TATIVES
RECEIVED
Republic of the Philippines DATE 26 uuu 2016

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 3 jy
Quezon City, Metro Manil

Seventeenth Congress
First Regular Session

9
House BILL No. 189:

Introduced by: Representative Salvio B. Fortuno

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reveals that poverty
incidence in the Philippines has been steadily increasing due to some factors like
the rapid rise in food prices and other basic commodities, the lingering effects of
strong typhoons that hit the country and other economic factors

Under this situation, there is an urgent need for the government to
intervene by implementing social development programs that will temper the rise
in poverty incidence in order to alleviate the plight of those in the margins of
society,

This bill therefore seeks to establish a Magna Carta of the Poor.

The paramount objective of this important piece of legislation is to uplift
the standard of living and quality of life of the poor and provide them with
sustained opportunities for growth and development.

The bill contains the fundamental rights of the poor, like the right to
adequate food, the right to decent work, the right to relevant and quality
education, the right to have a decent and affordable housing, the right to the
realization of the highest attainable standard of health and other social
protections. There were similar bills filed in the Sixteenth Congress, which were
consolidated and approved by the House Committee on Poverty Alleviation, of
which this humble representation was the Chairperson, and eventually passed by
the House of Representatives but due to lack of material time, the Senate was
not able to take positive action on the same.

In view of the foregoing reasons, the approval of this bill is earnestly

ole...

B. FORTUNO
Ré¢presentative
Fifth District, Camarines Sur

sought



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

Seventeenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 1895

Introduced by: Representative Salvio B. Fortuno

AN ACT
PROVIDING FOR A MAGNA CARTA OF THE POOR

Be in enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the Philippines in Congress assembled.

SECTION 1. Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Magna Carta of the
Poor”.

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is the declared policy of the State to
uplift the standard of living and quality of life of the poor and provide them with
sustained opportunities for growth and development. It shall adopt an area-
based, sectoral, and focused intervention to poverty alleviation where every poor
Filipino family must be empowered to meet their minimum basic needs, through
the partnership of the government and the basic sectors. It is likewise vital that
the State complies with its international obligations to eradicate [poverty, such as
our commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals which include the
eradication of] extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education,
promote gender equality and empowerment of women, reduce child mortality,
improve maternal health, combat Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), malaria and other diseases, and
ensure environmental sustainability and development of a global partnership for
development

To attain the foregoing policy

(a) Government shall prioritize investments in anti-poverty programs to
enable the poor to fully participate in the country's growth and development,

(b) All departments, agencies and instrumentalities of the government
shall provide full access of its services to the poor.

(c) Government shall strengthen interventions to address the genuine
concerns of the poor and shall institutionalize long-term strategies and solutions
for the empowerment of the poor; and


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

Seventeenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL not 835

Introduced by: Representative Salvio B. Fortuno

AN ACT
PROVIDING FOR A MAGNA CARTA OF THE POOR

Be in enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Magna Carta of the
Poor”.

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is the declared policy of the State to
uplift the standard of living and quality of life of the poor and provide them with
sustained opportunities for growth and development. It shall adopt an area-
based, sectoral, and focused intervention to poverty alleviation where every poor
Filipino family must be empowered to meet their minimum basic needs, through
the partnership of the government and the basic sectors. It is likewise vital that
the State complies with its international obligations to eradicate [poverty, such as
our commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals which include the
eradication of] extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education
promote gender equality and empowerment of women, reduce child mortality,
improve maternal health, combat Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), malaria and other diseases, and
ensure environmental sustainability and development of a global partnership for
development

To attain the foregoing policy

(a) Government shall prioritize investments in anti-poverty programs to
enable the poor to fully participate in the country’s growth and development;

(b) All departments, agencies and instrumentalities of the government
shall provide full access of its services to the poor;

(c) Government shall strengthen interventions to address the genuine
concerns of the poor and shall institutionalize long-term strategies and solutions
for the empowerment of the poor; and


(d) Government strategies shall enhance and promote the capabilities and
competencies of the basic sectors, the non-government organizations (NGOs)
and people's organizations (POs), as development partners of the government
for the effective delivery and implementation of a wide range of anti-poverty
programs and basic services.

SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act:

(a) Basic sectors refer to the disadvantaged sectors of Philippine society
including farmer-peasants, fisherfolk, workers in the formal sector including
migrant workers, workers in the informal sector, indigenous peoples and cultural
communities, women, [persons with disability, senior citizens, victims of
calamities/ natural and human induced disasters, youth and students, children,
urban poor and members of cooperative;

(b) Development partners refer to NGOs, POs and private corporations
which are engaged in programs and activities aimed at alleviating the condition of
the poor

(c) Hazardous/danger zones refer to areas which, when occupied for
residential or business purposes, pose a danger to the life and safety of the
‘occupants or of the general public;

(a) Non-government organizations (NGOs) refer to duly registered
nonstock, nonprofit organizations focusing on the upliftment of the basic sectors
of society by providing advocacy, training, community organizing, research,
access to resources, protection of the environment and conservation of natural
resources, and other similar activities;

(e) People's organizations (POs) refer to self-help groups belonging to the
basic sectors composed of members having a common bond of interest, who
voluntarily join together to achieve a lawful common social or economic end; and

(f) Poor refers to individuals or families whose income falls below the
poverty threshold as defined by the National Economic and Development
Authority (NEDA) and/or cannot afford in a sustained manner to provide their
minimum basic needs of food, health, education, housing, or other essential
amenities of life.

(g)_ National Poverty Reduction Plan refers to the aggregation and
consolidation of sectoral and local plans through a bottom-up approach, from the
local poverty reduction action plans towards the formulation of the national plan

SEC. 4. Scope of the Fundamental Rights of the Poor. - The
government shall establish a system of progressive realization or implementation
to provide the requirements, conditions, and opportunities for the full enjoyment
of the following rights of the poor which are essential requirements towards
poverty alleviation

The right to adequate food is the right of individuals or families to have
physical and economic access to adequate and healthy food, or the means to
procure it. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the
Department of Agriculture, and other implementing agencies concerned, shall


1. Undertake necessary actions to mitigate and alleviate hunger
especially in times of natural or human-induced disasters;

2. Fully implement and maintain supplementary feeding programs in day
care centers and schools:

3. Ensure the availability, accessibility and sustainability of food supplies in
a quantity and quality sufficient to meet the dietary needs of poor individuals and
families; and

4. Proactively engage the poor in activities intended to promote their food
self-sufficiency and strengthen their access to resources and means to ensure
food security.

(a) The Right to decent work is the right to the opportunity to obtain
decent and productive employment, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and
human dignity. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and other
implementing agencies concerned shall

1. Ensure that the poor shall have access to information regarding
employment openings in private enterprises and in government programs and
projects especially regarding available emergency employment opportunities for
families displaced by natural or human-induced disasters or relocated from
hazardous/danger zones.

2. Ensure the compliance of the skilled labor requirements of private
contractors and subcontractors doing national and local public work projects
funded by either the National Government or any local government unit (Igu), to
fill in thirty percent (30%) of the skilled labor requirements by qualified workers
who come from the poor sector and who are residents of the LGUs where these
projects are undertaken: Provided, That where the number of available resources
is less than the required percentage provided therein, said requirements shall be
based on the maximum number of locally available labor resources and shall be
certified by the municipal, city, provincial or district engineer as sufficient
compliance with the labor requirements under this Act

3. Promote livelihood among the poor. These implementing agencies shall
provide technical and administrative support to help the poor establish their
livelihood enterprise using loans obtained from them; [

4. Ensure compliance with core labor standards, address the job and skills
mismatch, and enhance human capital through education and training; and

5. Provide an environment for more inclusive tripartism to achieve more
broad-based representation of interests and make decision making highly
participatory through social dialogue at the firm and industry levels.

(b) The Right to Relevant and Quality Education is the right to attain
the full development of the human person

The Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA), in coordination with development partners concerned, shall


1. Maintain a system of free public education in the kindergarten,
elementary and high school levels;

2. Make higher education accessible to all poor individuals and families.
They shall expand the programs of providing socialized college education to the
poor, including the student loans or study-now-pay-later plans, in state/local
universities and colleges: Provided, That the students qualify and maintain good
academic standing; and

3. Ensure access to quality technical/vocational education and training
through scholarships, subsidies and financial assistance to ensure access to
decent and productive employment subject to compliance to qualification
requirements and availability of funds.

(4) The Right to adequate housing is the right to have a decent,
affordable, safe and culturally appropriate place to live in, with dignity, security of
tenure, in peace, with access to basic services, facilities, and livelinood.

The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and
other implementing agencies concerned shall

1. Prioritize the implementation of the socialized housing program with
identified appropriate subsidies;

2. Immediately construct and provide housing facilities for families living in
identified hazardous/danger zones where the housing needs of the poor are
urgent;

3. Create an enabling environment that will assist the poor gain access to
security of tenure with the least financial burden; and

4. Provide a system consisting of simple requirements and procedures
and expeditious processing and approval especially for community-based
socialized housing/people's proposals

(e) The Right to the highest attainable standard of mental and physical
health is the right to have equitable access to a variety of facilities, goods,
services and conditions necessary for the realization of the highest attainable
standard of health. The Department of Health (DOH) and other implementing
agencies concerned shall

1. Ensure equitable access to a system of good quality health care and
protection that is also available, accessible, and acceptable to the poor;

2. Provide for comprehensive, universal, culture-sensitive, and gender-
responsible health care services, and programs which include (a) maternal and
child health care and nutrition (b) access to ethical, legal, medically safe and
effective reproductive health services and supplies (c) promotion of breastfeeding
(d) prevention and management of reproductive tract infections, sexually
transmitted diseases, HIV AND AIDS (e) provide immunization against the major
infectious diseases occurring in the community, and (f) prevention, treatment and
control of epidemic and endemic diseases;

3. Reduce the financial burden of health care and protection on the poor
through a socialized health insurance program with the end view of totally
eliminating out-of-pocket expenses; and


4. Provide health-related education and information to the community.

SEC. 5. Non-dimunition of the Rights of the Poor. - All other rights of
the poor provided under existing laws shall remain in full force and effect.
Nothing herein shall be construed in a manner that will diminish the enjoyment of
such rights by the poor who shall have the right to avail of greater rights offered
by existing laws, including those granted under this Act

SEC. 6. Social Protection. — the government shall build an effective
social protection system to ensure the protection of the poor from any risk or
contingency. the system shall include social insurance, safety nets, social
welfare, and labor market interventions, which are affordable and accessible. this
social protection shall likewise be afforded in and during bilateral and multilateral
negotiations, including arrangements to be entered into with international
financial institutions.

SEC 7. System for Targeting of Beneficiaries. — The National Economic
and Development Authority (NEDA) shall design and establish a single system of
classification to be used for targeting beneficiaries of the government's poverty
alleviation programs and projects to ensure that such programs reach the
intended beneficiaries.

SEC. 8. The National Poverty Reduction Plan (NPRP) and enhanced
coordination and convergence among government agencies. — All
government agencies shall formulate, within one hundred (100) days from the
issuance of the rules and regulations to implement this act, a comprehensive and
convergent plan to set the thresholds to be achieved by government for each of
the recognized rights of the poor. This plan shall consider all sectoral and local
poverty reduction plans of each barangay, municipality/city, and province. The
National Anti-poverty Commission (NAPC), with the technical assistance of
NEDA, shall be tasked to compile and harmonize these plans. The Department
of Budget and Management (DBM) shall likewise review the NPRP for inclusion
in the budget of implementing agencies

SEC. 9. Participation of basic sectors and of the local government
units (Igus). - NAPC shall ensure that the basic sectors and local government
units are engaged in the formulation and in the implementation of the national
poverty reduction plan. The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)
shall monitor the compliance of the Igus in aligning their respective development,
investment, and poverty reduction plans with the NPRP, and in implementing the
same.

SEC. 10. Funding Requirements. - The funding for the poverty
alleviation programs and projects implemented under this Act shall be sourced
from the existing appropriations as authorized under the General Appropriations
Act of the different departments and agencies implementing these programs
including those enumerated below:

(a) DSWD — Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and Sustainable


Livelihood Program (SLP);

(b) DOLE — Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) and
Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers “TUPAD" Project;

(c) TESDA - Skills Training, Private Education Student Financial
Assistance (PESFA) and the Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP),

(d) DepED — Alternative Learning System (ALS), Government Assistance
to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE),

(e) CHED — Student Financial Assistance Program (STUFAP)

(f) NHA — Socialized housing program;

(g) DOH - Basic health care services including potable water system; and

(h) Philhealth - Expanded Primary Care Package for the Poor.

Allocations for the implementation of these programs and projects shall be
given preferential consideration in the funding allocation of the agency budget

Any additional funds to the existing appropriations of the pro-poor
programs in the different departments and agencies shall be included in the
General Appropriations Act of the year following its enactment into law and
thereafter.

SEC. 11. Private Sector Participation. - The private sector is highly
encouraged to be an active partner in the financing and implementation of
poverty alleviation programs and projects. The government agencies
implementing these programs shall be authorized to accredit development
partners, who may accept donations, aids or grants, in cash or in kind, from duly
accredited sources, to meet the demands of and uphold the basic rights of the
poor to adequate food, decent work, relevant and quality education, adequate
housing, and the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health
Acceptance and use of such donations, aids or grants, shall be transparent and
subject to government applicable regulations.

The government shall recognize top performing development partners.

SEC. 12. Tax Exemptions. - Any donation, contribution and grant which
may be made to the sponsored program shall be exempt from the donor's tax
and shall be considered as allowable deduction from the gross income in the
computation of the income tax of the donor in accordance with the provisions of
the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended

The implementers of the socialized housing resettlement program shall
enjoy the incentives stated in Section 20 of Republic Act No. 7279, otherwise
known as the “Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992"

SEC. 13. Rational Allocation of Funds. - The DBM shall be principally
responsible for the efficient and rational allocation of available funds to the
different government departments and agencies to support the implementation of
this Act


SEC. 14. Implementation Through a System of Progressive
Realization. — Nothing in this Act shall be construed in any manner as requiring
the Government to undertake the immediate implementation of all poverty
alleviation programs. The Government shall set programmatic standards to be
achieved over time depending upon the availability of necessary resources and
in consideration of economic resource constraints.

SEC. 15. Compliance Report. - The NAPC shall be tasked to oversee
and monitor compliance with this Act. Within six (6) months from the effectivity of
this Act and every six (6) months thereafter, all implementing departments and
agencies shall submit a report to the NAPC on their respective compliance with
the provisions of this Act, which, in tum, shall submit a compliance report to the
House Committee on Poverty Alleviation and to the Senate Committee on Social
Justice, Welfare and Rural Development

SEC. 16. Implementing Rules. - Within six (6) months from the effectivity
of this Act, the NAPC shall, in coordination with the government departments and
agencies, with the participation of the LGUs and the basic sectors, promulgate
rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 17. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason, any section or
provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional or invalid, the other sections or
provisions which are not affected shall continue to be in full force and effect.

SEC. 18. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders,
proclamations, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent herewith are
repealed, amended, or modified accordingly.

SEC. 19. Effectivity - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation

Approved,