House Bill 4484, to be known as the " Magna Carta of the Poor," also targets the creation and expansion of employment and livelihood opportunities involving a gradual shift from government subsidy to the eventual empowerment of the poor to meet their minimum basic needs.
The bill was already passed by the House Committees on Poverty Alleviation and on People's Participation chaired respectively by Reps. Carmen Cari (5th District, Leyte) and Guillermo Cua (Party-list, COOP NATCO).
House Bill 4484 is the substitute bill to HB 23 and 24 authored by Rep. Rachel Marguerite del Mar (1st District, Cebu City), HB 148 by Rep. Ben Evardone (Lone District, Eastern Samar), HB 1195 by Rep. Marcelino Teodoro (1st District, Marikina City), HBs 1320, 1326, 1333 by Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (Party-list - ALAGAD) and HB 2689 by Rep. Peter Unabia (1st District, Misamis Oriental).
The bill provides for the protection and promotion of five fundamental rights of the poor which include the right to food, right to employment and livelihood, right to quality education, right to shelter and the right to basic health services and medicines, del Mar said.
According to Del Mar, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is tasked to expand a program of subsidy to help the poor meet their minimum food requirements. This includes issuing food certificates to the poor to enable them to obtain food items from stores duly accredited by the Department of Trade and Industry.
"To help ensure the implementation of the food subsidy program, the bill mandates that all food items and food products like rice, corn, sugar and other prime commodities that have been seized and forfeited with finality in favor of the government for violations of customs laws shall be automatically transferred to and/or turned over to DSWD for proper disposition," Del Mar said.
Evardone said the bill provides that thirty percent (30%) of the skilled labor needs of private contractors and subcontractors doing national and local public work projects funded by either the National Government or any local government unit must be filled by qualified workers who come from the poor sector and who are residents of the LGUs where these projects are undertaken.
The measure directs concerned government agencies, with the participation of development partners and other juridical entities, to implement programs that promote livelihood among the poor. These agencies shall provide technical and administrative support to help the poor establish their livelihood enterprise using loans obtained from the same, Evardone said.
For those indigent students who wish to pursue education at the college level, the bill provides for programs on socialized college education to the poor, including the student loans or study-now-pay-later plans.
For the shelter of the poor, the measure seeks the development and implementation of a well-targeted and responsive subsidy scheme that will provide decent housing with the least financial burden.
source: http://www.congress.gov.ph
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