the current DSWD set-up in
her section on the Philippine Governance Report
(2002). At the national office and field offices in the
different regions, the DSWD maintains the following
technical bureaus: social technology; program
operations; standards; policy and programs; and
social welfare and institutional development. It has
these support services: external assistance;
administrative; human resources and development;
finance; legal; management information system;
and social marketing. These offices enable the
Department to carry out its retained service
functions and to perform its “steering role” for the
devolved responsibilities. The DSWD also
continues to maintain attached coordinating bodies
for policy formulation and monitoring the
implementation of laws pertinent to particular
groups. Another is the National Council for the
Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP), which
serves as the central policymaking, coordinating,
and advisory agency of government on all disability-
related matters. The third attached agency is the
Inter-Country Adoption Board, which acts as the
central authority in matters pertaining to the Inter-
Country adoption of Filipino Children. An essential
structural innovation is the move to set up a matrix
organization where different offices can be
harnessed to contribute their talent and expertise
for particular strategic activities. For instance, a
Research Management Committee has been set
up under the leadership of the Undersecretary for
Policy, Programs and Standards with all Assistant
Secretaries as members (DSWD 2001). While the
Technical secretariat is headed by the Bureau
Director for Policy, Plans and Information Systems,
the members of the Research Matrix Group can be
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 A Review of the DSWD Devolution
tapped from selected technical staff from other
bureaus, offices/units, field offices and attached
agencies. This structural arrangement enables
experts from different offices to have a cross-
fertilization of ideas. In the case of the national
program for poverty alleviation like CIDSS,
interagency bodies at the different levels of
government are to be constituted. As the principle
of convergence policy is being upheld, it harnesses
the participation of representatives from
government, NGOs and POs, and lately, the basic
sector representatives and other government
representatives from the economic development
sector not included in earlier interagency
committees. The current structure of DSWD is
shown below. Currently, the national and local
offices set the directional and annual program
thrusts; preparation of plans and targets are done
at the local level.
Figure 3. Emerging DSWD Organizational Structure
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
3 Under Secretaries and
4 Ass’t. Secretaries
External Human
Assistance Administrative Resource Finance
Service Service Development Service
Service
Standards
Technology
Program
Operations
Standards
Bureau
Bureau Burea
Field Offices
In a 2002 study conducted by the Ateneo School of
Government on the devolution process that the
DSWD undertook, the following achievements of
the department were cited:
1. No dislocation of devolved personnel.
Through D.O. 005, the Department ensured that
the devolution process would not infringe the rights
and benefits of its personnel. D.O. 005 ensured that:
*“Administrative non-viability” was strictly construed to help plug a loophole in implementation. Sec. III, C, 2 (b) stated that “absorption is not
administratively viable when there is duplication of functions unless the LGU opts to absorb the personnel concerned.”
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1. There shall be no involuntary separation,
termination or lay-off of DSWD personnel
affected by devolution; [Sec. III, C, 2 (d)];
2. Devolved permanent personnel shall enjoy
security of tenure in accordance with
existing Civil Service laws, rules and
regulations [Sec. III, C, 2(e)];
3. There shall be no diminution in pay or
benefits of DSWD devolved personnel.
[Sec. III, C, 2 (j)];1
4. When the devolved DSWD personnel opt
for voluntary separation or retirement from
the service they shall be entitled, if qualified
under existing laws, to receive the
retirement gratuities and other benefits
accruing thereunder [Sec. III, C, 7 (a)].
Furthermore, the Department has also instituted
several administrative mechanisms to act as “job
security nets” for contentious cases:
Council for the
Welfare of Children 1. Mandatory devolution of personnel to the
Nat’l. Council for LGU shall be formalized through a
the Welfare of
Disabled Persons Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). The
Inter-Country LGU’s shall create the equivalent positions
Adoption Board
of the affected personnel except when it is
not administratively viable.*
Management
Social 2. [Sec. III, C, 2 (a)];
Legal Information
System Marketing
Service Service
Service 3. The LGU’s commit that they will “complete
the implementation of salary standardization
for locally paid workers with plantilla
Social
positions similar to devolved DSWD
Policy &
Plans
Welfare &
Institutional
personnel. [Sec. IV, 1, C), 2];
Burea Dev’t Bureau
4. The DSWD personnel who are not
absorbed by the LGUs for reasons of
administrative non-viability shall be retained
by DSWD subject to CSC law, rules and
regulations (i.e., their security of tenure shall
be fully protected.) [Sec III, C, 2 (c)];
5. Casual emergency or daily-wage DSWD
personnel assigned in the field units affected
by devolution who are performing duties and
responsibilities relative to the delivery of
basic services shall be absorbed by the
LGU’s concerned [Sec. III, C, 2 (g)];
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6. Temporary personnel shall be absorbed by
the LGUs, subject to Civil Service
Commission (CSC) rules and regulations
[Sec. III, C, 2 (h)].
The presence of these clear rules to guide the
process of personnel devolution helped calm the
worries of DSWD personnel who were anxious that
the process would strip them of their vital rights
under CSC rules. The LGUs on the other hand
readily accepted DSWD personnel because of their
expertise. This was attributed to the fact that law
regulates the position of social welfare personnel.
Thus, any person that occupies a social welfare
position in the LGUs must have the necessary
credentials. This also enabled the Department to
have a significant presence in all LGUs.
2. Successful Implementation of the
Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of
Social Services (CIDSS)
The D.O. 54, Series of 1994, which was later
amended by D.O. 22, issued on May 15, 1996 cites
the objectives of the CIDSS program: (1) test a
strategy on poverty alleviation through CIDSS; (2)
monitor
Institutional Arrangement of the CIDSS
q The Location of the CIDSS Oversight
Committee as a parallel structure of the
Social Reform Council (the structure which
oversees the implementation of SRA),
instead of being located under the Social
Reform Council.
q The creation of the National Inter-Agency
Committee (NIAC) under the Oversight
Committee. NIAC is directly responsible for
overseeing the corresponding IAC’s at the
regional (RIAC), provincial (PIAC), municipal
(MIAC) and barangay (BIAC) levels. Prior
to this set-up, the NEDA Social Development
Committee had supervisory authority over
the regional, provincial, municipal and
barangay IACs.
q The restructuring of the Project Monitoring
Team (PMT) which incorporates CIDSS
Area supervisors to oversee the work of
CIDSS workers.9
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A basic feature of the CIDSS is the deployment of a
CIDSS worker, who performs the role of head
mobilizer and fulfills the delicate task of organizing
the community, which includes:
1. Orienting the various stakeholders at the
municipal level;
2. Facilitating the identification of priority
barangays;
3. Spotting leaders and organizing
neighborhood cluster of about 25 families;
4. Validating and prioritizing problems;
5. Facilitating preparation of development plan;
6. Facilitating the conduct of the barangay
assembly to validate the barangay
development plan.10
The LGUs are integrated into the program through
various ways. The presidents of the Leagues of
the LGUs are members of the Steering Committee.
The LCEs of the provinces head the interagency
committees (PIAC, MIAC, BIAC), together with the
devolved chief of offices (health, social welfare,
agrarian reform, agriculture and environment).
The primary task of the LGUs is to organize their
respective interagency bodies and make sure that
the convergence approach gets applied in their
areas. Thus, CIDSS is primarily a system where the
minimum basic needs of a given local population is
identified and addressed in the closest possible way
with the people. An interagency structure meets,
operates and decides at the lowest LGU level. This
is facilitated by the CIDSS worker. In Bautista’s 1999
study, the LCE participation was perceived to be most
crucial in the success of the program.11
The DSWD started implementing CIDSS in 1994 in
a total of 150 barangays based in 5th and 6th class
municipalities in 33 provinces based on the latest
poverty profile. By 1995, due to its success, 625
barangays were added in 200 5th and 6th class
municipalities in 49 provinces. By 1997, CIDSS was
expanded to include even 3 rd and 4 th class
municipalities and covered 1,154 barangays in 432
municipalities of 77 provinces.12 In 1999, the plan
was to cover 2,402 barangays in 960 municipalities
of 78 provinces.13
Two major studies have confirmed the success of
CIDSS as a technology in poverty alleviation.
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Bautista (1999) has documented the fact that
community structures were spurred to emerge and
that perspectives of mayors shifted their priorities
because of the program’s success.14 She reported
a significant reduction in the unmet MBN of CIDSS
barangays as compared to non-CIDSS barangays:
“Overall, CIDSS areas have improved in 28 out of
the 33 MBN indicators while non-CIDSS areas
improved in a total of 18 out of 33 indicators.”15
Balisacan (2000) has also pointed out that the
program hastened service delivery and made “a
positive impact” on the quality of life of the
community.16 These studies were validated by key
informant interviews.
This program later on was later on “localized” in
1999 and 2000 as prescribed by E.O. 443 of 1997.
The localization of CIDSS was a policy response
to the desire of the LGUs to turn over to them the
management of the CIDSS. An impact study on
the localization of CIDSS was conducted by Orient
Integrated Development Consultants, Inc. in 2004.
The study concluded that overall the localization
of the program was successful and persistently
generated the benefits intended for the poor,
namely the reduction of unmet needs. The
commitment of the LGUs to reduce poverty
incidence in their areas of jurisdiction continued
to be strong and operational. The range of services
by the LGUs, DSWD and NGOs was wide and
substantial. The benefits received were improved
physical, financial and institutional access to social
services. Self reliance and community
empowerment were cited as major outcomes of
the localization.
Another program of similar nature was
implemented on a massive scale—the Kapit Bisig
Laban sa Kahirapan (Linking Arms Against
Poverty) or KALAHI-CIDSS. This is the flagship
program of the current administration enabling the
local communities to own their respective projects
and find a way to sustain the program financially.
As of 2005, 4,270 barangays in 177 municipalities
in 42 provinces in 13 regions were covered by the
KALAHI-CIDSS program. The CIDSS and
KALAHI-CIDSS experiences show what can be
achieved with planning from below. In this
particular technology, “needs” were not identified
from above but was generated from below. The
LGUs were heavily involved both in generating the
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needs, drafting the approach and implementing it
through the interagency committees. The CIDSS
and KALAHI-CIDSS experiences showed that
“convergence” can work and should be a core
feature of any government intervention, despite
the difficulties related to the fact that the state
machinery is a most difficulty entity to be made to
work together.
3. Administrative powers transferred to
regional offices.
The Department gave the regional directors (RD)
the power to appoint personnel to positions with
Salary Grade 24 and below. They were also given
the authority to decide on the acceptance of
resignation and permission to transfer all regular/
casual employees with Salary Grade 24 and below.
More importantly, they now have the prerogative
to exercise disciplinary action over field office
employees for the commission of less grave and
light offenses.
They were also given discretion on some areas of
monetary concern, like the authorization of
disbursement of funds chargeable against
releases from Congressional Initiatives and
Countrywide Development Fund and the
negotiation and entrance of contracts for service
and furnishing of supplies, materials and
equipment for the field offices with a
PhP500,000.00 per transaction threshold. In fact,
they have been empowered to sign transactions
regardless of the amount, provided that the same
is within the approved work and financial plan of
the field office. These actions decongested the
Central Office and have given the Field Offices
the authority to promptly respond to issues of
direct, immediate concern to them.
The DSWD pilot tested the above mentioned policy
in selected regions: III, V, VI, X and XI. The DSWD
top management assessed the results through
empirical observation and through analysis of the
documents submitted to them. The full
decentralization of Regional Offices was
regularized by then DSWD Secretary Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo for Regions III, VI and XI
because they have demonstrated “management
and staff competence in the exercise of the
authority delegated to them by D.O. 01 (Series of
1998).”
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4. Service Standards and Evaluation
Instruments have been created and are being
enhanced to more effectively evaluate social
service delivery under decentralization
The maintenance of a particular standard of social
service delivery received greater importance after
R.A. 7160 mandated the devolution of key areas of
social service delivery to the LGUs. Whereas before,
the DSWD was the direct service provider, now it
was “repositioned” to do the work of “servicing the
servicers”: LGUs and NGOs to whom the power
has been devolved. Now, one of the key tasks of
the Department is to ensure that its direct consumers
maintain a particular standard of social delivery.
In the beginning of the decentralization process, the
Department has lagged behind in standards creation
because the Department’s energy was focused on
the critical issues of organizational restructuring and
personnel devolution. The Department decided to
contract the Development Academy of the Philippines
to help in framing a Standards Development
Framework. The Department is slowly but surely
narrowing the gap between the number of areas that
needs accreditation, licensing and evaluation and
their own empirical instruments.
The Department is now in the process of developing
new evaluative instruments for emerging services,
the most important of which is the Quality Social
Service Delivery by LGU instrument that is expected
by December 2001. The Department has also
streamlined its Standards Development Process.
Some LGUs are now offering hospice care services
(for the terminally ill) and some are moving into
community-based program for autistic children.
Since the Department has also committed to
“localize” the centers and institutions that it has
retained, the Bureau is now even more hard-pressed
to provide adequate standards. With a streamlined
process, expert papers, and common sense
remedies, the DSWD has improved its standards
development.
Issues and Concerns17
The DSWD continues to face the following
constraints fifteen years after devolution:
1. Budgetary Constraints
Lack of funds for social service delivery was cited as
a constraint since 1992 up to the present. LGUs
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consistently complained about the insufficiency of
the IRA they are receiving as share in the national
income compared to the financial requirements of
the responsibilities transferred to them. Some LGUs
however proactively raised their revenues by
engaging themselves in enterprise development
while some had sought local and international funding
support to LGU operations.
2. Low Priority for Social Services
Social services necessarily compete with other
projects for allocation within the LGU budget. In the
rural areas, there is more concentration on the
construction of public infrastructures because these
things are readily noticeable and its beneficiaries are
potential voters. There is very low priority for social
services (especially in taking responsibility over major
centers) because these projects are expensive and
some do not “bring in the votes.” Almost all the current
major studies of devolution in the social service
delivery from the LGU perspective has shown
compelling evidentiary proof that social services has
received minimal allocation both in the national
budget and LGU budget.
3. Need for Competency and Capacity Building
Under E.O. 15, the DWD was tasked to undertake
the necessary organizational and personnel capability-
building activities necessary to shift the department
from a direct service provider to a purveyor of technical
assistance, The DSWD had been modestly
successful in moving towards the “enabler” role the
Department basically lacks competence in technical
skills needed for some of the programs, especially
those services that are highly technical, (i.e., crisis
intervention, disaster management and relief). Some
problems of competence development were attributed
to the insufficient technological facilities of the LGUs
and the political structure of local governance. Social
welfare officials associated with past administration
were “frozen” and personnel “trusted” by the new
administration are installed. Thus, the DSWD needs
to train them again. The “highly-qualified, technically
competent” personnel either go abroad or jump ship
to richer government agencies. The recruitment and
movement pattern of its personnel revealed that
trainings are oftentimes used by people as “stepping
stones” to other agencies (i.e., SSS, GSIS, Bangko
Sentral) or as a tool to be able to apply for jobs abroad.
Thus, the DSWD trains people only to lose them.
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3. Monitoring and Evaluation Constraints
With devolution, the Department has lost the
administrative clout to compel municipalities to
submit progress and implementation reports, as
now supervisory powers were transferred to the
LCEs. The Department is having difficulty
getting feedback and vital inputs for planning
(i.e., performance of devolved personnel). These
information are also pivotal for mapping up the
Department’s technical support and assistance
programs. Devolved workers are also no longer
maintaining informative and useful records of
clients. Instead they maintain records with
minimal information, emaciating the case
management of devolved personnel. 18 The
DSWD is now at a loss on how to frame a system
that will enable them to effectively procure those
reports from LGUs.
Dr. Bautista (2002) said that a major problem in
the weak capability of the DSWD national office
to track the performance of LGUs is that LGUs
find it difficult to submit progress reports
because they are burdened by the number and
cost of the many services devolved to them. A
significant flaw in the system for determining
LGU accomplishments is the reliance on
planned targets by social welfare officers, who
could easily underestimate what they plan to do.
The municipalities are expected to be realistic
in the range of services (from the list of 30
services) they choose deliver to the community
by matching services with prevailing local
problems. If LGUs choose not to use a problem
analysis mechanism like the CIDSS/MBN,
however, they will find it difficult to determine
and understand the actual problems existing in
the community. This considerably diminishes
their ability to prepare a rational SWD plan.
4. DSWD still responsible for some centers
and institutions
Although service delivery has been transferred
to LGUs, the DSWD retains more than 60
centers and institutions under its jurisdiction. The
resistance of the personnel to be devolved must
be carefully managed, as the pitch for “selective
devolution” is getting stronger acceptance
among the rank and file. The main argument is
that if no willing and able unit or group is willing
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
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to take on the responsibilities of the
Department’s various centers, then the top
management should not insist on localizing.
However, steering and rowing is a more accurate
description, as for services are unlikely to be
operated by any organization other the
Department, due to economic or other reasons.
With regard to residential service delivery, the
64 facilities directly managed by DSWD
nationally serve clients in the following groups
(Hoffman, 2002):
• Individuals (children and adults) with special
physiological or mental developmental needs,
who are unable to live independently or
require a level of day-to-day care beyond the
capacity of families to provide;
• Victims (primarily if not exclusively, women)
of abuse, neglect or illegal recruitment;
• Older persons with no families or who have
needs mentioned above);
• Young children that are abused, neglected
or abandoned (including street-children);
• Transient disadvantaged individuals or
families;
• Young offenders or those committed to the
care of DSWD pending court sentencing (i.e.
youth not yet convicted of an offence);
• Individuals with drug dependency.
The Department is also faced with the reality of
the LGUs financial incapability: the absorptive
capacity of LGUs gets thinly spread as one goes
farther from the urban areas. Thus, the
Department must carefully weigh the positives
and negatives of the following management
systems that were proposed: 19
[1] Co-management: the Department can
partner with a community-based
institution with an interest in one of its
services (i.e., an NGO interested in Day
Care). This option can further integrate
civil society into social service delivery work
but the problem is whether NGOs have the
financial and personnel stability to run a
center.
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[2] Trust Committee system: In this system,
the DSWD forms a group of LGUs to
manage or oversee its centers and
programs. For example, three financially
endowed LGUs (Makati, Muntinlupa and
Mandaluyong) can fully take over the
DSWD’s productivity centers.
[3] Sub-Contract: In this mode, the DSWD
sub-contracts a private entity to do its work,
for example, a private institution can be
asked to run an adoption center e.g. NGOs.
The main problem with this mode is the
considerable resistance within the
Department against any action that bears
any resemblance to “privatization.” 20
(Interview with Usec. Clifford Burkley.)
5. Expansion of Basic Services.
The majority of LGUs (85%) tend to focus on
delivering only a handful of social welfare services.
These include Day Care services, loan assistance,
parent effectiveness, marriage counseling,
supplemental feeding, and information
dissemination for disability prevention. While the
CIDSS and KALAHI-CIDSS attempted to expand
these services to address other pressing needs
of the people, the actual services delivered are
still limited.
III. Summary and Conclusions
The devolution of social services showed a general
positive trend towards improvement despite
constraints, such as inadequate resources, skilled
personnel and funds, lack of technical assistance
from the national government and inappropriate
rules and regulations from oversight agencies.
Studies reveal an increasing proactive response
taken by LGUs in the area of delivery of basic
social services. Innovations on planning and
delivery of services emerged as early as 1994,
greater integration with local operations were
progressing by 1997 and continuing to be
observed today. Particularly, studies revealed
widespread improvement in the delivery of services
with increasing local ownership of social welfare
and development programs.
In summary, sixteen years after devolution, the
steering role of DSWD has been highlighted
(especially in the last five years) in terms of:
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• technical assistance and capability building for
LGUs in the delivery of social welfare services
• setting of standards, accreditation and
compliance for the delivery of social welfare
services by LGUs, NGOs and the private
sector
• experimenting on “new” social technologies
and transferring them to partners in the
delivery of social services e.g. CIDSS, CCT
and specific vulnerable sector programs,
projects and methodologies
• advocating social protection and welfare
policies based on the experience it gathers
through its partners and networks
• “augmenting” and helping LGUs and
stakeholders access resources especially in
disaster relief and rehabilitation programs and
special programs like KALAHI-CIDSS, ECCD
and SEA-K
However, with regard to residential care and
services a combination of steering and rowing is
still the mode of operation. Because of various
constraints as mentioned above, DSWD
continues to operate several centers at various
levels. Various modes of delivery can further be
explored e.g. NGO, private sector, LGU or a
combination of these.
DSWD steering role has been evolving in the past
five years but what it needs to do is to further
refine these by focusing on what it thinks as its
major roles in the promotion of social protection
and welfare in the country given the current
external environment it faces and its internal
capacities and strengths:
First, by identifying which major social risks it is
ready to focus on.
Second, prioritizing the vulnerable sectors in
terms of primary assistance (as other agencies
also address needs of said sectors)
Third, specifying the roles and functions of
various government units and private partners in
the delivery of services of these selected priority
areas and sectors (from the national, regional,
provincial, municipal, barangay levels).
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Fourth, strengthening its capacity for data
gathering, social risk assessment, poverty
targeting and social protection and welfare
planning and assisting LGUs and partners on
these activities
Fifth, enhancing the mechanisms for
collaboration among these government units and
partners in the actual delivery of social welfare
services e.g. refining structures where national
REFERENCES
1
Derived from Victoria Bautista, Governing the
Social Welfare Sector in the Philippine
Governance Report, Ateneo School of
Government and UNDP, 2002.
2
Borrows heavily from Rodelio Manacsa, A
Decade of Taking Root, Ateneo School of
Government, 2002
3
USAID, Highlights of Associates for Rural
Development, Rapid Field Appraisals 1992-1998
(unpublished)
4
Rapid Field Appraisals 1992-1998 (unpublished)
5
Rodelio Manacsa, A Decade of Taking Root
2002
6
Victoria Bautista, Philippine Governance Report
2002
7
Victoria Bautista, Philippine Governance Report
2002
8
DSWD, D.O. 005, Series of 1992
9
Victoria Bautista, Combating Poverty through
CIDSS, QC: NCPAG, 1999: 30
10
Appendix VI-A: D.O. 22, Series of 1996
11
Victoria Bautista, Combating: 82
12
See Appendix IV-D. D.O. 22, Series of 1996
13
Arsenio Balisacan, et. al., Approaches to
Targeting the Poor (Phils: UP School of
Economics, 2000): 55
14
Victoria Bautista, Combating: 37
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
17
and local units meet and converge and in
advocating for national policies and issues
Sixth, strengthening the mechanisms for sharing
the technologies it has developed over the years
to partners which include community based
needs assessments, facilitating convergence in
the delivery of services at the community level
and good practices in the serving the vulnerable
sectors.
15
Victoria Bautista, Combating: 216
16
Arsenio Balisacan, et. al., Approaches: 56
17
Rodelio Manacsa, A Decade of Taking Root,
2002
18
Interview with Dir. Marina Tabamo; 1997 ADC
Study
19
Interview with Usec. Clifford Burkley.
20
Interview with Usec. Clifford Burkley.
OTHER WORKS CITED
Asian Development Consultants, Delivery of Social
Welfare Services After Devolution and Factors
Affecting This [1997] (unpublished document)
Ateneo School of Government, Rapid Field
Appraisal, 1999 (unpublished).
Hoffman, Joseph. Technical Assistance on DSWD
Institutions and Centers: Final Report, August
2002
Orient Integrated Development Consultants, Inc.,
Impact Study on the Localization of CIDSS,
2004.
Rodriguez, Rufus. Local Government Code of
1991. Mla: Rex, 1991.
Rules and Regulations Implementing the Local
Government Code of 1991. Manila: Central
1993.
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
 18

MAJOR SOCIAL RISKS AND VULNERABILITY

IN THE PHILIPPINES: A SURVEY
By

Dr. Fernando T. Aldaba

ABSTRACT

I dentifying major social risks will be in

most cases the first step in conducting a gap
analysis for social protection intervention in the
This short paper hopes to identify the key social
risks confronted by households and communities
in the Philippines. The identification on this
country. Whether a risk should be considered paper will rely on secondary literature and data.
major depends on the characteristics of each risk. The World Bank Guide also suggests that
Risks may differ according to whether they are poverty profiles, census reports and household
natural (floods) or the result of human activity survey reports can be supplemented with
(conflict). Risks can also affect individuals in an
information from commonly available sources of
unrelated manner (idiosyncratic). They can be
information such as poverty maps or studies on
correlated among individuals (covariate), across
correlates and determinants of poverty.*
time (repeated) or with other risks (bunched). Risks
differ by their frequency and welfare impact (e.g.
catastrophic or non-catastrophic).1

Introduction

also important goals. Income and consumption

I n the first section of this study, a menu of
social risks is identified, with discussion on the
relevance of viewing social protection broadly to
cover vulnerabilities to both transient and chronic
poverty. The second section looks at the poverty
literature, mostly empirical to gather a set of factors
that affect poverty and vulnerability to poverty. The
third section tries to identify the major social risks in
the country today based on that set of factors.
1. Social Risks and Vulnerability and the
Objectives of Social Protection
The general objective of social protection is to assist
vulnerable sectors of society especially the poor in
managing various risks and hazards they face in their
every day lives. These include prevention, mitigation
and coping strategies (Holzmann and Jorgensen,
2001). Job preservation, facilitation and creation are
smoothing are also regarded by some researchers
as falling under the key objectives of social protection.
Poor people are more exposed and have less
capability to manage risk and survive crises
situations. While they have developed coping
mechanisms as asset accumulation during good
times, income diversification, networks and risk
pooling arrangements (paluwagan), these are often
insufficient and expensive (World Bank 2000).
Shocks reduce human capital of the poor because
they either lose their jobs, incur greater costs for
expenditures or have less incomes. Thus, their
expenditure for food, health and schooling are
negatively affected.
Table 1 shows all the possible risks individuals face
and the corresponding responses from three
sectors (Aldaba, 2003):

1 Johannes Hoogeveen, Emil Tesliuc, Renos Vakis, with Stefan Dercon, World Bank Guide to Risk and Vulnerability Analysis
* A caveat though is that key informants, policy documents and seemingly relevant secondary data have a tendency to focus on large, covariate
shocks and to ignore smaller, but frequent risks. In the aggregate the latter may be more harmful however. Widespread idiosyncratic and seasonal
morbidity such as malaria or acute respiratory diseases could then be mistakenly be ignored.

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Major Social Risks and Vulnerability... 19

1.1 Social Protection, the Transient and the poor in one year but have consumption levels
Chronic Poor above the poverty line in “normal” years.
Understanding the sources of this variability
The World Bank (2001) notes that analysis
and designing mechanisms to reduce either
available from other countries suggests that
the variability or its impact would improve the
a significant portion of poverty in any given year
welfare of the poor.
in the Philippines is likely to represent
transient poverty - that is, households who are

Table 1: Types of Risks/Vulnerability and Responses

Assessment Responses Assessment Responses

Household or Private and Household or Private and
Types of Risks/ Types of Risks/
Informal Government Civil Society Informal Government Civil Society
Vulnerability Vulnerability
Mechanisms Sector Mechanisms Sector
Individual Lifecycle Environmental and Natural
Hunger and Women as Health and Provision of Drought Migration Environmental Environmental
malnutrition family welfare Nutrition health policy advocacy and
providers Policy services, soup prevention of
kitchens, etc. man-made
disasters
Illness, Injury, Extended Social and Private
Rains and Community Infrastructure Disaster
Disease (incl. family, micro- insurance
Floods Action investment/ mitigation and
HIV-AIDS community insurance schemes
Relocation- prevention
support
temporary and measures
Disability Hygiene, Social Micro- permanent
preventive assistance insurance Earthquakes Private Disaster Relief and
health transfers/ prevention and Rehabilitation
Asset/Savings Pension Plan Old age extended mitigation programs
Old Age
reduction annuities family support measures
Death Debt Volcano Asset/Savings Insurance
eruption and Depletion against
Economic landslides disasters
End of source Diversified Sound macro Private sector Social/Governance
of livelihood sources of and sector investments Social exclusion Community Good Good
livelihood policies for that are job- networks governance, corporate
job generation generating transparency governance
and
Unemployment Private Regional and Agricultural accountability
transfers, rural insurance
Corruption Community Public Strengthening
child labor development pressure information participation
policies campaigns of NGOs and
Low and Depletion of Labor market Banking CBOs
irregular income assets/ policies services to the Crime and Women’s Providing Peace and
savings poor, domestic groups security and order
microfinance violence equal access promotion
to justice (e.g. anti-drug
Price instability Reduced Education Training campaigns)
of basic consumption and training Political Migration Participation Advocacy for
commodities of basic instability of citizens democracy
goods and civil and
Economic crisis Migration Social funds society democratic
groups transitions
Adopted mainly from the ADB Social Protection Strategy Paper, 2001

Reyes (2002) confirms this through her estimates
and claims that only half of those who are classified
as poor in the Philippines are chronically poor,
while the other half are transient poor (meaning
non-poor before but poor now). The distinction
between chronic and transient poverty has
important policy implications because some of the
interventions needed by the chronic poor may be
different from those needed by the transient poor.
Different policies and programs are called for in
addressing these two types of poverty. Longer-
term investments in the poor, such as increasing
their human and physical assets or returns to those
assets are likely to be more appropriate for chronic

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


20
poverty. On the other hand, insurance and income
stabilization schemes which protect households
against man-made or natural shocks would be
likely to be more useful when responding to
transient poverty. Social protection programs
comprise the latter if viewed from a narrower
perspective.
However, Barrientos et al (2005) counters that this
narrow perspective on social protection may result
into a bifurcation of anti-poverty policy. They argue
that the grounds for this approach should be
contested and that chronic poor face significant
risk and vulnerability have fewer buffers to protect
their standards of living, and are commonly forced
to adopt behavioral responses that keep them in
poverty. Chronic and transient poverty have some
common causal factors and that the chronic poor
and the transient poor are not always easily
distinguished ‘crisp’ sets. Thus, in the context of
the Philippines, we need first to identify the
correlates of poverty and vulnerability in general
as it might be difficult to delineate between chronic
and transient poverty. At the same time, policy
makers need to respond urgently to the latter as
resources are limited to devise separate
approaches immediately. More recently, the
government through the Social Development
Committee has agreed to use a common definition
of social protection programs which include labor
market programs, social insurance, social welfare
assistance and social safety nets.
2.0 Correlates of Poverty, Vulnerability and
Low Household Welfare2
What we set out to do in this section is to review
secondary empirical literature that points us to
correlates and possibly factors affecting poverty
and vulnerability to poverty.
There are few formal analyses of the extent of
vulnerability in the Philippines which typically
requires panel data to examine the frequency of
movements into and out of poverty. These studies
include those of Alba (2001) for employment,
2 This section borrows heavily from Lanzona, Aldaba and Lopez (2007)
3 The 1997 FIES and LFS and the 1998 APIS matched sample households were used in most of these studies (Yang and Choi, 2006,
Chauduri and Datt, 2001)
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
Chadhuri and Datt (2001) for consumption, Datt
and Hoogeeven (2000) for consumption and
income, Tabunda (undated) for consumption, labor
market and income and Albert (undated) on
income.
A more recent empirical study commissioned by
the National Anti Poverty Commission (NAPC) in
2005 and done by the National Statistical and
Coordination Board (NSCB) looked at the
characteristics that affect future poverty status of
Philippine households. Yang and Choi (2006) on
the other hand examined remittances as a form of
insurance and mitigating mechanism from shocks
by Filipino households.
All these studies used data gathered from 1997 to
1998, years when the financial crisis and El Niño
occurred in the country3. Some important general
conclusions from these studies include: a)
vulnerability incidence is higher than poverty
incidence i.e. percentage of population exposed
to becoming poor is higher than those who are
actually poor; b) distribution of poverty may differ
from distribution of vulnerability; c) vulnerability and
factors affecting them differ across time (e.g. by
quarter); d) the need to account for measurement
errors in panel data estimation; e) consumption
as a better measure of welfare; and f) poverty and
vulnerability are higher in rural areas relative to
urban areas.
The World Bank (2001) notes that the main
sources of vulnerability are likely to be related to
climate and economic instability and certain parts
of the country are also affected by political unrest.
At the household level, the impact of these events
is felt through lower real incomes due to loss of
crops, reduced employment, lower pay or higher
prices, especially for food. In addition, poor
households face idiosyncratic risks that make them
vulnerable to illness, spells of unemployment that
are not derived from systemic events, and old age.
Schaeffer (2001) identifies six main factors
affecting household’s vulnerability to reduced
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
21

income and consumption – illness, violence/ them to lower levels of welfare or situations of
conflict, natural disaster, harvest failure, terms of poverty. Table 2 shows a previous estimate by
trade deterioration and loss of employment. He Balisacan (2003) of household consumption, using
adds that exposure to vulnerability is a function of five Family Income and Expenditure Surveys
size, frequency, earliness and bunching of the (FIES) in the 1980s and 1990s. The study
mentioned factors as well as one’s spatial proximity highlights the significance of environmental
to them. According to a previous study by Sinha conditions, schooling, infrastructure and per capita
and Lipton (1999), the six factors account for income among others. It also indicates that
almost 90% of downward fluctuations in poor deprivation factor maybe as important income
people’s income and consumption in a developing variables in affecting welfare as evidenced by the
country context. significance of initial conditions to the household
welfare of the bottom 20% of the population.
According to the results of the study done by NAPC
and NSCB (2005), in 1997 the poverty incidence In this Balisacan study, one notes that the number
was 27.9% but vulnerability incidence was much of typhoons is a statistically significant variable
higher at 45.0%. Vulnerability incidence among the correlated to the average welfare of the bottom
non-poor was 27% while for the poor it was 91.6%. 20%. This means that natural disasters possibly
Majority of the vulnerable families were poor have a negative effect on the households. Access
(56.7%) while only 4.3% of the non-vulnerable to water for livelihood i.e. irrigation is also an
families were actually poor. 72.2% of the important factor shown in the study.
vulnerable families were rural poor. Among the
regions, ARMM (74%), Region VIII (66.0%) and Table 2: Determinants of Average Welfare
Region V (65.8%)4 have the highest vulnerability (Consumption) of the Poor (bottom 20%)
incidence. In terms of provinces, the top three
are Sulu (ARMM), Lanao del Sur (ARMM) and Explanatory Model 1 Model 2
Variable Coefficient Standard Coefficient Standard
Masbate (V). Error Error
Schooling -0.072 0.091 -0.010 0.094
The following are the variables found in the same Local dynasty -0.101 0.029 *** -0.104 0.030 ***
Political party 0.026 0.015 * 0.029 0.015 **
study to have significant impacts in predicting the Landlocked -0.062 0.019 *** -0.067 0.019 ***
poverty status of households: Typhoons -0.042 0.017 ** -0.064 0.019 ***
Irrigation 0.309 0.039 *** 0.233 0.046 ***
Farm size 0.008 0.018 0.010 0.019
• ratio of food expenditure to basic expenditure Time-varying variables
• ratio of total expenditure to total income Per capita income 0.602 0.044 *** 0.544 0.047 ***
• ratio of per capita income to poverty threshold Terms of trade 0.118 0.042 *** 0.140 0.043 ***
Roads -0.208 0.095 ** -0.212 0.096 **
• ratio of HH members 0-14 years old to 15 and Electricity 0.051 0.086 0.049 0.086
over Agrarian Reform -0.005 0.010 0.041 0.017 **
• family size Interactions
Schooling X Roads 0.109 0.051 ** 0.110 0.051 **
• number of electrical devices Schooling X Electricity 0.016 0.037 0.007 0.038
• educational attainment of HH head (at least high (x 100)
school level or at most elemetary graduate Intercept 2.865 0.385 *** 3.324 0.406 ***
• HH head self-employed R2 0.771 0.385 *** 0.758 0.406 ***
Notes: ***, **, and * denote 1%, 5% and 10% levels of
Other studies that would help us identify major significance, respectively.
social risks are empirical studies on the correlates
of poverty. Given these correlated variables, we
Source: Balisacan, A. 2003. “Poverty and Inequality” in Balisacan,
could deduce what kinds of hazards and risks A. and H. Hill (eds.), The Philippine Economy: Development, Policies
households may encounter that will eventually lead and Challenges. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila Press

4 Note that ARMM is experiencing armed conflict while regions V and VIII are disaster prone and also NPA areas.

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 Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
22

Another study using panel data from the Family relationship of being unemployed in the sector
Income Expenditure Survey (FIES) where the to the poverty incidence. NAPC and NSCB
same households are surveyed across certain (2005) meanwhile found that the top three
time periods was done by Reyes (2004). The sectors with high vulnerability incidence include
objective of this study was to determine the agriculture, fishery and forestry (71.9%),
variables that are associated with the construction (42.7%) and mining and quarrying
persistence of poverty. The analysis indicates (46.3%).
that all independent variables as shown in Table 3
are statistically significant. However, the Table 4: Poverty Measures by Sector of
variables that are more likely to affect the Employment of the Household Head, 2003
movement in or out of poverty are education,
credit, membership in agrarian reform Sector Population Incidence Contribution
communities and education. Note here that Share to Poverty
irrigation is also significant factor. Incidence (%)
Agriculture,
Table 3: Probability of Household Being Fishery and 35.8 44.8 65.6
Non-poor: Persistence of Poverty Forestry

Variable Parameter Standard Wald Chi- Pr>Chi- Standardized Odds Variable Mining 0.4 39.3 0.6
Estimate Error Square square Estimate Ratio Level
INTERCPT 0.2644 0.154 2.948 0.086 . . Intercept Manufacturing 7.5 13.5 4.2
ARBYR 0.1117 0.0267 17.5275 0.0001 0.134076 1.118 Length
of years Utilities 0.4 3.7 0.1
being
ARB

V22 -0.3169 0.0256 153.2131 0.0001 -0.56433 0.728 House-

Construction 6.9 23.2 6.6
hold
Size Trade 11.5 12.1 5.7
HHEDUC 0.2039 0.0346 34.7661 0.0001 0.192948 1.226 Educa-
tional
Attain-
Transport 9.7 14.2 5.6
ment of
HH Head Finance 0.6 1.1 0.0
V16A 0.2231 0.133 2.817 0.0933 0.051955 1.25 Agrarian
Reform
Commu-
Services 13.1 9.0 4.9
nity

IRRI 1.0836 0.1226 78.0672 0.0001 0.280109 2.955 Irrigated Unemployed

Land Heads 14.1 11.6 6.7
CREDIT 0.5433 0.1134 22.9498 0.0001 0.148538 1.722 Access
to Source: National Statistical Coordination Board (2003)
Credit

Source: Reyes, C. 2004. Movements In and Out of Poverty in

the Philippines. MIMAP Research Paper no. 53.
Sectoral data from the National Statistical
Coordination Board recently attest that
employment and unemployment are also
important contributory factors in the poverty
incidence. Table 4 presents the contributions
to employment by key sectors and the
Another key element related to poverty and
vulnerability is education. Table 6 shows that
low levels of schooling are related to higher
levels of poverty and vulnerability, 5 using all
three indicators of poverty. Households with
heads who have lower levels of education are
more likely to experience poverty relative to
those households with heads who have higher
education.

5 NAPC and NSCB (2005) show that vulnerability incidence for elementary graduates is 65.8%.

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Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
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Table 5: Poverty Measures by Educational In summary, the previous studies on poverty and
Attainment of the Household Head, 2003 vulnerability to poverty gives us insight on the
major social risks confronted by households.
Foremost among the important variables are the
Educational Incidence Depth Severity
Attainment
important role of social and human factors.
These include functional literacy, schooling, as
Elementary
Undergraduate
42.2 13.0 5.6 well as shelter, access to sanitation and health,
which are related to capabilities, and access to
Elementary
employment opportunities and credit which are
Graduate 30.5 8.7 3.5
associated with incomes. Second, there is also
High School the crucial role of financial and infrastructural
Undergraduate 26.4 6.9 2.6
factors. These refer mainly to agricultural-based
High School structures such as irrigation, and farm sizes, and
Graduate 15.5 3.8 1.4 also to public goods, such as roads and
College communication, that make access to markets
Undergraduate 7.2 1.5 0.5 easier. All of these factors are ultimately affected
Degree Holders 1.6 0.3 0.1 by disasters, both man-made and natural.
Significant human and financial losses thus can
lead to a worsening poverty condition.
Factor analysis6 of the FIES data and the Annual
Poverty Indicator Survey (APIS)7 can be used
to generate an overall index that combines and Box 1. Core Determinants of Factor
summarizes different variables found in these Analysis Results
surveys. Templo, Tuano and Albert (2006) used 2003 FIES/2004 APIS
this technique to arrive at core determinants of o Type of roof
poverty. The results of this analysis are shown o Type of wall
in Box 1. o Tenure status
o Source of good quality water supply
This study surfaces certain key points that are o Type of Toilet Facilities—access to
not found in the previous study. First, poor sanitation toilets
households are characterized by the structure o Employment status of head
of their dwellings. In effect, their poverty makes
them vulnerable to disaster, both natural and 2004 APIS
man-made and to the “elements” in general. o Children 6-12 not in elementary
Second, the importance of quality water and o Children 13-16 not in High School
sanitary toilets suggest the importance of health o No. of unemployed persons in house-
conditions which have seldom been considered holds
in previous analysis. Third, the bottom 20
percent of the population which was sample Source: Templo, O., R. Tuano and J. R. Albert. 2006. Establishing
used in the APIS is characterized by their inability an Integrated Database on Poverty for the National Statistical
to meet basic needs. Coordination Board

6 This multivariate statistical method examines the interrelationships among the poverty indicators in order to arrive at a few common
underlying dimensions of these variables. The dimensions that are developed from the original variables are called factors. Factor analysis
removes redundancy or duplication from a set of correlated variables; it involves representing correlated variables with a smaller set of
“derived” variables (or indices). Factors are formed that are relatively independent of one another. The methodology allows the identification
of indicators that should be retained in a factor through values called loadings. Each indicator has a loading on a particular factor which
measures the strength of association between the indicator and the factor. A high (magnitude in the) loading suggests that the indicator is
important in the factor. The indicators that have low loadings on the factors can be removed from the set of indicators to be used in constructing
the index. (Templo, Tuano and Albert, 2006)
7 Unlike the FIES, the APIS is a survey only of the bottom 20 percent of the population in terms of incomes. In effect, this is survey of the
poorest people in the country.

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 Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
24

Risk and vulnerability assessments in other

developing countries may also be insightful for the Table 6: Argentina Life cycle vulnerability
Philippines. For example, the findings of an analysis
assessment done by the World Bank in Guatemala
seem very appropriate to the Philippine context.
First, the study suggests that interventions, whether Age group / Main risks of Leading
designed to address poverty or protect against Poverty rate deprivation indicator (value
shocks, should concentrate on building the assets for lowest
of the poor. Social protection can play an important quintile)
role in this context. Second, the data suggest that 0-5 years Stunted growth Malnutrition
a strategic emphasis on children – particularly child- 12% very poor Pre-school
focused interventions to reduce malnutrition and 43% poor program
promote early childhood development – is crucial coverage (22%)
to avoid inter-generational transmission of poverty
and vulnerability. Third, since exposure to some 6-14 years Poor education Later entry (8%)
natural disasters seems largely determined by 13% very poor quality (low Grade repetition
geography, maps of regional vulnerability to natural 45% poor human capital (27%)
disaster could be useful for risk management development)
planning. Since natural disaster often damage or
destroy community infrastructure, in addition to 15-25 years Low human capital Secondary
reducing income and wealth at household level, 7% very poor development school
social funds could be the institutional channel for 31% poor (education quality / repetition (62%)
relief and infrastructure rehabilitation. Finally, the attainment) Unemployment
study noted that while poverty is more severe in Unemployment / (33%)
rural part of the country, social protection policy low wages Inactivity
should not neglect urban areas, where the ratio of (violence, substance
vulnerable people to currently poor people was abuse etc.)
higher than in the rest of the country. enrollment
It is also useful to do a life cycle approach in
identifying vulnerable groups. The World Bank 25-64 years Low income Unemployment
(2000) has done such a strategy for Argentina 5% very poor (23%) Below
which is again useful for the Philippines as the 23% poor poverty earnings
findings may be similar for the country. Table 6 (under
summarizes the findings: employment)

3.0 Major Risks Confronted by Filipino Over 65 years Low income Low income
Households 1.4% very poor Pension
13% poor coverage (55%)
Given our menu of social risks in section 1.0 and the
review of literature for poverty and vulnerability General Poor health care Health insurance
correlates in Section 2.0, Table 7 summarizes the population Poor housing / lack coverage (35%)
key variables correlated to poverty and vulnerability 7% very poor of basic Running water
in the country. The current literature has identified 29% poor infrastructure (66%)
these variables as important in terms of Sewerage (53%)
characterizing households that are poor or will be In flood-prone
poor. From these variables, the author proposes area (28%)
the following as the major risks confronted by the
Filipino households8:

8 The author uses data on this section to construct a sample template which is part of Annex A in the original study.

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Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
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Table 7: Identifying Major Social Risks in the Philippines in the Literature on Poverty and Vulnerability

Variable correlated to Poverty Social Risk Situation for the Household Literature Sources (poverty and non-poverty
and/or Vulnerability to Poverty related)

Economic instability Lack of employment or low quality of jobs; World Bank(2001)

fluctuating incomes
Unemployment and Low and irregular incomes, self-employment Templo et al (2006), Alba (2001), Canlas et al
underemployment (2006), NSCB and NAPC (2005)
Climate in General Exposure to negative effects of climate changes World Bank (2001)
displacement, death, disability, disease, crop
losses, damage to properties, etc.
Typhoons Drought Balisacan (2003) Datt and Hoogeeven (2001)

Political Factors Unrest and
instability
Political Dynasties
Land Inequality
Armed Conflict –MILF and
CPP-NPA-NDF Rido and
clan conflicts
Lack of Access to Water
Irrigation
Lack of Access to Sanitary
toilets
Lack of Infrastructure
Electricity Roads
Lack of Basic Services
Education of Household Head;
Children not in School
Illness and health
Shelter
Lack of access to credit
Food Insecurity, Hunger and
Malnutrition
Large Family size
Exposure to negative effects–displacement, World Bank (2001)
disease, lower productivity, damage
to properties, etc.
Possibilities of rebellion and armed conflict; Balisacan (2001)
inequitable and inefficient allocation of
resources
Skewed asset ownership Balisacan (1999, 2003)
Internal displacements PHDR (2007) Asia Foundation website
Exposure to crop losses, diseases, death for Templo et al (2006)
persons Balisacan (1999, 2003)
Templo et al (2006)
Exposure to nega-tive effects – disease, food Balisacan (1999)
insecurity, lower productivity Balisacan (1999, 2003)
Exposure to negative effects – lower incomes Reyes (2004), NSCB (2003), NSCB and NAPC
and lower productivity (2005)
Exposure to diseases and morbidity Schaeffer (2001), Templo et al 2006), DOH and
WHO website
Exposure to the elements; vulnerability to crimes
Lower prodictivity and incomes Templo et al (2006), Ballesteros (2002),
HUDCC website
Reyes (2004)
Exposure to diseases and death, National Nutrition Survey (2003), various SWS
low productivity and incomes Surveys, Flores et al (2006), NAPC and
NSCB (2005)
Exposure of children to disease, hunger, etc. Orbeta (2005), Alonzo et al (2005), NSCB and
NAPC (2005), Reyes (2004)

3.1. Individual Life-cycle Risks: high
population growth rates leading to large
family sizes
The total number of employed Filipinos has been
growing by 2.6 percent annually since 1998, but
the country’s rapid population growth rate and
the loss of jobs in agriculture have kept
unemployment rate high. Population growth in
the country has decreased only slowly over the
last three decades and remains rapid by Asian
standards. This has been mainly due to a lack
of consensus on the critical importance on of
public policy to reduce population growth,
according to Herrin and Pernia (2003).
Herrin (2002) reviewed various policy statements
from 1969-2002 and showed that shifting
objectives of fertility reduction, upholding
reproductive rights and promoting maternal
health have characterized even the family
planning program. He adds that while the

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26
general public has favorable views on artificial
family planning, it is the persistent and
consistent opposition of the Catholic Church
hierarchy that has dominated policy-making in
this sector. The current administration is still
relatively ambivalent with regard to its population
policy. Concretely the agency in charge of
population management, the Population
Commission is given very limited resources and
has been shifted from one mother agency to
another.9
Orbeta (2005) adds two additional reasons: a)
the equivocal support given by the government
to the population program, and (b) the fact that
up to now virtually all of contraceptives supplies
in public facilities are supplied by donors as
national government has not appropriated
money for these commodities.
Table 8: Population Growth Rates Over the Years
Intercensal Average Population Doubling
Period Growth Rate (%) Time (Years)
1903-1918 1.90
1918-1939 2.22
1939-1948 1.91*
1948-1960 3.01
1960-1970 3.08
1970-1980 2.75
1980-1990 2.35
1990-2000 2.34
* may have been 2.3% according to a UN Study
Source: Concepcion, M. (2006), Philippine Population Program:
Past, Present and Future
The issue of the role of population growth and
family size in development, in general, and poverty
and vulnerability, particular, is still unresolved.
Orbeta (2005) notes that this persists despite the
growing literature worldwide and also in the
9During the time of Ramos, it was under NEDA and then transferred to DOH at present.
10 The design of the subsidies should, of course, consider their potential behavioral effects, i.e. encouraging families to have more children.
Considerations, such as giving subsidies to families with completed family sizes or to those who effectively promise to stop bearing any more
children, should be included in the design.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
Philippines providing evidence on the importance
of population growth and family size in
development. In his study, he empirically showed
the following negative consequences of large
family sizes: a) that additional children, on average,
cause a substantial decline in household savings
rates and levels, b) reduce the work participation
and wage income of mothers and c) reduce the
proportion of school-age children attending school;
the regressiveness rises as one goes to higher
schooling levels. He clearly showed that there is
a strong and enduring link between poverty
incidence and to poverty and family size. It has
shown that larger family size is associated with
higher poverty incidence, gap and severity. This
association is also shown to be enduring over 25
years for which family income and expenditure
data is available. It has also shown that larger
family size is associated with higher vulnerability
to poverty.
Orbeta recommends the following: a) A strong
population program must accompany poverty
alleviation efforts. Unless something can be done
quickly to improve the lackluster performance and
36.5 limited coverage of the Philippine social security
31.2 system reduction in family size will be important
36.5 as an alternative to a formal safety net; b)
Education subsidies directed at large families could
23.0 be crafted as it is acknowledged as one of the
22.5 potent means for moving out of poverty and more
25.2 recently has also been found to be important in
reducing vulnerability to poverty (e.g. Laigon and
29.5
Schechter 2003)10; c) Targeting poor households
29.6 also means targeting large households and
viceversa in poverty and social protection
programs. In addition, considering the
regressiveness of the impact of additional children,
there will be bigger impacts by targeting poorer or
larger households.
Albert (undated) also show that the impact of the
financial crisis and El Niño on household poverty
appears to be largely related to family size and
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Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
this impact appears to have lingered. While
some households with large family sizes may
have had coping mechanisms, e.g., increased
working hours and income transfers, or pulling
their children out of school and putting them to
work, it appears however that households with
large family sizes were generally the ones most
vulnerable to shocks. Albert (undated) further
suggests that government display resolve in
empowering households to have the family sizes
they desire citing that at the national level, actual
and desired fertility rates differ by one child. He
concludes that attempts to alleviate poverty may
only be continuously hampered by a population
size whose growth exceeds the growth of the
country’s resources.
3.2 Individual Life-cycle Risks: Food
Insecurity, Hunger and Malnutrition
Valientes et al. (2006) defines food insecurity
when people do not, at all times, have physical,
social, and economic access to sufficient, safe
and nutritious foods which meet the dietary
needs and food preferences for an active and
healthy life. An individual or household becomes
vulnerable to food insecurity when one or more
of these conditions is not satisfied. Worse, if all
conditions are not met, that individual or
household is food insecure.
Vulnerability, on the other hand, refers to the
full range of factors that place people at risk of
becoming food insecure. The level of
vulnerability is determined by the exposure to
the risk factors of food insecurity and the ability
to cope or withstand stressful situations (CFS,
FAO 2004). Hunger and malnutrition are the
physiological manifestations of food insecurity
(SOFI, 2004). Food insecurity does not exist in
a single dimension but involves a cross-section
of dimensions that include socio-economic and
political environment; performance of food
economy; care practices; and health and
sanitation (FAO, 2000).
In the Philippines, findings of the National
Nutrition Survey conducted in 2003 by the Food
and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) of the
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
27
Department of Science and Technology reported
that 7 out of 10 households in the country are
food insecure using the Radimer/Cornell
measure. The same survey revealed a 26.9%
prevalence of underweight Filipino children
under 5 years old (FNRI, 2003). The latest
national nutrition survey conducted in 2003 by
the Food and Nutrition Research Institute
showed that 27 out of every 100 preschool
children aged five and below were underweight.
It also indicated that 30 out of every 100
preschool children were stunted or short for their
age and six out of 100 were wasted or thin.
Among school-age children aged six to 10 years
old, 27 in every 100, or about 2.5 million,
nationwide were underweight for their age. Also,
37 in every 100 children, or about 3.4 million,
were stunted or short for their age. Even among
adolescents, or those in the 11-19 age bracket,
about 18 in every 100 were mildly underweight,
while 15 in every 100 were underweight. For
those 20 years and older, about 12 in every 100
adults were underweight and 20 in every 100
were overweight.
In addition, an estimated 3.4 million households,
or a record-high 19 percent, experienced
involuntary hunger at least once over the past
three months according to the first quarter
survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS)
showed. The new survey was conducted
February 24 to 27, 2007 with 1,200 statistically
representative household heads. The survey
showed that hunger worsened in Metro Manila
and the rest of Luzon, barely changed in
Mindanao and declined in the Visayas. Moderate
hunger, defined as households experiencing
hunger involuntarily “only once” or “a few times”
in the last three months, was 15.1 percent in
November and 15.0% in February. Severe
hunger, or households involuntarily hungry
“often” or “always” in the last three months,
hardly changed from 3.9 percent to 4.0 percent.
The SWS placed the margins of error for the
survey at ±3 percent for national percentages
and ±6 percent for regional percentages.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Country Representative Dr. Nicholas K. Alipui
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2

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also disclosed that major, irreversible damages
caused by malnutrition occur in the womb and
during the first two years of the child’s life.
Molecular biology confirms this finding and thus,
programs are needed to prevent and treat
malnutrition among pregnant and lactating women,
and children aged zero to two years old.
Damages to children include lower intelligence,
reduced physical capacity, and passing on
malnutrition to the next generation. These result
to reduction in productivity and sluggish economic
growth, which perpetuate the cycle of poverty. Most
importantly, every child has a right to be free of
malnutrition. Breastfeeding during the first two
years of life is the single best form of nutrition in
these vulnerable early years.
President Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the
release of a billion pesos for “emergency hunger
mitigation” in depressed areas of Metro Manila and
in some provinces found to have a high incidence
of hunger. The Department of Health through
Secretary Francisco Duque III will be the “point
man” to oversee the implementation of the
“emergency hunger mitigation” program.
The emergency intervention will be largely done
through three already existing programs: The food-
for-school program under which rice and other
foodstuffs are given to school children as an
incentive for attending school; the food-for-work
program where the poor and unemployed are hired
by government to sweep the streets and for other
community work; and the food-for-parishes
program of the Catholic Church and other religious
groups providing free meals to children or adults
in various parts of Metro Manila. The government
may also conduct its own survey to gauge hunger
levels in the country if it proves to be “necessary”
to check the progress of its Accelerated Hunger
Mitigation Program according to Health Secretary
Francisco Duque.
3.3 Individual Life-cycle Risks- Epidemics
and unmanaged diseases leading to Health and
Sickness
According to statistics compiled by the DOH from
the Civil Registration System of the NSO, during
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Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
the period 1999-2002 diseases of the heart were
consistently the number one killer, accounting
for 16 to18 cases for every 100 deaths in a year.
From 1999-2001, there were only 78-81 deaths
due to diseases of the heart per 100,000
population, the number rose to 88 in 2002. Next
are diseases of the vascular system causing 12
to 14 out of 100 deaths; malignant neoplasm
(cancer), about 10 deaths; and pneumonia,
about 9 deaths. In fifth place are accidents, with
up to 9 deaths. The top five leading causes of
death alone account for more than 50% of all
death cases!
Tuberculosis, which the Millennium
Development Goal or MDG addresses under
Goal 6, Target 8, Indicator 23, is the 6th leading
cause of death , at 7 to 8 deaths per hundred
cases. Next are chronic obstructive pulmonary
diseases and allied conditions, 4 to 5 deaths,
followed by certain conditions originating in the
perinatal period with about 4 deaths. The 9th
and 10th leading causes of death are diabetes
mellitus, about 3 deaths and nephritis, nephritic
syndrome and nephrosis, about 2 cases for
every 100 deaths. In 2002, there were about 18
deaths from diabetes mellitus and 12 deaths
from nephritis, nephritic syndrome and nephrosis
per 100,000 population, significantly up after
only three years from 13 and 10, respectively,
in 2000.
Table 9: Top Ten Causes of Mortality
Type of Disease Number
1. Diseases of the Heart 79.1
2. Diseases pf the Vascular
System 63.2
3. Malignant Neoplasm 47.7
4. Pneumonia 42.7
5. Accidents and Injuries 42.2
6. Tuberculosis 36.1
7. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Diseases and Allied Conditions 20.8
8. Certain Conditions Originating in
the Perinatal Period 19.8
9. Diabetes Mellitus 14.1
10. Nephritis, Nephrotic Syndrome
and Nephrosis 10.4
Source: DOH website
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Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
The main consequences of these risks and
vulnerabilities are losses in human capital. Some
diseases hit individuals during peaks of their
labor productivity e.g. heart diseases and
cancer.
Expenditures for health services continue to be
below par of World Health Organization (WHO)
standards, but DOH officials claim the amount
is sufficient to respond the nation’s current
needs. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III
admitted that the spending rate for health at
3.2% of the country’s gross domestic product
(GDP), or the sum of goods and services
produced in a given year, is still below the world
standard of 5% of GDP. The total amount for
2007 of P1.2 billion was higher than 2006’s
2.2%-2.7% of GDP. This additional amount
would be spent on services and surveillance
systems to keep up with information on emerging
and reemerging diseases, backlogs in
infrastructure, local health developments and
disease-free initiatives such as additional
immunization for Hepatitis B. The Health
Department will also intensify cooperation with
the international sector through continuous
simulation of information on old and emerging
diseases the avian influenza. In terms of
insurance coverage, 28 percent of Filipinos have
Philhealth cards as claimed by President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo.
3.4 Economic Risks and Instability (Crisis;
Boom and Bust Cycles; Jobless growth)
leading to high unemployment and
underemployment (especially of the youth)11
Labor is the most important productive asset of
the poor making their ability to participate in the
labor market a critical factor in poverty reduction
or risk mitigation. Labor income is the resultant
of time devoted to productive employment and
the price of that time (wage and possibly other
non-wage compensation). For a given supply,
the quantity of labor hired depends upon the
demand for labor of profit-maximizing producers,
11 This section borrows from Canlas et al (2005)
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
29
which is in turn a function of output demand.
The wage, on the other hand, is determined by
the productivity of labor, and the state (slackness
or tightness) of the labor market. At the individual
level, the wage reflects the worker ’s
characteristics (e.g. education, skills,
occupation, gender, union membership), the
employer’s characteristics (e.g. competitive
position of firm, industry affiliation, location), and
other external factors, say, government policy.
In the absence of income from any other source,
one’s position relative to the poverty threshold
is determined by labor market status (employed,
unemployed, and underemployed) and the
returns from one’s labor.
The working age population in the Philippines
was growing by 2.6% annually from 1981-2000.
This translates to an average of 761,000 new
entrants and reentrants into the labor force each
year in the 1980s, rising to 738,000 in the 1990s.
Thus the labor force, which numbered 17.3
million in 1980, had nearly doubled to 32.2
million by 2000. It was 33.7 million in 2003 and
37.05 million in 2006. The rapid increase in the
size of the labor force is attributed not only to
high population growth but also to the steady
increase in the participation of women in the
workforce. The total labor force participation rate
rose from 49% in 1970 to 60% in 1980, and then
to 65% in 2000.
Because of the boom and bust cycles of the
Philippine economy in the last three decades and
only moderate economic growth performance in
recent years, employment opportunities have
failed to keep up with the rapid growth in the
labor force. The consequence has been
unemployment and underemployment rates that
are persistently high by East Asian standards.
Open unemployment rates have hovered just
below the double-digit mark, typically hitting
double digits during period of low or negative
economic growth. Unemployment stood at
about 8% in 1980, peaked at 12.6% in 1985—
the trough of the 1980s economic recession—
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and rose above 10% again in 1991 and 1998
(which were also recession years). The total
number of unemployed persons rose from 1.3
million in 1980 to 3.6 million in 2000—or 11.2% of
the workforce. It was 4.2 million in 2004 and
decreased slightly to 4.1 million in 2006.
Unemployment has typically been higher in urban
than in rural areas reflecting rural to urban
migration. For most of the 1980s and 1990s urban
unemployment rates were above 10%, with the
typical peaks during the recession years.
Underemployment has always been much greater
than unemployment, remaining above 20% during
the 1980s and 1990s and peaking at about 33%
in 1983-84. The total number of underemployed
experience, younger members of the work force
have a higher probability of being unemployed and
staying unemployed for longer periods compared
with their older counterparts. The pressure to find
jobs is also probably less for younger people who
are not household heads or primary breadwinners.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, most unemployed
were in the 15-24 year age group and had been
educated to the primary or secondary level.
However, an increasing proportion of the
unemployed now possess a tertiary education. The
percentage total unemployed with at least some
college education increased from 27.4% in 1980
to 33% in 2000. Even more telling was the
proportion with a college degree, which rose from
8.5% in 1980 to 14.8% in 2000. The trend could
reflect the “choosy youth” phenomenon (Manning
2000) or the overseas worker phenomenon, which
tends to raise the reservation wage. Nevertheless,
it implies a serious waste of resources.
Alba (2001) in a study of panel data from 1997-
1998 identifies the industries which were
associated with persistent vulnerability to
employment shocks of male headed households
(i.e., shocks of two or three quarters). These
included the agriculture sector, the wholesale and
retail trade sector, the transport, storage and
12 A private non-stock, non-profit research institution serving the science apostolate of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines; it was the
pioneer weather bureau in the Philippines; currently is into conducting scientific researches on the weather, climate changea and other
environmental concerns
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
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Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
communication sector, and the financing,
insurance, real estate, and business services
sectors. For female headed households these
included manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade,
and community, social, and personal services.
The negative consequences of unemployment and
underemployment include: economic inefficiency;
underutilization of labor; decreased human
development; income and asset poverty for the
household and individuals.
3.5 Environmental risks - natural disasters-
typhoons, floods and drought
From the Manila Observatory’s12 climate and
weather-related risk maps i.e. the Risk to Typhoons
map and the Risk to Projected Rainfall Change
map pinpoint areas of Central Luzon and the Bicol
region in common as high to very high risk areas
for typhoons and rains. On the other hand, the
area that ranks high to very high in risk in both the
Risk to El Niño and Risk to Projected Temperature
Increase maps is Western Mindanao.
The Combined Risk to Climate Disasters map
represents the sum of the normalized,
provincialized risks to typhoon (super typhoons,
typhoons, tropical storms and tropical
depressions), drought caused by El Niño,
projected rainfall change and projected
temperature increase. The top ten provinces in
this combines risk maps are: Albay, Pampanga,
Ifugao, Sorsogon, Biliran, Rizal, Northern
Samar, Cavite, Masbate, and Laguna. In
general, Central Luzon and the Bicol regions
rank high to very-high on the risk scale. This
indicates that it is the risk to typhoon scores and
risk to projected rainfall change scores that
dominate the summation of risks. In the case of
the risk to El Niño scores and risk to projected
temperature increase scores, the gap in the
scores is between the highly-ranked provinces
and the rest of the country as not as great as
with the other two maps.
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Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
The maps of areas at risk to earthquakes and
earthquake-induced landslides have certain areas
of Central to Northern Luzon and Eastern
Mindanao in common. However, there are areas
like Bukidnon and Lanao that have a high risk to
landslides but a low risk to earthquakes, indicating
that there must be other factors contributing to the
occurrence of landslides in these areas. Areas at
risk to both tsunamis and volcanic eruptions
include the northwest to southeast diagonal across
RP. The Geophysical Disaster Risk Map
represents the sum of the normalized,
provincialized risks to earthquakes, earthquake-
induced shallow landslides, tsunamis and
volcanoes. The top ten provinces include: Sulu,
Camiguin, Ifugao, Davao Oriental, Sarangani,
Benguet, Surigao del Sur, La Union, Lanao del
Sur, and Zambales. In general, Central Luzon and
Eastern Mindanao are the high-ranking areas.
More recently, a study by Greenpeace, an
international environmental NGO claimed that
some 700 million square meters of land in the
Philippines may be submerged gradually as the
global average temperature rises and causes sea
levels to rise. The briefing paper entitled The
Philippines: A Climate Hotspot, presents an
overview of how extreme weather conditions
threaten people, the economy, the different species
and ecosystems. The Greenpeace study also
provides maps that illustrate the extent of the
impact of climate change in the Philippines. Based
on such maps, climate change can “irrevocably
alter” the country’s coastline. Conservative
estimates from Greenpeace predict that a one-
meter rise in sea level may affect 64 of the
country’s 81 provinces, which cover at least 703
of the 1,610 municipalities. Portions of the land in
the 703 municipalities may be submerged in water
by 2095 to 2100.
The study also identified the top 20 provinces in
the country, which are vulnerable to a one-meter
rise in sea level. These are Sulu, Palawan,
Zamboanga del Sur, Northern Samar, Zamboanga
Sibugay, Basilan, Cebu, Davao del Norte, Bohol,
Camarines Sur, Quezon, Tawi-Tawi, Masbate,
Negros Occidental, Camarines Norte, Capiz,
Catanduanes, Samar, Zamboanga del Norte, and
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31
Maguindanao. Greenpeace said that Sulu has the
highest land area that is vulnerable to a one-meter
eustatic rise in sea level at 79.7 million square
meters.
The consequences of natural disaster include loss
of lives and livelihoods, and losses in terms of
physical capital and infrastructure.
3.6 Environmental Risks – Lack of Shelter
and Housing
Inadequate housing and related infrastructure
facilities create direct threats to people’s physical
safety and security. Poor people often live in
provisional homes constructed with whatever
impermanent, basic materials are available. They
frequently have limited choice but to live on
marginal land (flood plains or steep slopes for
example), with the consequence that they are the
first to suffer the effects of earthquakes, landslides,
cyclones and floods. In addition, a combination of
overcrowding especially in slum areas, the use of
open fires or kerosene stoves and flammable
materials leads to danger and injuries from
accidents and fires. Inevitably in all these
conditions, children are especially vulnerable.
According to the Medium Term Philippine
Development Plan (MTPDP) 2004-2010, housing
need in the country is estimated to reach a total of
3.75 million units by 2010. Demand for new
houses, for the said period, is 2.6 million of the
total while housing backlog accounts for almost a
million. Estimates of an NGO network, the
Philippine Urban Forum (PUF) is higher - 2.5
million in 2004, of which 44% of the need will be in
the NCR; if slum housing is included in the backlog,
the need becomes 4.5 million houses. According
to the PUF quoting the World Bank, more than
one-third of the urban population lives in slum
areas and half of the 1.4 million urban poor
households reside in Metro Manila. It also claims
that the problem of housing is more a problem of
supply than affordability. Based on the 2003 Family
Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), housing
expenditures are the biggest non-food expense
of a family. Housing-related expenses (rent,
amortizations, and repairs) account for 14.3
percent of a family’s expenditure.
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Table 10: Proportion of HH with Access to
tenure (owned and rented)
Years 1990 2000
Proportion (%) 91.0 81.2
Source: NSO, 1990 and 2000 Census
3.7 Environmental Risks: Lack of Water and
Sanitation for Households
The crisis in water and sanitation is — above
all — a crisis for the poor. Almost two in three
people lacking access to clean water survive
on less than $2 a day, with one in three living
on less than $1 a day. More than 660 million
people without sanitation live on less than $2 a
day, and more than 385 million on less than $1
a day,” the UNDP said.
In her Earth Day message on April 22, 2003,
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo revealed
that almost 10 million Filipinos are yet to have
a sustainable source of potable drinking water
and 13 million do not have access to any
sanitation facilities. Aside from this water is an
important factor for the source of livelihood in
the rural and agricultural areas. Further, of the
country’s total water demand, only 72% is being
met. For this reason, she called on the citizenry
to use wisely and conserve the country’s water
resource, and at the same time, emphasized
the need to take care of the forests.
D e s p i t e t h e h i g h e c o n o m i c c o s ts o f
environmental pollution, particularly from
untreated domestic wastewater discharge,
investment in the sector is not a priority. In the
Philippines, for every P1 invested by
government in sanitation, P40 is invested in
water supply. This is despite the fact that the
cost of sewerage and sanitation is 35 times as
much per capita than water supply and despite
the high toll to our tourism and fisheries assets.
Because of this, sewerage service coverage
cannot catch up with population growth. It has
remained at 5% of total population from 1985
to 2000. Access to water supply and sanitation
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
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is recognized as key to promoting health,
reducing poverty and facilitating economic
development.
At the forefront in the country’s war against
w a t e r p o l l u t i o n i s t h e E n v i r o n m e n ta l
Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR). Upgraded into a line agency by virtue
of Republic Act 8749, otherwise known as the
Philippine Clean Air Act, the bureau is in the
thick of things, from formulating policies and
implementing water-related programs, to
monitoring wastewater from industries, and
classification of the country’s water bodies to
ensure their proper management and
utilization, among others.
Based on EMB reports, the major sources of
water pollution in the country are industries,
households, commercial establishments,
tourism sites and farms. Industries, considered
a major source of water pollutants, use a wide
range of chemicals and chemical substances,
many of which are highly toxic. These toxic
substances find their way to our natural water
systems when discharged as industrial
effluents. Others are emitted in the atmosphere,
where they mix with rain or settle down by
themselves and are carried by runoff to natural
water channels.
There have been numerous large epidemics of
waterborne diseases throughout the country,
particularly of cholera and typhoid fever during
the 1990’s. While diarrhea remains the number
one cause of illness in all age groups, the
decline in the incidence of cases is
accompanied by reports to the National
Epidemiology Centre (DOH) of significant
reduction in the number of food-borne and
water-borne infection outbreaks in the past
years. Investigations of these disease
o u t b r e a k s h a v e i d e n t i f i e d c o n ta m i n a t e d
sources of drinking water, improper disposal of
human waste and unsanitary food handling
practices as the main causes.
Outbreaks of cholera have averaged less than
one per year during the period 2000-2003
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Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
compared to 12 outbreaks a year in 1998. In
2000, a total of 303 cholera cases (0.4 cases
per 100,000 population) were reported in nine
of the 17 regions in the country: NCR (131
cases), Western Mindanao (80 cases), Caraga
(32 cases), Western Visayas (18 cases),
Central Luzon (15 cases), Central Mindanao (11
cases), CAR (5 cases) and Cagayan Valley and
Northern Mindanao (one case each). The morbidity
trends for typhoid and paratyphoid fever have
decreased from 33 cases per 100,000 population
in 1995 to 17.1 per 100,000 in 2000 while the
mortality trend has remained consistently low from
1980 to 2000.
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme
in its Country, Regional and Global Estimates
on Water & Sanitation gave a 2002 estimate for
the Philippines as shown below:
Table 11: Proportion of HH with Access to Safe
Water Supply (%)
1990 1998 1999 2000 2002
73 78.1 81.4 79.05 80
Source: National Statistics Office - 1990-2000 data from census of
Popn and Housing; 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2004 data from Annual
Poverty Indicators Survey
Table 12: Proportion of Households with
Sanitary Toilet Facility (%)
1990 1999 2000 2002
67.6 85.8 79.3 86.1
Source: National Statistics Office - 1990-2000 data from
census of Popn and Housing; 1999, 2002 and 2004 data
from Annual Poverty Indicators Survey
3.8 Political and Governance Risks- Conflict
and Peace and Order
The most comprehensive analysis of this type
of risk comes from the Philippine Human
Development Report (PHDR) of 2005:
The Philippines is home to two of the longest-
running armed conflicts in the world: against the
communist insurgency (CPP-NPA-NDF) and
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33
against the Bangsa Moro rebellion (MNLF and
MILF); both having run for almost four decades.
Both conflicts have resulted in numerous deaths.
According to the government, more than 4,700
combatants - including soldiers and police as
well as NPA, MNLF and MILF fighters - have
been killed from 1984 to 2002. The losses that
have been suffered by innocent civilians (so
called ‘collateral damage’) paint a darker picture.
Most of the victims are children. Weak and
young, they fall prey to the violence that
accompanies war. Sadly, in some cases they are
even directly involved in the fighting. The military
estimates that as many as 25 percent of the
NPA’s recruits are children - tasked to serve as
soldiers, to murder enemies, guard camps, carry
messages between war zones, and provide
support to adult combatants. Many of them are
recruited from barangay high schools as well as
state universities and colleges. The long, drawn-
out wars that have been raging in our backyards
have not only affected people living in the main
2004 areas of conflict, but also every Filipino citizen.
80.2
These have frightened away investment and
planted insecurity, holding economic and social
development hostage. The NPA’s well-known
practice of collecting ‘revolutionary’ taxes, which
targets large-scale companies as well as small
and medium entrepreneurs, is one of the
deterrents in doing business in country -
2004 especially in the provinces that most need
economic investment. The NPA’s destabilizing
86.2 practice of routinely bombing telecommunication
and power plant facilities in the CALABARZON
area not only disrupts day-to-day business,
community and social activities, but also results
in hundreds of millions of pesos in rebuilding
costs.
In just seven years, from 1969 to 1976 - the
beginnings of the Moro conflict - the provinces
of Cotabato, Lanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi,
Zamboanga and Basilan suffered 60,000 dead,
54,000 injured, and 350,000 driven away from
their own homes and barangays. The loss of
property is estimated to have cost between P300
million to P500 million. Of the tribesfolk residing
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2

34
in Mindanao, between one-fifth to one-third have
been uprooted from their traditional
communities.
Six out of every ten people in Muslim Mindanao
live in poverty-twice more than the rest of the
country. A person in a province in Muslim
Mindanao would earn P11,000 less than his
counterpart somewhere else in the country. The
infant mortality rate in the region is 15 percent
higher than in Manila. The conflict in Mindanao
has hampered access to medical facilities and is
one of the root causes of the malnutrition, poverty
and high incidence of disease in the region. This
is why, at 72 years old, a person in Cebu would
live 20 years longer, on average, than a person
in Maguindanao or Tawi-Tawi. It is estimated that
the Moro insurgency has cost the country P10
billion per year since 1975 in damaged properties
and foregone investments. Conflict costs.
Between 2000 and 2006, armed conflict in the
Philippines caused the displacement of nearly
two million people. The majority were
displaced in Mindanao by two major military
operations launched by the government in
2000 and 2003. A ceasefire agreed in July
2003 put an end to the fighting and allowed
for the return of most of the displaced, despite
conditions that were often not conducive to
sustainable reintegration. Since then,
improved dialogue and confidence-building
measures established between the
government and the MILF have prevented
sporadic armed skirmishes and army
operations against criminal gangs from
turning into larger armed confrontations. Also,
a Malaysian-led international monitoring team
has been deployed in Mindanao since
October 2004 and has helped to maintain the
ceasefire.
The PHDR also estimates that during the
periods of acute conflict, 1970-1982 and 1997-
2001, the Moro insurgency resulted in lost
annual output valued at $150 million, with a
total loss of $2-3 billion over the entire period.
The World Bank, according to the Report cites
a figure of a total of 120,000 deaths (civilians
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
and combatants) from the Mindanao conflict
from the 1970s to the present.
3.8.1 Community Risks – Rido (Clan wars)
Recent studies have shown that Rido or clan
wars in Mindanao is more rampant than
previously thought. For example, from 1970
to 2004, 214 cases of rido were recorded in
Maguindanao alone. Rido is multi-dimensional
meaning conflicts may not be limited to two
groups or clans but could involve several
clans forming temporary alliances and the
actors involved in rido often hold multiple
positions. Some of those involved are clan
members in control of various fields of power,
such as traditional leadership structures, local
governments, military or police, paramilitary
forces or insurgents. Such overlapping roles,
particularly where members of opposing clans
are members of the military and separatist
groups, have often caused rido to escalate
from clan disputes to clashes between the
Government of the Philippines and separatist
groups like the MILF.
The causes of rido range from land boundary
disputes, petty fights, theft, elopement or the
n o n - pa y m e n t o f d e b t s t o m o r e s e r i o u s
offenses like murder and rape. Many of these
offenses when perceived to be affronts to a
family’s lineage or dignity (known among
Maranaos as “maratabat”) trigger rido. Rido
can only be eradicated or at least minimized
through the concerted efforts of various
sectors of society using a multi-pronged
approach.
3.9 Summary of the Major Risks and their
Impact
The table on page 35 summarizes the impact
of the major social risks identified above.
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Major Social Risks and Vulnerability...
Table 12: Summary of Major Social Risks and Their Impacts
Major Social Risk
Labor market related:
Unemployment and
underemployment
Lifecycle risk: large
family size
Lifecycle risk: diseases
affecting health
Lifecycyle risk:Food
insecurity, hunger and
malnutrition
Political Risk: Armed
conflicts
Environmental risk:
Natural disasters
Environmental risk:Shelter
and Housing
Environmental risk
Access to clean water and
sanitation
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Number of People Currently
Affected
11.5 million persons (2006 – 4.1
unemployed, 7.4 underemployed)
3.95 million poor households
with > 5 members; 46.5%
poverty incidence for all
households with > 5 members
(2000)
13 million have hypertension;
70,138 deaths per 100,000 due
to heart diseases (2002); IMR 29
per 1000 live births
29-34% food poverty incidence
(2003); 3.4 million households
(SWS, 2007) 7 of 10 households
food insecure (National Nutrition
Survey, 2003)
212,000/yr for GOP-NPA and;
127,000/yr for GOP-MILF
7.9 million people affected;
1792 persons dead or missing
(NDCC, 2006)
1 million housing backlog
(2005-2010); 1.4 million households
squatters and slums (Alonzo, 2001);
only 66.5 % of HH with secure tenure
20% of population no access to
improved water source; 14% without
access to improved sanitation (2004)
35
Quantitative and Qualitative
Losses
GDP/worker x unemployed; a
factor x underemployed
(estimate in 2002 using lowest
labor productivity value –
120 billion pesos pesos per
year)
Social service expenditure/
capita decreases with higher
population growth rate (given
fixed resources); lower labor
participation rate for mothers,
lower school attendance for
children
Permanent or partial productivity
losses of those who die or get
disabled during active working
years, 18-65
Lower productivity due to lower
energy levels from lower caloric
intake
5-7.5 billion pesos annually
direct costs; with foregone
investments of P 10 billion
pesos/year (PHDR 2007
quoting Barandarian; Judd and
Schampo)
US$ 1.614 billion in terms of
damages– total;
US$ 300 million annually
(.5% GNP)US$ 1.175 billion of
damages – typhoons; losses in
productivity incurred due to deaths
and to damages in physical capital
Lack of property rights and secure
tenure leads to lower productivity
(de Soto)
Morbidity and mortality leading to
lower production; lower agricultural
productivity from lack of irrigation
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
 36
HOW TO MEASURE SUCCESS IN THE PROPOSED WELFARE
REFORM AGENDA? A PROPOSED M&E SYSTEM
By
Dr. Leonardo A. Lanzona and Harvey S. Buena
ABSTRACT
T his paper attempts to provide a framework
to evaluate the proposed welfare reform
agenda (PWRA) that is presently being
formulated in the Department of Social Welfare
and Development (DSWD). The goal is to shift
the debate from the current preoccupation with
increasing caseloads or outputs in the central
office to one focused on the social and
economic well-being of fragile families, single
mothers, and children. An effective welfare
reform program is expected to reduce poverty
rates, lower out-of-wedlock childbearing,
encourage greater family stability, and lead to
little indication of more spouse abuse or child
neglect.
Moreover, according to recent pronouncements
of the National Statistical Coordinating Board
(NSCB), poverty has increased in 2006.
Poverty affects more adversely the single
mothers and their children, welfare recipients
e x p e r i e n c i n g s e r i o u s b a r r i e r s t o s ta b l e
employment, and poor women and children
facing an uncertain economic and social future
as welfare eligibility is exhausted and the
economy wanes. With the welfare debate
shifting to family and child well-being, sociology
h a s a n i m p o r ta n t p o l i c y r o l e t o p l a y a s
economics in the evaluation.
However, the PWRA is primarily an institutional
reform agenda aimed at improving the existing
delivery and maintenance system of the
Department. The challenge is how to link these
institutional and organizational changes to the
function of the DSWD which is social protection.
T h e p u r p o s e o f t h i s pa p e r i s t o o ff e r a
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
methodology by which one can link the
elements of the reform agenda, especially the
M&E component, to the ultimate aims of the
DSWD, specifically the protection of the poor
and vulnerable.
Furthermore, in a recent assessment of the
existing M&E system (Lanzona and Buena,
2008), the lack of a Department-wide M&E
system was cited as one of the weaknesses in
establishing a comprehensive (not a project-
based) assessment of the performance of the
DSWD. The goals of the Department as
regards the M&E system are then clarified: to
shift the focus from measuring welfare inputs
and outputs, to other less visible and easily
measured social outcomes. In the process, the
current preoccupation with the devolution of the
central office functions should be balanced with
a broader discussion of whether or not welfare
reform has achieved “success” in other
important social policy domains. Specifically,
the proper monitoring and evaluation system
must be able to evaluate how the present
reform agenda addresses and pursues
emerging welfare considerations focused on
material deprivation and poverty, fertility and
family formation (e.g., out-of-wedlock
childbearing), marriage and cohabitation,
maternal well-being (e.g., mental health), and
child development. The question of whether
welfare reform has led to more geographic
social exclusion among low-income families will
also be taken into consideration.
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How to Measure Success in the Proposed Welfare...
Introduction
The paper is organized as follows. Section 2
discusses the role of the M&E system, in relation
to the over-all objectives and work of the DSWD.
Section 3 presents the elements and guiding
principles of the Reform Agenda. Section 4
features the components and goals proposed M&E
system. Section 5 provides the key indicators
needed for the evaluation of the reform agenda
based on the guiding principles. Section 6 offers
some remarks on how data should be collected.
I. The Role of an M&E System
Following the argument of Lanzona and Buena
(2008), the value of M&E does not come simply
from conducting M&E or from having such
information available; rather, the value comes from
using the information to help improve government
performance. Many governments systematically
use M&E information to improve their performance
(see McKay, 2007). For the DSWD, ways in which
M&E information can be highly useful include the
following:
1. To support policy making—especially
budget decision-making—performance
budgeting, and national planning. These
processes focus on government priorities
among competing demands from citizens and
groups in society. M&E information can support
government’s deliberations by providing
evidence about the most cost-effective types
of government activity, such as different types
of income programs, health interventions, or
conditional cash transfer payments. Terms that
describe the use of M&E information in this
manner include evidence-based policy making,
results-based budgeting, and performance
informed budgeting.
2. To help the DSWD in its policy development
and policy analysis work and in program
development.
3. To help the DSWD manage activities at the
sector, program, and project levels. This
includes government service delivery and the
management of staff. M&E identifies the most
efficient use of available resources; it can be
used to identify implementation difficulties, for
example. Performance indicators can be used
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
37
to make cost and performance comparisons—
performance benchmarking—among different
administrative units, regions, and districts.
Comparisons can also be made over time that
help identify good, bad, and promising
practices, and this can prompt a search for
the reasons for this performance. Projects
and programs can be terminated on the basis
of this analysis. Evaluations or reviews are
used to identify these reasons (see, for
example, Wholey, Hatry, and Newcomer
2004). This is the learning function of M&E,
and it is often termed results-based or results-
oriented management.
4. To enhance transparency and support
accountability relationships by revealing the
extent to which department has attained its
desired objectives. M&E provides the essential
evidence necessary to underpin strong
accountability relationships, such as of
government to the Congress, to civil society,
and to donors. M&E also supports the
accountability relationships within government,
such as between local government units and
central agencies, among bureaus and sector
divisions, and among officers and staff. Strong
accountability, in turn, can provide the
incentives necessary to improve performance.
These uses of M&E place it at the center of sound
governance arrangements as a necessary
condition for the effective management of public
expenditures for poverty reduction and social
protection. In this framework, the M&E system is
necessary to achieve evidence-based policy
making, evidence-based management, and
evidence based accountability. An emphasis on
M&E is one approach to achieve a results-oriented
and accountable public sector, including a
performance culture in the DSWD. For this reason
M&E should not be viewed as a narrow,
technocratic activity.
Lanzona and Buena (2007) proposed an
organizational set-up that is centered on an M&E
system (see Figure 1). It is argued that the M&E
can serve as basis for policy decisions, and at the
same as a mechanism by which various bureaus
and regional offices can interact with another at
arriving at sound policies.
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2

38
Figure1: Proposed Organizational Structure for the M&E
SB, SWIDB SOCTECH
and Field Offices
PMB PDPB
PREWs
Policy
Decisions
Research
Agenda
Source: Lanzona and Buena (2007)
In this system, it is necessary to prop up and
devote resources towards the reorganization of
the Program Review Evaluation Workshops
(PREWs) and the establishment of an internal
research institute (RI) for the Department. The
PREWs can be designed more substantially to
address the four main tasks or roles cited above
that an M&E system should produce. The most
crucial element of the reform agenda is the RI
which is intended to strengthen the technical ability
of the Department to conduct technical
evaluations, and also to use these to examine its
strategic positions over the long term. These
strategies will serve as “buffer” to moderate the
political pressures that the Department often
encounters.
II. The Reform Agenda: Elements and Guiding
Principles
The M&E system being proposed here is part of
the reform agenda that the Department is
undertaking. This reform agenda can be arranged
as follows:
Reform Area 1: Engaging the sector in
establishing strategic and results-oriented
policies in social protection
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
How to Measure Success in the Proposed Welfare...
Proposed Research Institute
MANCOM and Equivalent
Field Office
EXECOM NMDC
• Consolidate the sector and stakeholders
efforts through shared goals and delineated
roles by coming up with a national policy
framework for social protection.
• Address the needs of the poor and
vulnerable by establishing an objective and
transparent targeting system for social
protection programs.
• Continue DSWD’s advocacy work for the
promotion and protection of the rights of the
vulnerable sectors such as children, youth,
women, persons with disabilities, older
persons, families and communities in crises
through the introduction of social legislations
Reform Area 2. Providing faster and better
social protection programs
A. Through Improved and Appropriate Models
and Programs
• Develop, improve, build on and scale-up
service delivery models: family/household-
based, community-based, center-based,
disaster management and risk mitigation
model.
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How to Measure Success in the Proposed Welfare...
• Create a “think tank” that will assist in
theorizing and continuing discourse on social
protection
B. Through Improved Governance
• Empower the LGUs through capacity-
building, technical assistance and resource
augmentation. This will include capacitating
them to analyze, design, implement, monitor,
evaluate social protection programs and
mobilize resources for these. Particularly
strengthen the role of provincial governments
in the performance of social protection
functions in order to assist its poorer
municipalities.
• Undertake a systematic diagnosis of the
different LGUs to assess their capacities,
come up with a classification system that can
be a basis for program interventions.
• Scale-up convergence approach among
stakeholders through joint projects including
co-financing.
• Design a performance-based system for
devolving programs and resources. An
incentive system will be introduced to
encourage a performance-based approach
to the “devolution” and management of
resources.
C. Through Improved Standards and Regulations
• Codify all existing policies and ensure easy
access by partners and intermediaries
• Strengthen regulatory functions of DSWD for
the sector to ensure standards and quality
assurance through the formulation of clear
standards for quality implementation for social
protection programs and services. A
harmonized system of accreditation/
certification/ registration and system for
exchange and sharing of monitoring findings
will also be developed.
• Design an incentive system (“seal of
excellence”) for good LGUs/NGOs The
granting of a “seal of excellence” (“Sentrong
GGILASS” or Good Governance in Local
Area Social Services) can be used as positive
reinforcement for compliance and for
determining LGUs deserving incentive for
good performance.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
39
Reform Area 3: Introducing Financial Reforms
to Sustain the Reform Process
• Secure more predictable funding for core
DSWD function
• Rationalize resource augmentation of LGUs
and other partners
• Allocate DSWD budgetary and extra-
budgetary resources in a strategic manner
o Rationalize funding support to center-
based service delivery
o Re-allocate resource from less effective to
more effective programs
• Realize “savings” in the use of DSWD
resource by identifying and implementing
efficiency enhancing initiatives
Reform Area 4: Improving Delivery Systems and
Capacities
• Improve Knowledge management system:
M&E and MIS
o Key to the continuing improvement of
social protection models and technologies
is the knowledge management system of
DSWD, including management
information, monitoring, evaluation and
research. Thus, these areas need to be
strengthened by way of capacity building
of its human resources and improvement
of its technology.
o Improve the information and
communication system so that its
partners, reform workers, social protection
beneficiaries including policymakers and
the general public are made aware of its
roles, priorities and services.
o Social protection models and technologies
are to be promoted through easy access
by partners and other development
workers to information and materials on
these (e.g., project planning and
management manuals or kits of templates,
tools, reference materials, cases).
o For the MIS, it is envisioned that the present
multi-platform system whereby each
program has its own dedicated program
will graduate into a single platform system
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2

40
• Improve organizational capacities and
competencies through CB Human resource
development has to be addressed. Revisit the
learning circles initially conceived but has not
successfully taken off the ground. Assess how
this can be made operational.
• Implement rationalization and strengthening
plans and performance management system
• Organize resource and expert pools Organize
pools of experts and reform workers from the
academic community, NGOs, professional
associations on various levels—international,
regional, local—for access to social protection
theories, discourses and innovations. This will
dovetail with DSWD’s long envisioned plans
of organizing a core group of internal
specialists and external experts.
As already stated, the PWRA is fundamentally an
institutional reform that is focused on straightening
up its activities that will generate greater impact in
protecting the poor. To our mind, in order to succeed
the PWRA should be guided by the following
principles:
1. Social inclusion of all vulnerable sectors
implies an operational targeting system: (a) in
social protection, to decrease avoidable and
unjust differences to the minimum possible; and
(b) in social services, for beneficiaries to receive
care in relation to need (equity of coverage,
access, and use) and to contribute according to
the ability to pay (financing equity), indicating a
reduction of leakages and exclusion.
2. Effectiveness and technical quality mean that
users of the services receive effective,
guaranteed, and timely assistance; perceived
quality means that they receive this care under
proper physical and ethical conditions (perceived
quality).
3. Efficiency implies a positive relationship
between the results achieved and the cost of the
resources used. It has two dimensions: resource
allocation and the productivity of the services.
Resources are allocated efficiently if they
generate the maximum possible gain in terms
of social protection per unit of cost; and they are
used efficiently when a unit of product is obtained
at minimum cost, or when more units of product
are obtained with a given cost.
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How to Measure Success in the Proposed Welfare...
4. Sustainability involves both the social and
financing dimensions and is defined as the
capacity of the system to solve its current
legitimacy and financing problems, as well as
the challenges of future maintenance and
development. Consequently, it includes social
acceptance and support and the availability of
the necessary resources.
5. Convergence and collaboration indicates
some measure of devolution in the delivery of
services by giving local government units
flexibility to design and implement their own
programs. At the same time, these programs
should be attuned to the general directions of
the Department in order to avoid spatial
inequalities in the delivery of services.
All of these principles should make it possible to
judge the direction of the programmed or ongoing
reforms from the standpoint of the stated final
objective. Thus, no reform should be opposed to
these criteria, and the “ideal reform” would be one
in which the five aspects had promoted by the end
of the process. They, in turn, can be subdivided
into a series of variables to which quantitative or
qualitative indicators can be added when they are
adapted to the conditions of each bureau and
division and can help to evaluate the degree to
which the general objectives of the reform have
been achieved.
III. Proposed M&E System
The proposed M&E system is based the following
results chain diagram that views the reform agenda
and the M&E component within the context of a
logical framework. Figure 2 provides a simplified
representation of how an action plan would be
expected to lead to various kinds of output, such
as the number of officials trained in M&E, the
number of evaluations conducted, and so on. These
outputs in turn would be expected to lead to
intermediate outcomes such as strengthened
government demand for M&E, and to final
outcomes, including the utilization of monitoring
information and evaluation findings by government
and others. It would be hoped that these outcomes
would help lead to final impacts, including improved
government performance, improved development
effectiveness, improved service provision, and
poverty reduction.
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
How to Measure Success in the Proposed Welfare...
41

Figure 2. Results Chain of the Proposed M&E System

Improved Service Provision, Economic Growth, Poverty Reduction

Improved Development Effectiveness

Improvements in DSWD Performance

M&E used for: government decision making on policies, plans, and budget resource allocation;
implementation and management of government activities; monitoring of activities, accounting of
expenditures, evaluation of programs and projects; government analysis and policy review; government
accountability.

DSWD Bureaus and Division Executive Civil Society

M&E information directly M&E information directly Executive Civil society assesses
supports budget supports ongoing Committee government
balancing, national management of assesses and performance and
planning, and policy government activities, debates inputs freely to policy
formulation. including regional offices performance debates

Formal M&E framework or system is established by the DSWD, leading to the systematic planning,
conduct, reporting, and use of monitoring information and evaluation findings

Increased Greater supply and Improved M&E Reinforced demand Increased demand
demand for M&E funds for M&E and organizational for M&E in local and supply for M&E
in government enhanced M&E skills structure government staff in civil society

The action plan leads to the production of a range of outputs, such as number of officials trained in M&E;
harmonized data systems; improved quality and focus of available monitoring indicators; improved quality
and range of evaluations completed; strengthened incentives for bureaus to conduct and use M&E.

A package of reform activities to strengthen social protection functions is undertaken by the DSWD, such
as national seminars on M&E systems; diagnoses of national/sectoral M&E functions; audits of data
systems; provision of M&E trainingincluding trainer trainingor scholarships to officials, NGOs,
universities/research institutes, local government staff; various types of evaluation are conducted on
pilot/demonstration basis

Note: This framework is adapted from McKay (2007).

In light of this framework, given its varied
programs, the evaluation and monitoring
component of the reform agenda will include the
following components. First, because each of
programs and projects is unique, and will require
the use of varied methodologies, all programs and
projects before its initial phase should require a
formal program or project evaluation plan/proposal
(PEP) that is consistent with the above results
chain. This involves the submission of an M&E
proposal to Project Management Bureau for review
and later to the Executive Committee for approval.
The PEP should first explain how the program or
project is intended to ease vulnerability and
poverty. This formal proposal must then indicate
the methodology for the monitoring and evaluation
that will be conducted for the program or project,
and more importantly, the key institutional
commitments in achieving its goals.
At the minimum, major programs and projects
should be evaluated every year for three years.
The PEP should then reflect the methodology to
be used every year. If the program were to exceed
three years, then a new PEP should be formulated.
Smaller and short-term projects should also be
required to submit an appropriate PEP. The key
issues for these PEPs are the choice of programs
to be evaluated and the specific questions each
evaluation would address; thus, the ToRs for each
evaluation are crucial. These issues can be
decided through negotiations between the line
departments as well as through the Department
of Finance budget sections.
For the weaker departments, the priorities of the
DoF would largely prevail. However, for more
powerful line departments, the balance of power
was more even. Unresolved disputes concerning
evaluation priorities would be escalated to the

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42
level of Department Secretary or even to the
cabinet if agreement could not be reached.
Second, the results chain revolves around the
establishment of quantitative measurements of
social protection. The second component of the
proposed M&E system will then be the
identification of key indicators especially for
outcomes and impacts. It is important for each
of the sectors to be given individual indicators.
However, these should be consistent with the
general guiding principles of the reform agenda,
especially that of social inclusion, in order to limit
the chance of redundancies and even
contradictions.
In establishing a common set of indicators, the
DSWD should consider the following definition
of social protection (Secretary Cabral’s speech
in 2007 PDF):
“Social protection constitutes policies and
programs that seek to reduce poverty and
vulnerability to risks and enhance the
social status and rights of the marginalized
by promoting and protecting livelihood and
employment, protecting against hazards
and sudden loss of income, and improving
peoples’ capacity to manage risks.”
Introducing risk and vulnerability in policy
discussions via quantitative means may help to
put these issues higher on the policy agenda.
The M&E system should present ways of
measuring and analyzing risk and vulnerability
using non-contextual and quantitative
approaches, some building on contextual and
qualitative approaches. If the aim is to inform
and influence policy beyond specific contexts,
quantitative approaches cannot be ignored.
Note that this is by no means an argument for
only money-metric approaches: other
dimensions and quantification of qualitative
factors is high on the agenda. In general, the
aim is to stimulate more empirically based policy
making in developing countries, also on issues
related to risk and vulnerability.
The third component will include the composition
of comprehensive management reports and the
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How to Measure Success in the Proposed Welfare...
production of rigorous impact evaluations.
Management reports are intended to be the main
public disclosure document. They report
spending, use of funds, and performance; the
reports thus draw heavily on the performance
information that entities are required to produce
and on the evaluations commissioned by the
DSWD. The reports also describe the progress
made by the entity in achieving the formal
institutional commitments it has agreed to in the
PEP; these comprise specific actions the entity
has promised to implement to improve its
performance. The draft reports are to be
reviewed by the PMB and the specific bureaus
entities should make any necessary revisions.
The final versions of the reports are sent to the
Executive Committee.
The rigorous impact evaluations involve primary
data collection, sophisticated data analysis, and
often the use of control groups. These may also
include “institutional” evaluations that focus on
the process of the project and its ultimate impact
on social welfare. These evaluations should be
seen as collaborative exercises involving the
PMB, the project development and planning
bureau, and other bureaus responsible for the
program being evaluated, as well as donors.
External evaluators should often be contracted
to conduct the rigorous impact evaluation, but
DSWD should assess and discuss the results of
these evaluations, as well as the management
reports, in the Project Review and Evaluation
Workshops, where all bureaus responsible to the
project should be invited.
The fourth component is the comprehensive
review of the monitoring and evaluation reports
that had been completed. These reviews assess
all programs within the DSWD, seen as whole
and not its individual parts. These will engage
the MANCOM (and its equivalence in the regional
offices), the NMDC, and ultimately the Executive
Committee. Each of the bodies should examine
the issues of inefficiency and duplication of
programs. The final output of this process is a
decision to continue (either within the central
office or regional offices implementing the project)
or terminate the program. If the project or
program is continued, the committees involved
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How to Measure Success in the Proposed Welfare...
in the comprehensive review should indicate:
whether the project should have minor adjustments
of program (for example, improved processes or
information systems), major adjustment of
management processes, (for example, changed
targeting criteria, or new information systems) or
substantial redesign of program or organizational
structure. In cases where the objectives are not
met, the committees involve should determine if
institutional relocations of the project will be
necessary in the continuation of the project.
The fifth and last component should incorporate
the concerns of the civil society, particularly the
NGO, and the POs, in order to ensure social
acceptability. Moreover, the conditions of the LGUs
should also be noted in the M&E system. This
component will ensure the full support of the local
community to the project, leading to its long-term
sustainability.
Key Indicators of PWRA
What follows is list of impact indicators that may
serve as benchmark to DSWD programs and
projects based on the above M&E system. The
critical idea is to establish indicators that will satisfy
the guiding principles of the reform. This is not
intended to be a complete list, but may be used
as a trigger for discussion.
1. Social Inclusion
Is there any evidence that the reform has led to a
reduction in the geographical gap in some or all of
the following indicators? If possible, show data
according to gender, age, race, socioeconomic
level, and coverage plan.
On Coverage
• The percentage of the population regularly
covered by a basic package of benefits
• Percentage of children under 1 year who
were given immunization
• On coverage of prenatal check-ups
performed by trained personnel
• On the percentage of women who use
contraceptives
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
43
On Distribution of Resources
• On all or some of the following indicators:
- Total per capita expenditure for social
protection programs (which vary
depending on the sector concerned)
- Per capita public spending on health per
capital
- Social Workers (including NGOs) per
10,000 population
On Access
• Percentage of households of interest without
social protection service or program
• Percentage of rural population more than
one hour away from a health and school
facility and poor urban population more than
30 minutes away from such facilities.
• Probability of obtaining social protection
services on the day of request at the DSWD
facilities
• Percentage of health facilities that have
reduced the functional barriers to access (for
example, schedule, language, or others).
On Resource Utilization
• On the following indicators:
- Social protection services delivered per
1,000 population of interest
- Social Protection Expenditures per 1,000
population of interest
- Percentage of deliveries attended by
trained personnel
2. Effectiveness and Quality
Is there some evidence that the reform has
reduced the geographical gap in some or all of
the following indicators (and, if available, the gap
between the target populations of the sectoral
reform activities)?
• Infant mortality
• Maternal mortality
• Percentage of newborns with low birthweight
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44
• Mortality
• Incidence of:
- Vaccine-preventable diseases
- Lack of nutrition/nourishment
Is there some evidence that sectoral reform has
influenced some or all of the following indicators,
through some provider network(s), by territorial
unit? If available, to whom is it directed, by
population group?
On Technical Quality
• Percentage of primary social welfare
projects with established and functioning
quality control committees
• Percentage of social welfare projects with
established and functioning quality control
committees
• Availability of services at the different levels
of the welfare program
• Percentage of population of interest who
graduated from the program
On Perceived Quality
• Possibility of the user’s selecting a welfare
service provider, regardless of his ability to
pay.
• Percentage of facilities with established and
functioning programs for improving
communication with the user and the
services provided
• Percentage of facilities with specific user
orientation procedures.
3. Efficiency
4. Sustainability
On Resource Allocation
• Are more efficient resource allocation
mechanisms being introduced? If so, what
are they and what are the results?
• Is there evidence that reform has influenced
some or all of the following indicators
nationally, by territorial unit? If available by
population group, to whom is the reform
directed?
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
- Rural and urban drinking water supply
- Rural and urban sewerage and excreta
disposal services
- Percentage of the social protection budget
spent on public social services (inclusive
of health and education)
- Spending on health care and education
as a percentage of total expenditure.
• Is there any evidence that reform has led to
a reallocation of resources for the
implementation of
- intersectoral activities (for example,
self-care in health, daycare services,
disaster prevention, etc.)
On Resources Management
• Is there any evidence that sectoral reform
has helped to increase
- the percentage of social welfare projects
with standardized and functioning
measures of activity and performance
- the number of programs that have
improved at least the performance
indicators? (if possible, break down by
public and private sectors).
- the percentage of projects that have
negotiated management agreements
- the percentage of social welfare projects
that can expand the framework of
expenditures utilizing new revenues for
this purpose
- the percentage of projects with budgets
based on activity criteria
• Is there any evidence that sectoral reform
has increased
- the legitimacy and/or acceptability of the
social welfare programs
- the availability of disaggregated data on
program expenditure by territorial unit and
to construct trends (comment in a few
lines)
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How to Measure Success in the Proposed Welfare...
- the sustainability over the middle term of
the efforts to increase coverage of the
programs
- the capacity to modify the revenue and
expenditures of the principal DSWD
institutions or bureaus (Comment in a few
lines)
- the percentage of social welfare programs
able to collect from third parties
- the capacity for obtaining external loans
and, if appropriate, their replacement by
national resources at maturity?
5. Social Convergence and Collaboration
• Is there any evidence that reform has
helped to increase the degree of social
participation and control at the different
levels and functions of the social welfare
programs? If so, in general and/or with
respect to certain groups? Comment in a
few lines.
IV. Data Requirements of a Successful M&E
System
Among the issues presented by Lanzona and
Buena (2007) is the importance of determining the
population of interest. In this case, it is necessary
to define clearly and measure the changes in the
key sectors that the PWRA is supposed to benefit.
Welfare services, poverty and maternal
employment, and several key family and child
indicators (e.g., unwed childbearing and battered
women) are key factors that the reform must
consider. And, equally important, there is little
evidence of how much child poverty, spouse
abuse, or child neglect have become more
commonplace. The public and policy makers must
also assess their view of “hard to serve” mothers
and children who remain on welfare. Welfare
recipients should become much less stereotypical
(i.e., fewer references to the “poorest of the poor”)
and fewer attributions must given to individual
failings. As such, there may be greater willingness
to help low-income mothers who “play by the rules”
and “follow conditionalities” by working and
behaving responsibly.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
45
The lack of longitudinal or panel data on families
and children – both before and after PWRA —
prevents a full assessment of potential
consequences of welfare policy. As of now,
because of the unavailability of data, we do not
yet understand the short- and long-term
consequences for women and children who have
been able to access of social services. We know
little of the consequences if families have been
denied of valuable services. Indeed, as better-
off households migrate for work, the working
poor have become a growing segment of the
country’s low-income population, but we do not
know whether work – even at low pay –
translates into positive outcomes in the longer
term (e.g., better maternal mental health,
satisfying and stable marriages, or positive role
modeling for children) or leads to additional
suffering. We do not know whether welfare
services will ultimately attenuate the
intergenerational transmission of poverty and
welfare dependence by promoting work values
and traditional families as a context for
childbearing and child rearing. We do not know
whether tough conditionalities will encourage
single women to marry or cohabit unwisely or to
give up custody of their children. More important,
we do not know whether increased exposure to
alternative welfare programs will help or hurt
children of low-income working mothers.
Because data are largely missing, we cannot yet
discern whether more generous or more
contingent welfare programs have translated
into healthier outcomes among poor children,
now and when they grow into adulthood.
To be sure, policy research has its limitations,
including its potential for political bias and its
penchant for misplaced policy assumptions
(e.g., “culture of poverty”). But our admonition
to engage in research-based policy research and
solutions reflects our positive view of the
empirically-based decisions – one focused on
inter-related family and economic systems,
structural constraints and opportunities, and
changing cultural values, while at the same time
grounded on actual data. The research agenda
of the RI proposed in Lanzona and Buena (2007)
should be able to tackle these issues.
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
 46
THE PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM (4PS):
INVESTING IN FILIPINO HUMAN CAPITAL TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY
By
Cyril Wendy V. Maaño
ABSTRACT
P overty is exacerbated by lack of investment in
human development as much as socio-
economic shocks. This situation necessitates the
adoption of innovative programs that direct
investment in developing human capital,
especially for the poorest in society who sacrifice
their health and education while striving to put
three square meals on the table. An example of
such programs is the DSWD’s Pantawid
Introduction
A group of theorists called the New Growth
School 1 have attributed the remarkable
economic growth of East Asian countries such as
Japan and South Korea to the emergence of a
highly-educated workforce, which strengthens the
research and development (R&D) arm of its
industries. The R&D, also known as the brains
behind big corporations, is responsible for making
system innovations, which increase efficiency and
productivity. This improvement in workforce caliber
would not have been possible if investments in
human capital were not made early on. In fact,
economist Michael Todaro noted that investing in
human development, particularly in education and
health significantly improves a country’s chances
of achieving long-term progress.2
But developing human capital, as with long-term
solutions to poverty, is a chicken and egg question.
This is because human capital relies on significant
investments in human development, particularly
in education and health, which the poor have
difficulty making as they struggle to put three
* This section borrows heavily from the World Bank’s Aide Memoire (2007) and PAD (2008) for the NSS-SWDRP
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a conditional
cash transfer that capacitates the poorest to
spend for health and education. Aside from
building human capital, this program also
improves geographic distribution of economic
gains, reduces leakage rates of pro-poor
programs, and facilitates the convergence of
social protection efforts from various government
agencies.
square meals on the table.
At a national scale, overall efforts to develop
human capital are also hindered by a third-world
country’s scarce financial resources, which render
spending for health and education insufficient
despite receiving the lion’s share of government
budget. Thus, the inadequacy of investments in
Filipino human capital has created a poverty trap.
The poor are unable to finish schooling and fail to
get higher-paid employment. The decreasing
trend in education and health indicators also affects
overall workforce productivity, resulting in
repercussions to the country’s economy that is felt
even by the well-to-do.
Statistical Trends *
• Worsening poverty prevalence rates
amidst improvements in the economy.
Although poverty prevalence rate was halved
from 45% in 1991 to 24.4% in 2003, the disparities
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The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) ...
in sectoral and regional distribution of economic
gains, which is heavily skewed in favor of urban
areas, resulted in the worsening of poverty to
26.9% in 2006. This figure translates to one in
every three Filipinos living on less than a dollar
per day. The disparity in government investment
across regions is made worse by high inequality
in income distribution, as shown by a Gini
Coefficient rating of 0.46 in 2003.3 Compounded
by a sluggish decrease in population growth rate,
the Philippines has fallen behind its Southeast
Asian neighbors in reducing poverty prevalence
rates.
• Decreasing trend for education and
health indicators.
Based on the Philippine Midterm Report on the
MDGs, the country lags behind its targets for
human capital, particularly in education and
health. School enrollment rate for the elementary
level dropped from 99.1% in 1990 to 84.4% in
2005. National statistics indicate that one in five
children aged 6-11 are not in school, while only
70% of Grade 1 students have reached Grade
6, indicating low completion rates.4 Further, 28-
34% of the population was already considered
education-poor, that is, have failed to finish
elementary schooling in 2003. 5 Although
functional literacy rate remains high at 84%
(2003), outcomes of the National Achievement
Test (2006) reveal poor pupil performance in
English (54%), Math (53.68%) and Science
(37.98%).6
Health statistics, on the other hand, reveal that
universal immunization for children under age 5
has yet to be achieved, and that only 64% of
Filipino children meet the World Health
Organization’s normal weight-for-age standard.7
Although maternal mortality rate has decreased
from 209/100,000 livebirths in 1993, to 172 in
1998 and 162 in 2006, its decrease has been
sluggish indicating the need to improve pre-and
post-natal care. Population growth rate has been
curbed from 2.36% in the 1990s to 2.04% in
20068 but has also been quite slow, indicating a
need for more aggressive implementation of
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
47
natural family planning and similar reproductive
health methods.
• Lack of capacity to manage socio-
economic shocks.
A National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) and
National Statics Coordination Board (NSCB) study
shows that 45% of Filipinos are at-risk of falling
into poverty as a result of natural and man-made
shocks or disasters (2005). Examples of such are
the rising prices of basic commodities, as well as
loss of properties and livelihood due to devastating
typhoons and displacement of families caused by
armed conflict. To cope with socio-economic
shocks, poor families usually forgo expenses for
education and health in favor of food and basic
commodities. This coping strategy has deprived
poor children of sufficient education and health
care. In the long-run, this situation not only places
the future of poor children at peril, it also erodes
overall development of human capital in the
country.
Improvements Needed in Government
Response
The government has already been implementing
measures to curb poverty. Pro-poor programs
such as the Food for School, which provides daily
rice ration as incentive for poor families to
continue sending their children to school; and the
Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (Linking Arms to
Fight Poverty) - Comprehensive and Integrated
Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS),
which uses the community-driven development
approach to facilitate delivery of social services
through construction of roads, water sanitation
projects and others, are only some examples of
government interventions in place. But while such
poverty alleviation projects are in full swing,
several implementation-related concerns require
government’s immediate attention:
• Low overall spending for the social
sector. Latest data shows that overall
government spending for the social sector
is only 4.9% of GDP, which is way below
the proportion spent by other countries
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2

48
in the Southeast Asian region. In fact, the
budget of DSWD, which is government’s
arm for social services, is only 0.34% of
the national budget and .06% of the GDP
in 2006.9
• Fragmented and uncoordinated social
protection initiatives. Although several
government agencies have embarked on
projects aimed at protecting the poorest
families from economic shocks and social
risks, these programs are not well-
coordinated, causing overlaps in
implementation.
• Challenges in decentralizing service
delivery. As a result of the Local
Government Code of 1991, there is an
urgent need to capacitate LGUs in handling
their new responsibilities. This is to ensure
appropriate implementation and
sustainability of social services devolved
to LGUs.
• Lack of a unified, legitimate targeting
system. A negative effect of
government’s uncoordinated social
protection programs is the crafting of
various targeting mechanisms that have
different criteria and methodologies to
identify the poor. This is why program
leakage rates to the non-poor tend to be
high. The Food for School Program, for
example, registered a 62% leakage rate.10
These are just some issues hindering efficient
implementation of government’s pro-poor
programs. And these are issues, which the
Conditional Cash Transfer Program (CCT), a
component of the DSWD’s National Sector
S u p p o r t f o r t h e S o c i a l We l f a r e a n d
Development Reform Project (NSS-SWDRP),
aims to address.
Statement of the Problem
Implementing the CCT program will help address
the gaps noted in government’s anti-poverty
programs.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) ...
Objectives
The objectives of this paper are to (1) give an
overview of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino
Program (4Ps) conditional cash transfer – its
conditionalities and institutional arrangements; and
(2) describe benefits that can be gained from
implementing a CCT program in the Philippine
context by citing examples of achievements from
other countries.
Methodology
Aside from the DSWD’s 4Ps project documents,
various studies on poverty and the documentation
of CCT’s implementation in Latin American
countries like Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico, were
used as main references.
Scope and Limitation
This paper provides an overview of the 4Ps,
specifically its health and education conditionalities
and institutional arrangements. The contribution
of the 4Ps in addressing current gaps in
government’s anti-poverty programs (i.e., low
spending for the social sector, high leakage rates,
and uncoordinated social protection programs) are
also highlighted.
Since the Program is still in its germinal stage,
this paper doesn’t discuss in-depth the project’s
sub-components, such as the household targeting
system which is crucial in selecting the 4Ps
beneficiaries, and the monitoring and evaluation
(M&E) system that will assess project impact.
Separate researches on these components may
be done midway through the Program. However,
this paper highlights the gains already achieved
this early in Program implementation.
I. The Rationale for a Conditional Cash
Transfer Program
The urgency of implementing a CCT program in
the Philippines stems from observed disparities in
geographic and sectoral distribution of economic
gains, as well as the country’s slow progress
towards achieving its human development targets,
as stipulated in the MDGs. This is a problem that
has been encountered in other developing
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The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) ...
countries as well. It showed that inadequacy in
government budget per se is not the deterrent to
progress. Perhaps even more than emaciated
government coffers, it is the inability to invest in
human development, especially of the poor and
vulnerable, that hinders long-term economic
growth. This is the rationale behind the CCT.
What is the CCT?
The CCT, by definition, is an anti-poverty
strategy that gives cash grants to poorest
families in exchange of their commitment to
invest in human development, specifically in
education and health. In the process,
government capacitates the poorest families to
spend for education and health— crucial aspects
of human development that are least prioritized
by the poor in times of socio-economic crisis. It
should be noted that this anti-poverty strategy
has already been applied in Latin American
countries, such as Brazil, Colombia, and
Mexico.12
To appreciate gains that can be achieved
through the CCT, it is best to look at its impact
in Latin American countries. According to Laura
B. Rawlings (2005), the CCTs in Latin America
have increased enrollment rates, improved
preventive health care and raised household
consumption. Other studies conducted reflected
that CCTs were successful in redistributing
income to the poor. Gains in education and
health are particularly notable. In Nicaragua, for
example, average primary school enrollment
rate increased by 22 percentage points from a
low baseline of 68.5%. Enrollment rates for
secondary education in Colombia have also
increased from 64% to 77%. In Mexico, keeping
children in school has significantly decreased
the probability of child labor by 10-14%. The
same has been experienced by Bahia, Brazil,
which noted a reduction of nearly 26 percentage
points in the incidence of child labor.13
As regards health and nutrition, Mexico
registered significant increase in nutrition
monitoring of infants from 30% to 60%.
Colombia increased the proportion of children
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
49
under six years of age enrolled in growth
monitoring by as much as 37 percentage points.
In Nicaragua, more than 90% of children in its
beneficiary provinces have participated in
nutrition monitoring compared with only 67% in
control areas. Timely immunization rates for
children 12-23 months of age also increased by
18 percentage points. Prioritizing health in poor
households has also increased consumption
levels in Mexico by as much as 14%, and caloric
intake by as much as 7%. It is believed that this
increase in caloric intake was driven by higher
expenditures on fruits and vegetables.14
Such gains attributed to the implementation of
CCT in Latin America reflect that CCT
significantly improves human development of the
poor. It is also notable that the main beneficiaries
of these investments are children from poorest
families. By keeping children in school,
increasing their caloric intake, and providing
immunization against disabling sicknesses, the
CCT addresses the intergenerational nature of
poverty itself. It gives poor children the
necessary tools to improve their (and their
families) status in life.
Why is DSWD implementing the CCT?
The DSWD is government’s arm for providing
social services to the poor and vulnerable. Aside
from services in its centers and institutions, the
DSWD is also tasked to create and promote
policies that will protect the poorest and most
vulnerable sectors of society from socio-
economic shocks they face day in and day out.
Thus, embarking on innovative poverty
alleviation programs such as the CCT is in
keeping with the agency’s mandate.
Following the devolution of its services to LGUs
in 1991, the DSWD has also shifted its focus
from provision of social welfare (rowing) to
strengthening its capacity as leader of the social
protection sector, specifically in the areas of
social welfare and social safety nets (steering).
This is why the DSWD embarked on the National
Sector Support for the Social Welfare and
Development Reform Project (NSS-SWDRP).
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50
The NSS-SWDRP is similar to the Basic
Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA) and
the Health Sector Reform Agenda (FOURmula
One) already undertaken by the DepEd and
DOH respectively. The overarching goal of
DSWD’s reform agenda is to improve its capacity
to lead in the social development sector. As a
leader, DSWD supports innovations that will
improve its service delivery to the poor.
Cognizant of the gaps in achieving the MDGs,
the DSWD is adopting the CCT as a laboratory
for the Reform Agenda that it wants to
implement. It is regarded as a key building block
that will actualize DSWD’s aim to establish itself
as a leader in the social development sector
through establishing strategic and results-
oriented policies (Reform Area 1); providing
faster and better social protection programs
through improved models and programs,
governance standards and regulations (Reform
Area 2); introducing Financial Reforms to sustain
the reform process (Reform Area 3); and
improving delivery systems and capacities
(Reform Area 4).
Since education and health improvements are
crucial to overall social development, the DSWD
designed the CCT to complement the BESRA
and FOURmula One reforms. In fact, the DepEd
and DoH, along with the NAPC, Department of
Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the
National Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA) formed the 4Ps National Advisory
Committee (NAC). This committee was
consulted in finalizing the 4Ps structure,
objectives and conditionalities. Further, the NAC
commits to closely coordinate and cooperate
with DSWD in ensuring timely delivery and
quality of services, which are essential for
program impact.
II. Overview of the Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program (4Ps) CCT Implementation
The 4Ps conditionalities and institutional
arrangements were crafted to help address gaps
in government’s poverty alleviation response.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) ...
Selection of Beneficiaries
One of the problems encountered in
implementing pro-poor programs was the
difficulty in targeting those who are truly poor
and lowering the leakage rate of program
benefits to the non-poor. The Proxy Means
Test (PMT) Household Targeting System, the
same model proven successful in targeting
the poor and reducing exclusion error in Latin
American countries, was adopted by the 4Ps
to address this concern.
First, the provinces were ranked based on the
Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES
2006). Afterwards, the 20 poorest provinces
p e r r e g i o n w e r e s e l e c t e d . To e n s u r e
nationwide implementation of the program,
the poorest provinces in regions which are
not included in the 20 poorest were also
considered for the 4Ps. Within these
provinces, the poorest municipalities were
then identified using the Small Area Estimates
(SAE) of the NSCB. Finally, the PMT formula
was used to identify how many poor
household beneficiaries will be selected per
area. 15
In 2007, the DSWD piloted the 4Ps in NCR
(Pasay City and Caloocan City) and Mindanao
(Agusan del Sur and Misamis Occidental) to
assess the feasibility of its PMT and program
structure in rural and urban settings. Positive
results of its pilot phase, as well as strong
government support, compelled the DSWD to
scale up its program from a pilot of 6,000
households to as many as 321,000
households nationwide in 2008.
Aside from reducing leakage rates, the PMT
is also regarded as key to establishing a data
repository of the poor. In the long run, this
targeting system can be shared by DSWD
with other government agencies and LGUs
to decrease exclusion error and leakage rate
of poverty alleviation programs.
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The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) ...
The 4Ps Program Conditionalities
The goal of the 4Ps is to promote human
c a p i ta l a m o n g p o o r f a m i l i e s , e s p e c i a l l y
children, to break the intergenerational cycle
of poverty. Its objectives are as follows: 16
(i) To improve preventive healthcare of
pregnant women and young children;
(ii) To increase enrollment/attendance of
children at the elementary level;
(iii) To reduce incidence of child labor;
(iv) To raise consumption of poor
households on nutrient dense foods;
(v) To encourage parents to invest in their
children’s (and their own) future; and
(vi) To encourage parents’ participation in
the growth and development of young
children, as well as involvement in the
community.
To achieve these objectives, the following
conditionalities on health and education were
identified:+
• Health Transfer Conditionalities
Poor households with children under 5 years of
age and/or pregnant women are eligible to
receive health transfers worth PhP500 per
month (for a period of 12 months/year)
regardless of the number of children, provided
that the household adheres to the following
conditionalities:18
• all children under age 5 are fully
immunized under the established health
protocols and get regular preventive
health check-ups;
• children aged 5 years must attend day
care program/pre-school;
+ This section borrows heavily from the 4Ps Operations Manual (as of February 2008) and the World Bank’s PAD (2008) for the NSS-
SWDRP.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
51
• pregnant mothers must get prenatal care
starting from the 1st trimester, and post
natal care thereafter;
• they must attend counseling sessions on
reproductive health, breastfeeding and
family planning. For the first year of the
program, all pregnant women must have
mother-baby books with fully filled-up birth
plans prepared with the health team. The
same conditionality will apply for the
second to fifth year as in the first year,
with the added requirement of delivery in
a health facility attended by a skilled
health professional.
• Education Transfer
Eligibility for the education grant is open to poor
households living in selected areas with children
from ages 6 to 14. The education transfer is
currently at PhP300 per month for a period of
10 months annually, and can only be given to a
maximum of three children per household.
Beneficiary households will receive the
education transfer for as long as its school-age
children are enrolled in school, and maintain a
class attendance rate of 85 %.
Poor households with children meeting both
health and education conditionalities will receive
both transfers in one payment, provided that
conditions are met. Households will receive
each transfer for up to five years (2008-2013) if
they comply with the said conditionalities.
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
An efficient M&E system is crucial in assessing
program impact and identifying areas for
improvement. The NAC, specifically the DepEd
and DoH will work with DSWD to ensure proper
monitoring of beneficiary compliance with
conditionalities. For example, the School Head
takes full accountability for the accuracy of data
on pupil attendance and performance. The
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2

52
Health Center Office, on the other hand, reports
on the compliance of beneficiaries to health
conditionalities.
Institutional Arrangements
Aside from the NAC, a Project Implementation
Office (PIO) was also established to manage the
4Ps. The main functions of the PIO include
“ensuring implementation of activities according
to what is stated in the operational manual of the
CCT program and according to the annual project
implementation plans; ensuring that technical
specifications and terms of reference for
procurement of works, goods and services are
prepared by respective divisions in time and
adhering to technical standards; announcing
bids and organizing their valuation; and planning
project implementation schedules, review plans
and issue reports.”19
Other prospects for institutional linkages include
the tie-up of 4Ps with poverty alleviation
programs such as the KALAHI-CIDSS 2 (KC-2),
which is slated for implementation in 2010. The
KC-2 and 4Ps tie-up is envisioned to help LGUs
facilitate the creation of schools, health centers,
water sanitation projects, and roads which are
critical inputs for the 4Ps supply side.
IV. Summary and Conclusions
The project description of the 4Ps reflects how
it can respond to gaps noted in current poverty
alleviation programs.
• Improves spending for the social sector.
The 4Ps improves government’s
spending for human capital by directing
investment towards education and health
care of the poor. To this end, the Program
has prepared an initial amount of about
PhP2B to support 321,000 household
beneficiaries within the year. By
channeling investments to the poorest
areas of the country, it is hoped that the
4Ps will lead to a more equitable
distribution of economic gains across
regions, particularly in rural areas of
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) ...
war-torn Mindanao, as well as pockets
of poverty in urban areas.
• Enhances coordination of social
protection initiatives. Through its
institutional arrangements, the 4Ps will
enhance linkages of national reform
initiatives such as the DSWD’s NSS-
SWDRP Reform Agenda with the
DepEd’s BESRA and the DoH’s
FOURmula One. The support of NAC will
also provide an opportunity for its
member agencies to work with DSWD
towards alleviating poverty and
coordinate their social protection
programs.
• Facilitates decentralization of social
s e r v i c e d e l i v e r y. R e l a t i v e t o t h e i r
signed MOA for the 4Ps, the LGUs
have committed to provide for the
Program’s supply side. This includes the
construction of school buildings and
health centers, as well as the provision
of textbooks to students. In this process,
the 4Ps encourages LGUs to direct
spending for human development and
improve their delivery of social services
to the poor.
• Implements an efficient poverty targeting
system. The 4Ps PMT is regarded as vital
in improving poverty targeting and
reducing leakage rates to the non-poor.
In the long-term, it can also provide the
basis for creating a standardized national
targeting system for the poor. This will
reduce leakage and exclusion rates of
poverty programs, not just of DSWD, but
of other government agencies as well.
The internal and external shocks faced by the
Filipinos today, especially the poor, indicate that
innovative programs to fight poverty are needed
now more than ever. The prospective gains from
implementing the 4Ps already show its promise
for enhancing long-term human development.
However, as with any poverty alleviation
program, the 4Ps needs the support of the public
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) ...
it serves. It also requires vigilant implementation
of program processes and convergent
responses from the NAC and LGUs.
Anthropologists say that the Filipino has close
cultural and socio-economic affinity with Latin
American countries. As such, poverty alleviation
programs that are effective in Latin America have
REFERENCES
1
Michael Todaro, Economic Development, 9th
Edition, NY City: Addison Wesley, 2006,
page 20
2
Michael Todaro, Economic Development, 9th
Edition
4
DSWD, Presentation of Sec. Esperanza Cabral
to the Philippines Development Forum (PDF),
26 March 2008
5
NSO 2003 data cited in the World Bank PAD
Report, 2008
6
DSWD, Presentation of Sec. Esperanza Cabral
to the PDF, 26 March 2008
7
DepEd-TEEP Data 2005, cited in Sec.
Esperanza Cabral’s PDF presentation, 26
March 2008
8
NDHS 2003 data cited in the World Bank Report
2008
9 th
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s 8 SONA
July 2008 full text < http://www.sunstar.com.ph/
blogs/citizenwatch/?p=1217 >
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
53
high probability of working in Philippine
conditions. If this is so, then there is reason to
hope that the 4Ps can do for the Philippines what
the CCTs have successfully done for the poor in
Nicaragua, Colombia, and Mexico: sustain
improvements in overall education and health,
and provide the poorest with reason to hope for
a brighter future.
10
Data cited in World Bank’s Study, 2008
11
Manasan and Cuenca in SWD Journal Volume
No. 2 Issue No. 1
12
World Bank, CCT Power Point Presentations,
Compiled on 21 April 2008
13
Laura B. Rawlings, A New Approach to Social
Assistance: Latin America’s Experience with
CCT Programmes, International Social Security
Review, Vol. 58, 2/3/2005, page 133-151
14
Laura B. Rawlings, A New Approach to Social
Assistance, page 151
15
DSWD, Administrative Order No. 16, S. 2008:
Guidelines on the Implementation of the 4Ps,
16 July 2008
16
Taken from the World Bank PAD 2008
18
World Bank’s PAD 2008
19
The 4Ps Operations Manual, as of February
2008
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
 54
Administrative Order No. 15
Series of 2008
SUBJECT : GUIDELINES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE CASH-FOR-WORK PROJECT
I. RATIONALE
In the Philippines, occurrences of major disasters
usually create an atmosphere of chaos and crisis
which demands prolonged conduct of relief
operations together with rehabilitation efforts to
support the affected families and communities.
The Local Government Units (LGUs) thru Republic
Act No. 7160 otherwise known as the Local
Government Code of 1991, are mandated to
undertake the functions of providing immediate
basic relief assistance to the affected families such
as food, clothing, temporary shelter, emotional
support as well as their rehabilitation needs.
Despite the devolution of disaster relief services,
however, disaster management remains to be a
major concern of the national government
agencies like the DSWD as some of the LGUs
especially those in the 5th to 6th class municipalities
have limited local calamity funds and are
dependent on the support of higher levels of
government. Further, other localities considered
as disaster prone areas, may have exhausted all
their resources due to continuous calamity and
prolonged disaster operations.
The Department, as a member of the National
Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), leads in
the provision of emergency response and relief
assistance and support to rehabilitation services
to the affected families. Section 5.g of PD 1566,
entitled as “Strengthening the Philippine Disaster
Control, Capability and Establishing the National
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Program on Community Disaster Preparedness”,
mandates the Department to extend emergency
relief assistance and social services to the victims
which will immediately restore them to
rehabilitation and a life of normalcy.
To discourage continuous dependency and dole
out, the interventions and services of the
Department for disaster victims must be carried in
a developmental manner in order to preserve
human worth and dignity. This can be done by
directly involving them in community endeavors
and maximizing their contributions to rehabilitation
efforts. Thus, the Department recognized the
necessity to adopt the Cash for Work (CFW)
project not only as alternative or subsequent
strategy to Food for Work but as a developmental
approach to welfare. The CFW gives flexibility to
recipients of relief assistance to decide where to
spend the cash assistance, beyond food, to meet
their daily basic needs. Moreover, it helps in pump-
priming the economy in disaster affected areas.
II. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Cash-for-Work is a short-term intervention to
provide temporary employment to distressed/
displaced individuals by participating in or
undertaking preparedness, mitigation, relief,
rehabilitation or risk reduction projects and
activities in their communities or in evacuation
centers. Work areas/programs are identified by
the community under the leadership of local
leaders. In exchange for the work rendered,
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
A.O. No. 15 S. 2008: Guidelines For The Implementation ...
program recipients are provided with cash to meet
their requirement for food and other basic
necessities. Cash-for-Work may be undertaken
before, during or after the occurrence of any
disaster whether natural or man-made.
Implementation of the Cash-for-Work shall be
managed by the LGUs’ social welfare and
development offices in coordination with the
DSWD field offices.
Rate of Assistance
The daily rate of Cash-For-Work (CFW) shall
generally be seventy five percent (75%) of the
prevailing daily wage rate set by the National
Wages and Productivity Commission (See Annex
A). The CFW shall on the average be not more
than (ten) 10 days. However, if in the assessment
of the local social welfare and development office
there is a need to extend such for valid and
justifiable reasons, this can be extended by the
DSWD Field Office. The extension, however
should not be more than three (3) months.
The reasons behind this rate of assistance are
to minimize market distortion, target the most
economically disadvantaged individuals, ensure
that the cash-for-work projects will not entice
people away from their regular livelihood
activities, and capture wage variations in the area.
The DSWD shall use the minimum wage rate set
by the Department of Labor and Employment in
every locality, which may change from time to
time, as reference in computing the actual rate
of assistance.
III. OBJECTIVES
1. To encourage community participation in
implementing a community-defined project
related to disaster preparedness, mitigation,
response, reconstruction and rehabilitation,
including hunger mitigation and food security
projects.
2. To generate temporary employment and
provide income augmentation to affected
families or individuals and keep them from
migrating or abandoning their communities in
search of new sources of income.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
55
3. To help the affected families and local
government units in restoring damaged
shelters, infrastructure and community
projects as a result of disaster within their
locality.
IV. TARGET AREAS/BENEFICIARIES
The Cash-for-Work Project shall be available
nationwide whenever possible and feasible and
shall be provided to the following types of clients:
1) individuals/families who are willing to
participate in a livelihood and productivity
support projects, developmental and collective
community or group undertaking related to
disaster mitigation, risk reduction and/or
rehabilitation and 2) individuals/ families who are
vulnerable at risks or victims of any form of
disasters and 3) are able and capable to
undertake the projects. The beneficiaries should
be at least 18 years old. However, parental
consent shall be sought if beneficiaries are of
minor age i.e. between 15 to 17 years and have
been assessed to be capable of work. In case
the participating individual is attending school,
it must be ensured that the activity does not
affect his/her school attendance.
V. TYPES OF PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
The projects and activities that are covered under
the Cash-for Work program are as follows: 1)
livelihood and productivity support projects
such as construction or repair of small
infrastructure facilities supportive to start-up or
operationalize the SEA-K, Tindahan Natin or other
modalities of livelihood and income generating
projects; 2) reconstruction and rehabilitation
projects and activities such as shelter repair or
construction of new shelter units and social
services infrastructure such as health stations, day
care centers and schools; 3) disaster
preparedness, mitigation activities and
environment related projects such as river
dredging and embankment, digging and dredging
of canals and drainage, tree planting or
reforestation projects; 4) hunger mitigation and
food security projects such as communal farm
preparation and planting, repair or construction of
post harvest facilities and farm to market roads.
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
 A.O. No. 15 S. 2008: Guidelines For The Implementation ...
56
VI. COMPONENT
1. Assessment and Identification of
Proposed Projects/Activities
The P/C/MSWDO shall conduct an assessment
of the potential beneficiaries with technical
assistance from the DSWD-Field Office and
in consultation with the LGU to establish the
viability and appropriateness of CFW. Areas
for assessment shall include the following:
a) capability of the beneficiaries to provide
their counterparts (e.g. time and labor); b) socio-
economic benefits to be derived from the
project/activity; c) environmental consideration;
d) acceptability of the project/activity by
the community; and e) length and cost of
implementation.
2. Preparation of Project Proposal
After doing the assessment and project
identification, the P/C/MSWDO shall prepare a
project proposal providing the rationale and
details of the project/activity. Such proposal will
contain the project description, objectives,
implementation mechanics, work program,
budgetary requirements, and the LGU
commitments and responsibilities which may
include, but not limited to, human, physical
infrastructure and financial resources.
3. Provision of Financial Assistance/Project
Funding
For the project proposal to be funded, the LGU
through the P/C/MSWDO shall submit this to the
DSWD-Field Office for review and subsequent
approval. Proposals costing not more than One
Million (P1M) Pesos shall be approved by the
DSWD Field Office. The Field Office shall
immediately provide PMB copy of the approved
proposals. Proposals for more than One Million
shall be forwarded to the Program Management
Bureau (PMB) for further review, evaluation and
subsequent endorsement to the Office of the
Undersecretary for Operations and Capacity
Building (OCBG) for approval. Upon approval,
funding for the Cash-For-Work shall be sub-
allotted to the Field Office for release to the
concerned LGUs.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Certification as to availability/unavailability of LGU
counterpart shall be attached to the project
proposal and should be signed by the local chief
executive. The certification shall indicate whether
or not the LGU could allot counterpart resources,
which may be in cash or in the form of equipment,
construction materials, lot or sites, etc.
4. Implementation of CFW Project/Activity
The LGU shall implement the approved CFW
project/activity immediately after receipt of the
fund from the DSWD-Field Office. Each CFW
participant shall be issued a Cash-for-Work
voucher (Annex B) that will reflect his/her length
of involvement in particular projects. During the
implementation stage, the LGU thru the P/C/
MSWDO shall maintain a logbook to record the
daily attendance of the beneficiaries who have
reported for work. Each beneficiary shall enter
in the logbook the actual time they arrive and
leave at the work site and sign the logbook.
The P/C/MSWDO shall act as the disbursing
officer and the sole authority to draw a cash
advance for CFW. He/She shall prepare a daily
cash assistance payroll to provide payment to
the CFW beneficiaries for the work they
rendered. The CFW voucher and attendance
logbook shall be the basis of the P/C/MSWDO
in preparing the cash assistance payroll.
Copy of the CFW voucher and cash assistance
payroll shall serve as supporting documents to
liquidation reports. Likewise, the LGU should
keep a copy of these records and ensure that it
would be available during the monitoring visit
either by the DSWD Field Office or Central Office
staff.
When the project/activity is done or completed,
the P/C/MSWDO shall prepare a completion
report with highlight on both cash disbursement
and work completed with pictures of completed
project and shall be noted by the Local Chief
Executive. The emphasis of this report shall be
the result of the project/activity in relation to what
has been stipulated in the approved project
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
A.O. No. 15 S. 2008: Guidelines For The Implementation ...
proposal. Copy of this report shall be submitted
to the DSWD Field Office for review and
appropriate action. The Field Office shall furnish
a copy of the report to the Central Office thru
the Operations and Capacity Building Group
(OCBG).
5. Monitoring and Evaluation
There shall be three levels of monitoring for the
Cash-for Work: 1) the LGU Level, 2) the DSWD
Field Office Level, and 3) the DSWD Central
Office Level. Monitoring by the LGU shall be
conducted on a daily basis until the project is
completed. LGU monitoring shall be conducted
primarily by the P/C/MSWDO in coordination
with appropriate offices such as the public works,
engineering, general services etc. and shall
cover the following:
a. Program of Work – tracking the
progress of the project or activity based
on the approved program of work.
b. Project/Activity - verifying whether the
actual project or activity being
undertaken including its location site is
exactly consistent with the approved
project proposal.
c. Beneficiaries - determining if the
beneficiaries involved in the actual
project or activity are the intended
recipients of the Cash-for-Work and
if number is in accordance with the
proposed manpower or labor
requirement.
In the case of the Field Office, on-site monitoring
of the implementation of the Cash-for-Work shall
be conducted on a periodic basis using random
sampling. Validation of the progress report
submitted by the LGU shall be the primary
purpose of the FO monitoring e.g. like checking
if wage payments were made on time, if
participants received the amount of money, etc.
The Central Office shall be provided with the
results of the FO on-site monitoring.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
57
The monitoring visit of the DSWD Central Office
shall take place at least once during the project
life or when necessary to provide technical
assistance to the Field Office or LGU when there
is a compelling need to do so.
Evaluation of the Cash-for-Work shall be
undertaken by the Field Office after the
completion of the project/activity. Copy of the
evaluation report must be submitted to the
Central Office and the LGU.
The major intention of the evaluation is to
establish the effectiveness, efficiency and when
possible, the impact of the Cash-for-Work. Part
of gauging the effectiveness of the CFW shall
be determining if the stated objectives are met
and whether the process of beneficiary selection
and participation are effective and benefited the
most qualified and vulnerable segments of the
population. In terms of efficiency, aside from
evaluating the project cost and the project
operation, it would also be necessary to
determine if payments to beneficiaries were
made on time.
In evaluating the impact of CFW, the following
information must be highlighted: a) how the
cash-for-work influenced and benefited the
participating individuals/families and community;
b) how the cash assistance was used and what
changes took place in the coping strategies and
behavior of the individuals/families; and c) how
the community accepted and benefited from the
project.
This Order shall take effect immediately and
revokes issuances inconsistent with it.
(Sgd) ESPERANZA I. CABRAL, M.D.
Secretary
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
 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. 2
 Guidelines for Contributors 59

3. Indicate references at the end of the article For example:

using the following formats:
1
Madame Curie: A Biography (New York:
Books Oxford University Press, 1995), 12.
n
Name of Author/s, Title of the Book (City of Reference Books
Publication: Name of Publishing Company,
Date of Publication), Page Number/s. n
“Name of Article,” Name of Encyclopedia, Year
of Publication ed.
* n = the number of the reference note (i.e.,
1, 2, 3...) For example:

For example: 3
“Philippines,” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2007 ed.

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

n
Name of Author/s, “Title of Article,” in Title of Organizations
the Book, ed. Name of Editor (City of
n
Publication: Name of Publishing Company, Name of Organization, Title of the Article (Place
Date of Publication), Page Number/s. of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication),
Page Number/s.
For example:
For example:
1
Martin V. Kingsley, “Madame Curie: A 7
Biography” in Biographies of Women Philippine Development Organization,
Scientists, ed. Harris C. Johnston (New York: Development Report 2006 (Philippines: PDO,
Oxford University Press, 1995), 12. 2006), 15-20.

Books with no author or editor stated should

be cited as follows:
Journals
n
Title of the Book (City of Publication: Name n
Name of author, “Title of the Article,” Title of the
of Publishing Company, Date of Publication),
Journal, Magazine or Newspaper Volume Number,
Page Number/s.
Issue Number (Date): Page/s.

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

 60
For example:
8
Wilbur M. Mason, “Rice Farming in the
Philippines,” The Agriculture Review vol. 6, issue
no. 2 (June 2007): 25.
Online sources
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:
n
Last name of author, “First Words of Article
Title,” Page Number.
For example:
10
Kingsley and Brown, “Madame Curie,” 62.
Illustrations
Clear original drawings/pictures may also be
submitted along with the manuscript. Drawings/
pictures should be properly identified at the back
or on a separate sheet, properly numbered, with
the name of artist/s, a short caption, as well as
the title of the manuscript where the drawing/
picture will be used. Clear and sharp
photographic prints should be submitted in sizes
that complement the width of the journal (8 ý
inches).
Drawings and photographs may also be
scanned, saved in jpeg format, and included as
a separate file attachment in the CD-RW or
diskette containing the manuscript/s to be
submitted.
SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
Guidelines for Contributors
Tables
Tables should have a brief informative title and
a Roman number separately from the figures.
Each table should be encoded on a separate sheet
of paper. Likewise, tables with content that can be
fully incorporated in the text should be removed
to minimize the number of tables.
Brief Reviews
In addition to original research, the SWD Journal
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.
The SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT
JOURNAL is the official journal of the Department
of Social Welfare and Development. It is published
four times a year (quarterly).
All communications, including submission of
articles, as well as those concerning editorial
matters, subscriptions and change of address
should be forwarded to:
The Editor-in-Chief
Social Welfare and Development Journal
Office of the Undersecretary for Policy and Programs,
3rd Floor, DSWD Central Office, IBP Road,
Batasan Pambansa Complex,
Constitution Hills, QC 1117
email: dswdjournal@gmail.com .
Authors will be notified by mail or email if their
manuscripts have been accepted.
Volume No. 2 Issue No. 2
 61

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