Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 1247

INTRODUCED BY REP. MAXIMO JR. Y. DALOG

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Article Il, Section 9 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides, that “[t]he State
shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and
independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through policies
that provide adequate social services, promote full employment, a rising
standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all.”

One of the programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development
which aims to realize said Constitutional provision is the Sustainable Livelihood
Program (SLP).

This program is an expanded platform of livelihood interventions of the then
Self-Employment Assistance Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Program of the Department
which started in 1996 and was enhanced to become SLP in 2011.

The SLP is a community-based capability-building program for the poor,
vulnerable, and marginalized households and communities. It aims to help
improve their socio-economic conditions through accessing and acquiring
necessary assets to engage in and maintain thriving livelihoods. This livelihood
support measure would ensure that current and existing 4Ps households,
Listahanan-identified poor households, and other vulnerable, marginalized, and
disadvantaged individuals and sectors are able to access resources and
establish micro and small scale enterprises that could help support basic
subsistence of the household (food, shelter, education, and utilities) or secure
a source of income through basic employment. Furthermore, it aims to enhance
and harness the inherent entrepreneurial skills and potentials of said target
individuals by providing additional capital.


With significant contribution of the SLP in poverty alleviation, it is imperative to
institutionalize it through national legislation to ensure that the DSWD Social
Protection and Livelihood Agenda for the poor and vulnerable are enshrined in
the annual priority programs of the government.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is earnest



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

TWENTIETH CONGRESS,
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No, 1247

INTRODUCED BY REP. MAXIMO JR. Y. DALOG

AN ACT INSTITUTIONALIZING THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL
WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD PROGRAM
(DSWD-SLP)

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

Sec. 1 Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “The DSWD
Sustainable Livelihood Act”.

Sec. 2. Declaration of Policies. The State shall promote livelihood
development and entrepreneurship as a means to achieve sustainable
development.

Pursuant to this policy, the State recognizes the need to alleviate the
socio-economic conditions of the poor and vulnerable especially those
households enrolled in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, individuals,
groups, or communities who are classified as poor under the National
Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) Listahanan,
the Magna Carta of the Poor (RA 11291).

It is likewise the policy of the State to uplift the socio-economic conditions
of the poor and vulnerable through the provisions of market intervention and
livelihood development through microenterprise development in facilitating and
supporting basic employment.

Towards this end, the State shall respect and strengthen Filipino
households, individuals, groups or communities by providing assistance that

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may be utilized though such inherent skills to achieve positive livelinood
outcomes though community mobilization and community-driven enterprise

development.
Sec. 3. Definition of Terms. For purpose of this Act, the following terms
are defined, as follows:

Employment Facil

Cash for Building Livelihood Assets Fund (CBLAF)B shall
refer to an allowance or stipend provided to program participants
who have rendered work for labor-intensive projects to build, re-
build, or protect natural and physical assets necessary for more
profitable, self-sustaining, and resilient micro-enterprise;

Certificate of Accreditation (COA) shall refer to a certification
issued by the Standards Unit (SU) of the Field Office (FO) to the
Sustainable Livelihood Program Association (SLPA) after the
issuance of the Certificate of Eligibility (COE) by the SLP Regional
Program Management Office (SLPRPMO). The Certificate of
Accreditation shall be a requisite prior to the release of funds to the
SLPAs under the Micro-Enterprise Development Track;

. Certificate of Eligibility (COE) shall refer to a certification signed

by the Regional Program Coordinator of SLP Regional Program
Management Office certifying that the SLPA or Employment
Facilitation program participant/s have passed the eligibility
requirements and complied with the processes of SLP. The
Certificate of Eligibility is a requisite for the approval and obligation
of the Mungkahing Proyekto and shall be the basis fo the SU of the
Field Office in issuing the Certificate of Accreditation to the SLPAs,
EF participants and individual referrals;

. Department shall refer to the Department of Social Welfare and

Development (DSWD);

. Employment Assistance Fund (EAF) shall refer to a grant

provided to program participants that will support a guaranteed
employment such as: 1) processing of employment documentary
requirements; 2) payment of medical tools and materials; and 3)
transportation allowance, meal allowance, and board and lodging
until the first 15 days of employment;

tion (EF) shall refer to a track of the
Sustainable Livelihood Program that provides assistance to
qualified member/s of poor households who preferred employment
rather than engaging in micro-enterprise;


m.

. Implementing Project Development Officer shall refer to a

Sustainable Livelihood Program staff of the Field Office
responsible for the organization and facilitation of opportunities of
program participants involving stakeholders within or outside the
city/municipality;

. Capacity Building Project Development Officer shall refer to an

SLP provincial staff responsible for ensuring that all the capacity-
building activities for the program participants are provided
accordingly. They are also responsible for monitoring and
evaluating the learning progress as well as the competency needs
and gaps of the SLP participants.

. Micro-enterprise Development Track (MD Track) shall refer to a

track of Sustainable Livelihood Program which focuses on the
establishment of micro-enterprise through the provision of financial
capital, enhancement of skills, and building/re-building physical
and natural assets;

Monitoring Project Development Officer (MPDO) shall refer to a
Sustainable Livelihood Program field staff responsible for the
monitoring of the operationalization of the enterprises or
employment and progress of the SLP association throughout the
program monitoring period;

. National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction

(NHTS-PR) shall refer to the information management system that
uses empirical methods to compile a database of who and where
the country's poor are. The NHTS-PR is also often referred to as
the “Listahanan”;

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) shall refer to the
national poverty reduction strategy and human capital investment
program that provides conditional cash transfer to poor households
for a maximum period of seven (7) years, to improve the health,
nutrition, and education aspect of their lives. The National Advisory
Council (NAC) may recommend a longer period under exceptional;
circumstances,

Poor shall refer to individuals or families whose income falls below
the poverty threshold as defined by the National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA) and/or who cannot afford in a
sustained manner to provide their minimum basic needs of food,
health, education, housing, or other essential amenities of life, as
defined under Republic Act No. 8425, otherwise known as the
“Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act”;

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. Program Participants shall refer SLP associations, EF

participants, individual referrals, or other recipients of the
modalities of assistance provided by the Program;

. Seed Capital Fund (SCF) shall refer to as start-up grant for SLP

association or individual, used to purchase small tools, raw
materials, and common services facilities such as machinery,
equipment, and plant needed in starting or expanding a micro-
enterprise. The SCF is only provided once per program participant;

. Skills Training Fund for Micro-Enterprise Development Track

(STF-MD) shall refer to a grant that is used for the acquisition of
knowledge and skills needed in the management of the micro-
enterprise to be managed by the SLPA or its members;

. Skills Training Fund for Employment Facilitation (STF-EF)

shall refer to a grant to be used for the acquisition of technical and
vocational knowledge and skills delivered in the form of
orientations and lectures, demonstrations, and other similar skills
acquisition methodologies for the participants. The grant covers the
following components: a) technical-vocational skills training fee; b)
meal, lodging, and transportation allowance; c) training supplies
and materials; and d) program participants’ assessment fee;

. System for Targeting of Beneficiaries shall refer to a system for

identifying who and where the poor households are through the
generation of a socio-economic database of poor households that
is adopted by national government agencies and implemented by
the DSWD;

Sustainable Livelihood Program Association (SLPA) shall refer
to an association with 5-30 members organized by the DSWD,
through the SLP, which is issued with a Certificate of Accreditation
making them eligible recipients of assistance of Sustainable
Livelihood Program under the Micro-Enterprise Development
Track;

. SLP-National Program Management Office (SLP-NPMO) shall

refer to an office of the DSWD Central Office responsible for
managing the implementation of SLP, setting the overall direction,
and issuing policies and guidelines, among others;

|. SLP-Regional Program Management Office (SLP-RPMO) shall

refer to an office of the DSWD Field Office responsible for the
management of SLP at the regional level providing technical

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assistance, supervision, and management of all SLP provincial
offices.

Sec. 4. The Sustainable Livelihood Program. The Sustainable
Livelihood Program (SLP) of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD) is a livelihood capability-building program for the
identified poor, vulnerable, and marginalized households and communities that
provides assistance in the form of micro-enterprise development and
employment facilitation to qualified SLP program participants. This livelihood
assistance is to ensure that program participants are continuously capacitated
towards entrepreneurship, employment and association's self-governance in
order to have access to external resources such as additional credit, insurance,
capacity building, and market linkages.

Sec. 5. Modalities of Assistance - The SLP shall have two (2) major
Tracks mainly: (i) Micro- Enterprise Development Track that provides support
for the establishment of micro-enterprise livelihoods; and (ii) Employment
Facilitation Track that provides support in securing and maintaining gainful
employment.

The following are the modalities under the Micro-Enterprise Development
(MD) Track:

a) Seed Capital Fund;
b) Skills Training Fund; and
c) Cash for Building Livelihood Assets Fund.

The following are the modalities under the Employment Facilitation (EF)
Track:

a) Employment Assistance Fund; and
b) Skills Training Fund.

Sec. 6. Eligibility Requirements. Filipino households, individuals, and
those in disadvantaged communities or groups such as Indigenous People (IP),
Persons with Disabilities (PWD), and Solo Parent are qualified program
participants of the Sustainable Livelihood Program: Provided, that the DSWD
shall select qualified program participants of the program using the National
Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) Listahanan:
Provided further, that to be eligible to the program, the qualifications of program
participants must be followed:

a) Micro-Enterprise Development Track must be at least sixteen (16) years
old, with written legal consent from the parents or legal guardians;

b) Employment Facilitation Track must be at least eighteen (18) years old

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upon employment, following legal employment standards;

c) Filipino families classified as poor under Republic Act 11291 otherwise
known as the Magna Carta of the Poor;

d) Classified as a poor household based on the system for targeting of
beneficiaries; and

e) The target program participants must be willing to comply with the
conditions stipulated in this Act and its Implementing Rules and
Regulations (IRR).

Sec. 7. Section 7. Livelihood Sustainability Matrix. The SLP shall
utilize as its main key result areas, the developed SLP Livelihood Sustainability
Matrix, wherein a graduated or tiered manner of providing livelihood assistance
grants, capability building activities, coaching and mentoring, and technical
assistance for livelihood development and organizational building. The matrix
includes a set of performance standard indicators that pertains to the major
aspect of livelihood development and association management, mainly: 1.)
Technical Operations; 2.) Financial Strength; 3.) Organizational Development
and Management; and 4.) Community Impact. Served SLP participants shall be
measured on the four performance standards on an annual basis starting with
Year 2 implementation and shall be assessed through the use of annual
assessment tools, to establish viability of participants for additional grants and
capacity building through successive years.

Section 8. SLP Implementation Stages / Operational Guidelines. The
SLP shall operate in a five (5) year cycle, mainly:

Year 1 Punta — the first round of implementation of the Program and shall
consist of the Pre-Implementation, Social Preparation, Resource
Mobilization, and Project Implementation;

Year 2 Usbong - shall consist of the monitoring activities, coaching and
mentoring, second round of capability building activities/ training. Under
this Year, the SLP shall provide Product Diversification and Development
Grant.

Year 3 Sibol — shall consist of continuing monitoring activities, capacity
building, technical assistance, coaching and mentoring. During this
implementation year, the SLP shall provide Formalization Support Grant
to SLP associations and participants able and willing to undergo formal
government licensing and accreditation.


Year 4 Yabong - shall consist of continuing monitoring activities,
capability building, coaching and mentoring, partnership building and
external linkages of SLP to regular markets and institutional partners.

Year 5 Ani — shall consist of the official graduation of SLP associations
that have achieved all the technical, financial, organizational, and
community impact indicators, from the Program. Graduating SLP
associations who have managed to sustain their livelihood and
association can be eligible for a SLP Graduation Grants, subject to
assessment and evaluation.

Sec. 9. Institutional Arrangements. The DSWD shall serve as the lead
agency for Central Coordinating, Planning, Implementing, and Monitoring body
on the program's overall management. The SLP National Program
Management Office (NPMO) shall have the steering and oversight functions
and tasks while the SLP Regional Program Management Office (RPMO) shall
take charge in the implementation of the program stages.

The Program shall assign Implementing Project Development Officers
that shall serve as the community facilitator who is responsible for identifying,
organizing, capacitating the new program participants and shall validate the
utilization of grants to ensure that the approved project has been duly
implemented. Provided that the field monitoring shall be conducted through the
Monitoring Project Development Officers that shall ensure that the modalities of
assistance are sustained by the participants through the conduct of regular
monitoring visits and assessments.

Functions of the SLP National Program Management Office (NPMO)
— The DSWD SLP NPMO shall perform and implement the following:

a) Enhancement and development of Program policies, tools, and
guidelines;

b) Setting of performance standards and compliance monitoring;
c) National program planning and coordination;

d) Human resource management and capacity building for national and
regional program personnel;

e) National program budget management;
f) National program monitoring and evaluation such as program milestones,

accomplishments, results monitoring, and evaluation of program
outcomes, and


g) Other related tasks as required and necessary for the management.

Functions of the Regional Program Management Office (RPMO) —
The DSWD SLP RPMO shall perform and implement the following:

a) Full implementation of the Program Stages based on the approved
process, timeline, and program implementation parameters;

b) Compliance to implementation standards and policies;

c) Beneficiary level monitoring and evaluation for technical assistance and
reporting;

d) Participation to human resource development and capacity-building
sessions;

e) Obligation and disbursement of funds; and
f) Regional, provincial, and city/municipality level coordination.

Sec. 10. Regular Program Monitoring, Reporting, and Transparency.
The DSWD SLP NPMO and RPMO, shail regularly monitor the implementation
of the program in order to ensure the attainment of the goals enumerated in this
Act. The Program shall annually publish a full report of the SLP covering the
implementation and accomplishments of the previous fiscal year. The said
report shall include the total number of households served, physical and
financial accomplishments, notable achievements, success stories, note-
worthy capacity-building activities, and list of recommendations on how to
further enhance the implementation of the SLP. The report shall be published in
the DSWD official website for transparency.

Sec. 11. Appropriations. The amount necessary to carry out the
provisions of this Act shall be charged against those authorized in the current
and subsequent General Appropriations Act.

Sec. 12. Oversight Committee. Upon the effectivity of this Act, a
Congressional Committee, hereafter referred to as the SLP’s Oversight
Committee is hereby constituted. The Committee shall be composed of
members from the Committee on Poverty Alleviation, Committee on Labor and
Employment, and Committee on Social Services. The oversight committee shall
be chaired by the Chairperson of the Committee on Poverty Alleviation, while
the Chairperson of the Committee on Social Services shall serve as co-chair of
the committee. Additional composition of the oversight committee shall be within
the purview of the legislative body.


The Committee shall conduct periodic reviews to ensure the proper
implementation of this Act as regards the expenditures of the earmarked funds,
cost parameters of the modalities, accomplishments of the program, and the
performance of its implementing offices.

Sec. 13. Coverage. Exiting 4Ps beneficiaries, individuals, Filipino
households, groups or communities identified as poor by the National
Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) Listahanan and
Republic Act 11291, otherwise known as the Magna Carta of the Poor, shall be
covered as a program participant of the DSWD SLP. Moreover, the SLP
participants shall also cover households identified as poor based on the system
for targeting of beneficiaries used by the DSWD.

Sec. 14. Compliance to Data Privacy Act of 2012 - The DSWD SLP
shall comply with the provisions of Republic Act No. 10173 otherwise known as
the Data Privacy Act of 2012. Additionally, the Program shall further comply with
the organizational, physical, technical and security measures prescribed in the
SLP Data Privacy Policy and Sharing Protocol Manual.

Sec. 15. Data Sharing. Data sharing between government agencies for
the purpose of public function or provision of a public service shall be covered
by a data sharing agreement; Provided, that the DSWD SLP shall comply with
the provisions of Republic Act No. 10173 otherwise known as the Data Privacy
Act of 2012; Provided further, that all information filed with the DSWD SLP,
National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR)
Listahanan, and other database system used by the DSWD SLP shall be made
available to the stakeholders, institution, government agencies, departments
and non-government agencies, including obligations to protect personal data
and information.

Sec. 16. Implementing Rules and Regulations. Within twelve (12)
months from the effectivity of this Act, the DSWD Secretary shall, in
coordination with appropriate government departments and agencies with the
participation of the local government units, promulgate the necessary rules and
regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Sec. 17. Convergence of Programs and Services for Livelihood
Support. Within the scope of social protection and national poverty alleviation
strategies, stakeholders such as other national government agencies, the
private sector, volunteer groups, and the academe, among others,
implementing multi-stakeholder programs and services for the poor and
vulnerable, shall converge and complement the modalities offered by the
DSWD SLP. Such convergence shall focus on the enhancement of operational
efficiency, provision of additional financing, access to resources, enhancement
of program modules and capability-building activities, and strengthening of
external partnerships and linkages.


Sec. 18. Separability Clause. If any provision of this Act is declared
invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining parts or provisions shall not be
affected and remain valid and subsisting.

Sec. 19. Repealing Clause. Any law, presidential decree or issuance,
executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation
contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed,
amended or modified accordingly.

Sec. 20. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its

publication in the Official Gazette or in a two (2) newspapers of general
circulation.

Approved,