Welcome to all the delegates of the Asia-Pacific Social Protection Week.  I would have wanted to personally welcome you if not for an equally important meeting.  President Duterte called for an emergency meeting to discuss the repatriation of thousands of our people who are stranded in Jeddah and needing the assistance of the government.  We are also to discuss plans for the rehabilitation of drug offenders who have turned themselves in large numbers to authorities.

These are very important concerns needing immediate attention by the government.  The DSWD is one those tasked to look into these concerns and provide prompt response and compassionate service.

Nevertheless, though not physically present, I would like to share with you the major thrusts of the department under the Duterte Administration.  I have asked Usec Mateo Montano to read this welcome message on my behalf.

We have been informed that the delegates to the week-long Asia Pacific Social Protection Week sponsored by the ADB, would like to learn lessons and gather insights from the Philippine experience in implementing social protection programs.

While there had been strides in implementing the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) or the Philippine version of the Conditional Cash Transfer especially in terms of health and education outcomes, it remains to be seen whether the program has indeed reduced poverty incidence in the country.  The new administration will therefore conduct an earnest review of the program in order to improve and enhance it in the hopes that it will contribute to poverty reduction.  We see the program more as a complement with all other efforts and initiatives towards poverty reduction…and not as a substitute in itself.

Carrying the call “Tunay na Malasakit para sa Mahihirap” (Genuine and Compassionate Care for the Poor), the DSWD will endeavour to provide genuine care and concern by extending prompt, adequate and compassionate service to the Filipino people, especially the poor.

In this light, we will continue and improve social protection programs that aim to provide immediate relief and timely assistance to the marginalized and vulnerable sectors of the country.  These include the 4Ps or the Conditional Cash Transfer program of the Philippines.  However, these programs will be complemented by initiatives that will help the poor stand on their own through jobs, asset reforms and other pro-people economic and social reform initiatives.

In fact at this point, we are recognizing the need to focus on helping the reported segment of beneficiaries of the 4Ps to become independent and self-reliant after they have graduated from the program.  We will study factors contributing to the achievement of their “near poor” status as well as analyze ways on how to deal with vulnerabilities so they will not slide back when faced with external shocks.  We aim to present them with other forms of assistance so they can stand on their own feet.  We will study through pilot testing and consequently implement programs, which will put emphasis on convergence strategies that will enhance social cohesion through community organizing, livelihood development as well as provision of subsidies for college education and health services for the targeted beneficiaries. This would entail better coordination with other government agencies as well as the private sector to address supply-side challenges in the delivery of social protection programs and services.

Likewise, the department will continue and enhance its programs with regard to response to emergencies and calamities.  The department will safeguard donations both monetary and in-kind as well as ensure timely, adequate and proper distribution of relief assistance to affected communities. Besides providing immediate relief and assistance, the department will study and implement strategies to enhance capacities of communities toward climate change adaptation and resilience.  We believe such an effort is needed to help reduce vulnerability and increase resilience towards shocks.

In all these efforts, we also hope to usher in a broader look at development.  Development is not just simply reducing deprivation but essentially about transformation – structural, institutional and normative – in ways that add to a country’s wealth-creating potential, ensuring the gains are widely shared and extending the possibilities for future generations.

For us a developing country, this still means building our industrial capacity, providing secure livelihoods for rapidly growing urban populations, guaranteeing food security and providing basic needs, among other features.  This, in turn, meant that the critical issues related to the nature of growth; the extent to which it generates productive employment for the labor force; the extent to which it ensures that asset and income distribution changes (possibly through redistributive policies) allow the benefits of growth to reach the poor; the extent to which the processes increases the access of the population to basic goods and services that affect the quality of life and human poverty. Therefore, we must look at social protection critically and comprehensively in order to achieve these aims.

Again welcome to all the delegates and thank you for paying the DSWD a visit!