How does the Philippine government address poverty in the country?

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The Philippines, despite its abundance of natural resources and globally-competitive manpower, still lags behind Asian countries economically. 

Back in the 60s where the country used to be called " The Tiger in Southeast Asia" because of its strong economy. 

In fact, the country of Vietnam would send scientists to the Philippines to collaborate with the Filipinos in scientific rice research purposes. 

But today, it's the other way around. The Philippines is the one importing metric tons of rice from Vietnam and other Asian countries due to the insufficiency of rice production in the Philippines. 

Aside from the importation of rice, the country is also planning to import sugar because of the shortage of supply in the country. Lately, sugar warehouses across the country were raided on allegations of sugar hoarding. 

Poverty incidence. As of the first semester of 2021 data, there are a total of 26.14 million poor Filipino families, or 23.7 percent of the country's population. (psa.gov.ph) 

These Filipinos experienced involuntary hunger every day. Worse, the COVID-19 virus came and has aggravated poverty incidence in the country that forced many micro and small business establishments to cease operations.

As a result, millions of Filipinos lost their jobs either temporarily or permanently. The pandemic has drained the country's treasury forcing the government to borrow from international financial institutions. 

During the pandemic, financial assistance amounting to billions of pesos was given to millions of Filipino families. 

Fortunately, after two years of battling the Covid 19 virus, the country's economy is now slowly recovering. 

Wearing facemasks is no longer required outdoors and in well-ventilated public places all over the country. 

Business establishments, heritage sites, indoor entertainment places, and tourist destinations have been to tourists to further boost the country's economy. 

Meanwhile, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. aims to reduce poverty incidence in the country to a single digit of 9 percent in 2028 or by the end of his six-year term. 

To alleviate poverty in the country, there have been poverty-reduction measures implemented by past administrations and continued by the new administration that significantly reduced the poverty rate in the country. 

In this blog post, we will discuss the poverty-reduction measures implemented by the Philippine government.


Anti-poverty measures. The Philippine government has never turned a blind eye to this decades-old social problem in the country. 

Several anti-poverty measures both medium and long term have been implemented by the government and one of which is the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program popularly known as 4Ps. 

4Ps is a poverty reduction program of the Philippine government that is patterned after other countries' anti-poverty programs. 

In this poverty program and after thorough assessment and identification, the government will start giving monthly financial assistance to each qualified families-beneficiaries channeled through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). 

The monetary aid is given as early as the elementary level and is continued until the pupil has graduated from college. 

The national government continuously gives financial support until all the qualified children-beneficiaries in the family have graduated from college. Graduation from college also means graduation from educational aid. 

The beauty of this program is that once the student has graduated from college, he/she would be the one to help his/her younger siblings financially in their studies.

Free College. Another short-term poverty alleviation program of the government is free college tuition for all qualified Filipino students. 

Though this one is different from the poverty-alleviation programs because the government does not give monetary assistance directly to the beneficiaries, but rather through college tuition fees. 

Once qualified for this program, a college student can enroll in any course he wishes in any State University and college (SUCs) in the country. 

The free tuition is continued until the student has graduated from college. Since its implementation, thousands of underprivileged, yet deserving students have already availed and benefited themselves from this educational program. 

Many of them have already been working and helping their respective families financially, especially their younger siblings. 

Malasakit (compassion) centers. Republic Act No. 11463 or the Malasakit Center Act, signed into law on December 3, 2019, mandates the establishment of Malasakit Centers all over the country. 

Malakit centers are medical centers whose aim is to provide medical and financial needs of indigent patients. These public medical centers are operated by government hospitals under the Department of Health (DOH). These centers are located within government hospitals all over the country.

What makes Malasakit Centers different from the other anti-poverty programs of the government is it does not involve money. The government will be the one to shoulder a patient's hospital bills. 

Likewise, unlike the other anti-poverty programs, Malasakit Centers are not related to educational programs. 

With its 95 million budget, thousands of indigent patients have already availed themselves of these free medical and financial assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Department of Health (DOH), and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). 

DSWDs Educational Aid. Last but not least is the one-time educational assistance of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. This particular financial assistance varies in amount depending on a pupil's/student's grade level: 

P1000 elementary pupil 

P2000 Junior High School student 

P3000 for Senior High School 

P4000 for college/vocational 

With the rising prices of school uniforms, school bags, notebooks, pencils, ball pens, shoes, crayons, and other school supplies, this educational assistance has been a big relief for parents.

Financial aid is given to students before the school openings. But this school year, DSWD's financial assistance came a little bit late. This financial assistance is limited to four (4) students in a family. 

This one-time educational aid may not be that big but is big enough to lift the spirit of the students to go to school and study hard knowing the government is there to help them morally and financially. This financial assistance will go a long way. 

Mentioned above are just some of the Philippine government's poverty alleviation programs. Though some of these poverty programs do not involve money directly, they still help alleviate poverty in the long run like the free college tuition fees and 

Malakit Centers whose medical bills of indigent patients are subsidized and shouldered by the government.

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