Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Quezon City

17™ CONGRESS
1° Regular Session

House BillNo__ 38854

Introduced by EMMANUEL A. BILLONES

Explanatory Note

This bill seeks to create a Special Poverty Alleviation Fund to undertake community-
based supplemental feeding program and related poverty alleviation efforts targeting
school children, out-of-school youth and children of pre-school ages who belong to
the poorest of the poor or the lowest twenty percent of the Philippine social strata in
terms of income or financial resources or children who belong to the absolute
poverty group.

We often see images on TV and on the internet showing hungry people with no food,
running water, often in tattered clothing and no shoes, living in mud houses in run-
down communities or slum areas, and we begin to have a sense of what absolute
poverty looks like,

People in absolute poverty tend to struggle to live and experience a lot of child
deaths from preventable diseases like malaria, cholera and water contamination
related diseases and severe malnutrition. Over half a million of them according to the
DepEd data are suffering from these maladies.

. These children are wittingly and unwittingly bear the burden of dealing with poverty
as more often than not these problems are handed to them by generations before
them.

In short, absolute poverty is long term in nature and it is now about time to at least
prioritize the alleviation of the growing problem of malnutrition, hunger and abject
poverty particularly among children,

Thus, passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

LINEN euee RLONES, =a

Representative
14" District, Capiz


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

47™ CONGRFSS
1* Regular Session

of 3854

a
House Bill No.

Introduced by EMMANUEL A. BILLONES

AN ACT
CREATING A SPECIAL POVERTY ALLEVIATION FUND TO BE USED TO
FINANCE SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY-BASED SUPPLEMENTAL FEEDING
PROGRAMS AND RELATED POVERTY ALLEVIATION EFFORTS USING THE
MINIMUM BASIC NEEDS (MBN) APPROACH IN THE POOREST OF THE POOR
COMMUNITIES IN THE COUNTRY AND FOR OTHER RELATED PURPOSES

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

Section 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Poverty Alleviation
Fund of 2016."

Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. — |t is the policy of the State to 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 (Section 9, Article I, 1987 Philippine Constitution).

Towards this end and to help combat the growing problem of malnutrition,
hunger and abject poverty particularly among children, the Government shall institute
a systematic and well-studied direct intervention program by conducting sustained
supplemental feeding, targeting school children, out-of-school youth and children of
pre-schooling age as well as related poverty-alleviation efforts using the basic
human needs approach. particularly amona those belona to the poorest of the poor
or the lowest twenty percent (20%) of Philippine social strata in terms of income and

Sec. 3. Creation of a Special Poverty Alleviation Fund. - There is hereby
create a Special Poverty Alleviation Fund (‘Fund’) to be funded from the sources
provided herein below and to be manaaed and administered bv the National Anti-
Poverty Commission (NAPC) under a Program to be implemented by the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Sec. 4. Sources of the Fund. - The Fund shall be constituted from the
following sources:

a) Ten percent (10%) share from the net income of the Philippine Games and
Amusement Corporation (PAGCOR), to be given and delivered by



PAGCOR to the NAPC on a quarterly basis, no later than ninety (90) days
after the end of each quarter, subject to final accounting and/or
adjustments at the then of each calendar year;

b) Ten percent (10%) share from the net income of the Philippine Charity
‘Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), to be given and delivered by PAGCOR to the
NAPC on a quarterly basis, no later than ninety (90) days after the end of
each quarter, subject to final accounting and/or adjustments at the end of
each calendar year; and

c) Ten percent (10%) share from the net profits of all Duty Free Shops (DFS)
or, in case of the privatization of the DFS, twenty five percent (25%) of the
proceeds of privatization of DFS plus fifty percent (50%) of the franchise
tax collected thereon.

The Department of Finance. through its appropriate agencies. is hereby
Mandated to ensure the proper collection of the shares and/or charges intended for
the Fund from the sources provided herein and to turn-over the same quarterly to the
NAPC through the DSWD.

Sec. 5. Authorized Use of the Fund; The Program — The Fund shall
principally be used to finance the National Supplemental Feeding and Poverty
alleviation Program (“Program”). The Program shall provide for the generation of an
annual listing of priority or target schools, communities, barangays and/or other
localities where the Government shall undertake direct feeding and/or supplemental
feeding activities on a sustained basis targeting school children, out-of-school youth
and children of pre-school ages who belong to the poorest of the poor or the lowest
twenty percent (20%) of the Philippine social strata in terms of income or financial
resources. The Program shall also incorporate other poverty-alleviation efforts using
the Minimum Basic Needs (MBN) approach targeted at poor communities.

‘The Program shall be prepared by the DSWD for the approval of the NAPC
The Program shall likewise be implemented by the DSWD.

In connection with the foregoing, subject to the approval of NAPC, the DSWD

shall:

(a) Devise and formulate plans, strategies and programs to carry out
effectively and efficiently the disposition of the Fund in accordance with
declared purpose thereof;

(b) Direct the management, operations and administration of the Fund;

(c) Authorize expenditures of the Fund as are in accordance with the purpose
for which it was set up; and

(d) Exercise such other powers as may be necessary to accomplish the
purpose for which the Fund was created.

Sec. 6. Limitations. - The Fund shall not be used for any purpose other than
to finance the feeding and/or supplemental feeding program of the Government, as
oreoared bv the DSWD and approved bv the NAPC. Moreover. no more than three
percent (3%) of the proceeds of the Fund may be used for administrative purposes.


Sec. 7. Administration and Control of the Fund. — The Fund shall be under
the contro! of the DSWD, which shall administer the same in accordance with the
above stated powers, functions and limitations.

Sec. 8. Audit— The Chairman of the Commission on Audit (COA) shall act
as the ex-office auditor of the Fund,

Sec. 9. Annual Report. - The Secretary of the DSWD shall submit, within
fifteen (15) working days from the opening of the regular session of Congress, to the
President of the Philippines as NAPC Chair and to the Presiding officers of both
Houses of Congress, an annual report which shall include an account of the
program, projects and detailed expenses undertake pursuant to this Act.

Sec. 10. Penal Clause. - Any person who fails or refuses to turn over
collections of the charges or shares mentioned in this Act within the period
prescribed herein, or who delays, obstructs or prevents the same; or who fails or
refuses to effect release from the Fund, or who obstructs, or prevents the same; or
who orders, causes, or effects the transfer or diversion of the collections of this Fund
shall be punished with a fine not exceeding One Hundred Thousand pesos
(P100,000,00) or imprisonment not exceeding six (6) years, or both at the discretion
of the Court, If the offender is a government official or employee, he shall, in
addition, be dismissed from the service with prejudice to reinstatement and with
disqualification for election or appointment to any public office. If the offender is a
corporation or any other juridical entity, the penalty provided herein shall be imposed
On its directors or officers who may be responsible for the violation.

Sec. 11. Rules and Regulations. - The Secretary of the DSWD, in
consultation with the NAPC, shall promulgate the rules and regulation relating to the
collection and remittance of the revenue sources accruing to the Fund as may be
necessary for the effective implementation of this Act.

Sec. 12. Separability Clause. - The provision of this Act are hereby declared
to be separable, and in the event that any part, section or provision of this Act is held
invalid or unconstitutional, no other part, section or provision thereof shall be affected
thereby

Sec. 13. Repealing Clause. - The pertinent provisions of the National
Internal Revenue Code, as amended, the charters of the PAGCOR and PCSO, as
amended, and any other provisions of law, decree, executive order, letter of
instructions, rule or regulation or parts thereof that are in conflict with any provisions
of this Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

Sec. 14. Effectivity.—This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following the
completion of its publication in the Official Gazette and in two (2) newspapers of
general circulation in the Philippines,

Approved,