Social Services

• The Philippine Commission on Women launched in November 2024r a five-year National Action Plan to End VAW 2025–2030 which includes a Department of Information and Communications Technology-led initiative to add an eReport component to the eGovPH app allowing users to instantly report crimes, especially women abuse, and notify the nearest police station.

• The 2025 DPWH GAA allotted a P2.92 billion budget for its Residential and Non-Residential Care Sub-Program, up  by P86 million from 2024.

• On April 24, DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao said the agency will form a one-stop-shop processing center for victims of online sexual abuse to connect them with various government agencies that will assist in their cases.
• The social welfare department allotted P2.07 billion for its centers and residential care facilities in 2024.

• In a July 6 email, the DSWD told VERA Files that its Program Management Bureau is developing an online monitoring information system for victims of violence and trafficking, and children in need of special protection.
• From April 24 to 27, the DSWD trained social workers and local government workers in Luzon on managing gender-based violence cases.
• It conducted capacity-building activities and organized fora for people’s organizations, national government agencies, and local government units.
• The DSWD’s budget for centers and residential care facilities in 2023 and 2022 were P3.25 billion and P2.11 billion, respectively. The P1.14 billion increase is attributed to inflation, repair costs and salary increases.

• In preparation for the rainy season, DSWD prepared three million boxes of family food packs in 938 warehouses across the country in June under the Buong Bansa Handa program.
• DSWD’s Quick Response Fund is set at P1.25 billion for rehabilitation and relief programs for communities affected by natural or man-made calamities.

• The DSWD prepared more than 300,000 food packs in anticipation of Typhoon Aghon last May. It distributed over P1.4 million worth of humanitarian assistance and relief goods for victims of the Mount Kanlaon eruption in June.
• Implementation of the Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) program will be transferred to the DHSUD under its Integrated Disaster Shelter Assistance Program beginning the second half of the year, the DSWD told VERA Files in a July 1 email.

• The DSWD reported on May 25 that it prepared over a million family food packs in anticipation of Super Typhoon Betty.
• The agency provided P65.72 million worth of food and non-food assistance to families affected by the Mayon Volcano eruption as of July 12, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Evacuees in Albay have an allocation from the 200,000 family food packs stockpiled by the department while Mayon and Taal volcanoes remain restive.
• New warehouses for storing relief goods were built in Virac, Catanduanes; San Luis, Aurora; La Trinidad, Benguet; and Tabuk City, Kalinga from October 2022 to last June.
• A technical working group was formed to discuss the transfer of implementing the emergency shelter assistance (ESA) program from the DSWD to the DHSUD, according to a July 6 email the DSWD sent to VERA Files.
• The DHSUD, through the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the DSWD, jointly implemented disaster shelter assistance programs for victims of Typhoon Odette. The NHA handled the ESA’s implementation in Regions IV-B and VII, while the DSWD handled regions VI, VIII, X, and CARAGA.

• AICS 2025 budget was set at P44.74 billion, up P10.48 billion from last year.
• The AICS is a program that has been around for decades and implemented through memorandum orders from the DSWD. A bill to institutionalize the program passed third reading at the House of Representatives in June, but will have to be refiled under the 20th Congress.

• The DSWD has distributed over P40.94 billion to over 6.5 million AICS beneficiaries in 2023, equivalent to 98% of its P41.57 billion budget for the program last year.
• This year, a P36.81 billion budget was allocated by the agency for its protective services for individuals and families in difficult circumstances sub-program, where AICS falls under. The DSWD said that from January to March, AICS has provided assistance to over 1.3 million individuals.
• All four Senate bills and 13 House bills seeking to institutionalize AICS remain pending in the committees.

• An amendment to the circular implementing the AICS in August 2022 simplified the application forms, allowed same-day-release of cash assistance or guarantee letters, and lengthened the validity period of documentary requirements.
• The DSWD opened satellite offices in Monumento, Caloocan City; Pasig City; Baclaran, Paranaque City; and, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan. Another DSWD satellite office will soon be opened in Rodriguez, Rizal.
• Two Senate bills and 13 House bills seeking to institutionalize the AICS program are pending at the committee level.

• As of December 2024, there are 4.4 million beneficiaries of the program; 40,000 former 4Ps student-beneficiaries passed their respective board examinations and 65 others became topnotchers.
• During the Poverty Reduction Summit 2025 of the National Anti-Poverty Commission on June 30, the Philippine Statistics Authority assistant national statistician Kristine Briones said that they will use the Community-Based Monitoring System in establishing a unified beneficiary database, including updating active and de-listed 4Ps beneficiaries.

• Over 790,000 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries that were initially delisted in 2023 have been reinstated to the program, 4Ps National Program Manager Gemma Gabuya said in February.
• Around 100,000 4Ps beneficiaries have been delisted from the program for anomalies, including those who pawned their ATM cards to loan sharks.
• The DSWD said they are expecting 1.2 million beneficiaries to exit from the program this year, including 200,000 beneficiaries who will graduate from the program by September.

• Around 800,000 people–not 1.3 million as initially planned–will be removed as beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps), Social Welfare Undersecretary Eduardo Punay said on Jan. 14.
• The DSWD’s delisting of beneficiaries will provide room for more people in need to benefit from the 4Ps program.

• As of January 3, the Supplemental Feeding Program’s 14th cycle, which ran from school year 2024-2025, has served 1.75 million children aged 2 to 5 with locally produced food. The BangUn project, meant to combat hunger and malnutrition in BARMM, has 22,000 beneficiaries composed of 0 to 12-year-old children as well as pregnant and lactating women.
• The DSWD increased FSSFP’s 2025 budget to P5.18 billion in 2025, covering the program’s 15th cycle for school year 2025-2026 to benefit around 1.5 million learners.

• As of May 31, the Supplemental Feeding Program’s (SFP) 13th cycle, which ran from school year 2023-2024, has served 1,624,400 children aged 2 to 5 with hot meals while 111,405 toddlers were given milk.
• The DSWD allotted P4.08 billion for the SFP in its 2024 budget. This will cover the program’s 14th cycle for the school year 2024-2025.

• The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) allocated P3.7 billion for the DSWD’s Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) in 2023.
• With this budget, the program aims to provide hot meals to 1.8 million children aged 2 to 5 years old and milk to 157,968 toddlers.
• As of March 31, the SFP had served 1,799,575 children. In 2022, it benefited 1,993,377 children.

• The DOH reported on June 4 that the COVID-19 FLiRT variant was already present in the country, with two cases detected by the Philippine Genome Center.
• All regions remain at low risk for COVID-19 but the FLiRT variant prompted the Bureau of Quarantine to conduct “thorough screening” of travelers arriving in the country.
• Recent DOH data showed an average of 319 COVID-19 cases reported daily from May 21 to 27. Occupancy rates of ICUs and hospital beds for COVID-19 cases remained low last May at 14% and 15%, respectively.

• The DOH coordinates with the Department of Interior and Local Government to ensure that government hospitals provide data on COVID-19 cases and hospital occupancy and utilization, the health department told VERA Files in a July 14 email.
• The DOH recorded the lowest utilization percentage of ICUs and hospital beds for COVID-19 cases in March 2023 at 11.72% and 15.00%, respectively.
• The highest rate of ICU and hospital bed occupancy for COVID-19 cases was in August 2022 at 26.89% and 30.27%, respectively.

• The Commission on Audit’s 2024 year-end report showed that the target time frame for the COVID-19 National Vaccination Program from 2021 to March 2023 came up short of DOH’s 111.5 million target with only 78.4 million individuals fully vaccinated and 23.8 million receiving the booster shot.
• No vaccine procurement budget was allocated in the 2025 DOH General Appropriations Act even with the emergence of the Nimbus, a COVID-19 subvariant this June.

• No budget was allocated for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines in 2024. However, the country is expected to receive one million vaccine doses to combat the Omicron XBB subvariant from the COVAX facility this year.
• The Health department reported that around 49.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were wasted in 2023 because of their short shelf life.
• Of 78.44 million fully vaccinated Filipinos against COVID-19, only 23.81 million individuals have received their booster shots, according to a 2023 DOH data.

• In a July 7 response, the DOH told VERA Files it launched various campaigns to encourage more Filipinos to receive COVID-19 jabs such as the Bakunahang Bayan: Special Vaccination Days and Bakunahang Bayan 2.
• Of the 79.16 million Filipinos fully vaccinated against COVID-19, only a third (approximately 24.178 million) received booster shots, based on the latest data from the DOH as of March 19.

• On June 30, the first day of filing legislative proposals by incoming representatives of the 20th Congress, Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Tingog Party-list Reps. Jude Acidre and Andrew Julian Romualdez co-authored House Bill No. 3  proposing the creation of a Center for Disease Control stressing the need for public health measures in relation to infectious diseases.
• The Senate has yet to pass a counterpart bill for the 20th Congress. Its latest iteration being Senate Bill No. 1869 during the 19th Congress with only a pending second reading status in February 2023, failing to pass the bill since Marcos’ last SONA.

• Congress has yet to pass a bill creating a Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) that would serve as the country’s National Disease Prevention Management Authority.
• The House approved its version of the bill in December 2022 but the Senate version has been pending for second reading since February 2023.

• The administration failed to meet its goal set earlier this year to pass a bill creating the CDC by June 2.
• While a measure in the House was approved on third and final reading last December, its counterpart in the Senate was stalled on second reading.

• Senate Bill No. 2893 or the Virology Institute of the Philippines Act was ratified by both Houses of Congress on June 3 and is now awaiting Marcos’ signature.

• The Marcos administration failed in its goal of passing in 2023 a bill creating the Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines, which would boost the country’s capability to study emerging viruses and develop its own vaccines.
• The House approved its version of the bill in December last year while 13 counterpart measures are pending at the Senate committee level.

• The administration missed its goal to pass by June 2 a bill creating the Virology Institute of the Philippines, meant to boost the country’s capability to develop vaccines.
• HB 6452 was passed on third and final reading in December but 13 counterpart measures in the Senate remain at the committee level.

• According to data from the DOH Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau as of June 30, only two – Mariveles Mental Wellness and General Hospital, and OFW Hospital – of the 13 specialty hospitals in operation are located outside of Metro Manila. Both were established before the Marcos administration.
• However, one of the key projects of the Marcos administration is the Clark Multi-Specialty Medical Center located in Pampanga, which is expected to be fully operational by 2028.

• Marcos signed Republic Act 11959 or the Regional Specialty Centers Act in August 2023 which mandated the DOH to establish specialty centers on cancer care, cardiovascular care, lung care and renal care, among others, outside Metro Manila.
• In January, Marcos said 131 medical specialty centers were established nationwide in 2023. The administration is aiming to put up 179 more medical specialty centers by 2028.

• Marcos is yet to sign a law mandating the DOH to put up at least one specialty center in each of the country’s 17 regions within five years. On May 31, the Senate and the House approved a consolidated version of bills creating specialty hospitals, but this has yet to be transmitted to Malacanang for the president’s signature.
• On June 1, the DOH said it plans to establish 231 specialty centers based on each region’s top burden of disease and special needs. The specialty centers will be put up as a unit or department in DOH-managed hospitals.
• On July 17, construction of a multi-specialty hospital (Philippine Heart Center annex) in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga will begin. Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said the hospital will initially serve as a general hospital then build its capacity for specialized treatment of children, cardiac and kidney diseases.

• Three bills in Congress providing the assignment of at least one nurse in every barangay are pending at the committee level. Five bills in the House and two in the Senate providing for a dental unit in every rural, city or municipal health unit are also pending at the committee level.
• VERA Files requested data from the DOH on the number of rural health units and clinics established since July 2022, but it has yet to receive a response as of publishing.

• The DOH announced in September 2024 that it has paid 90% of its P103.5-billion Health Emergency Allowance, settling over 14.5 million claims.
• Earlier, the DBM said it has approved the release of a Special Allotment Release Order amounting to P27.453 billion for the speedy settlement of the remaining unpaid HEA claims.
• This year, however, both the DBM and the DOH requested a special audit to straighten out financial inconsistencies following escalating funding requests beyond the initially approved HEA funds.

• On July 5, the DBM released P27.45 billion as the last tranche of Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances for healthcare workers who served during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In total, the DBM has released P118.74 billion for the emergency allowance of healthcare workers since 2021. Of this amount, P76 billion had been disbursed by the DOH to healthcare workers.
• Six bills seeking to provide a “Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers” remain pending in the Senate. The House passed a version of the measure in 2022.

• The DOH is pushing to standardize the salaries of healthcare workers in the public and private sectors. It calls for the inclusion of private health workers in the coverage of RA 7305, or the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers.
• Five House bills and four Senate bills are seeking to amend RA 7305 by creating a new salary scale and increasing allowances and benefits for government medical professionals such as dentists and midwives. House Bill 3194 proposes a housing program for government nurses.
• Eight bills in the House and three in the Senate push for salary increases for government and private nurses. In particular, HB 4599 seeks a minimum wage of P50,000 per month for both public and private nurses.
• Eight bills in the House and one in the Senate provide for an increase in the salary of government doctors from salary grade 21 (P36,619 to P39,367) to salary grade 22 (P71,511 to P79,349) or salary grade 23 (P80,033 to P89,281). One Senate bill and six counterparts in the House also propose tax incentives for doctors who provide services to poor patients.
• In December 2022, the House passed its version of the “Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers” to professionalize and provide compensation, and benefits for barangay health workers. The Senate is deliberating on six similar measures.

House Bill 6518 passed third reading in 2022, but its counterpart in the Senate (SB 1131) has been stuck at the committee level since 2023. No new bill has since been refiled creating such an organization.

• The government missed its target of enacting a Medical Reserve Corps law in 2023, with 12 Senate bills still pending at the committee level.
• The House passed its version of a Medical Reserve Corps bill in December 2022. House Bill 6518 created the Health Emergency Auxiliary Reinforcement Team (HEART), which will be composed of volunteer medical healthcare workers and professionals that will assist the DOH in times of disasters and public health emergencies.

• This is another priority measure that failed to meet the June 2 goal.
• Eleven bills providing for the Medical Reserve Corps are pending at the committee level in the Senate.
• The House passed a version of a medical reserve corps bill in December. HB 6518 seeks to create a Health Emergency Auxiliary Reinforcement Team (HEART), composed of volunteer medical professionals and health care workers and graduates of medicine and allied health courses, that will help in times of disaster and public health emergencies.

• The Philippine Competition Commission approved the acquisition of Joleco Resources Inc., operator of St. Joseph Drug, in August 2024. The PCC reported that they took a more collaborative approach by calling for consumers’ comments on their social media accounts to properly assess risks regarding competition and accessibility to affordable medications.
• PCC’s 2024 annual report noted that their market study is examining the dynamics in the pharmaceutical industry, including anti-competitive practices such as abuse of market dominance and exclusive dealing.

• In April, the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) began an in-depth review of Ayala-owned Generika Drugstore’s planned acquisition of a Northern Luzon-based pharmacy chain to determine if it would cause “substantial lessening of competition.”
• The PCC told VERA Files in a July 3 email that it remains “steadfast in monitoring developments in the pharmaceutical sector.” The commission said it refrains from publicizing details about ongoing investigations unless they develop into a formal case.

• The PCC told VERA Files of an ongoing investigation on procurement activities in the pharmaceutical sector for possible violations of Sections 14 and 15 of the Philippine Competition Act.
• The commission regularly conducts market studies in the pharmaceutical sector to find potential anti-competitive agreements and abuses of market dominance.
• The Barcelona School of Economics is assisting PCC in training other government agencies and regulators on competition issues in the pharmaceutical sector “to help correct a policy environment that may be incentivizing the operation of cartels.”

• The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has published a shorter revised version of the rules and regulations for the recruitment and employment of land-based migrant workers in 2023, which has 144 sections and 44 pages.
• The DMW has already completed the revision of the rules and regulation for sea-based workers, Karen Galang, executive assistant at the Office of Sea-Based OFW Concerns, told VERA Files in a July 11 phone call.
• Galang added that the department’s approval of the revised rules are pending the passage of the Magna Carta for Seafarers. The bill is already up for the president’s signature but was recalled by Congress on Feb. 26 due to a provision that would transfer jurisdiction on seafarers disputes from the Department of Labor and Employment to the International Labor Organization.

• Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople approved last June 9 the revised rules and regulations for the recruitment and employment of land-based migrant workers. From 246 sections and 71 pages, the revised rules now have 194 sections and 44 pages. The DMW told VERA Files on July 15 that it has yet to revise the rules for the recruitment and employment of sea-based migrant workers.
• In a July 15 email, Director Maria Bernardine Madamba, chief of staff of the DMW Undersecretary for Licensing and Adjudication Office, said the revised land-based guidelines now contain “all the basics and policies,” because other bureaus under DMW will issue separate operational guidelines on OFW recruitment and employment.
• Madamba said the DMW will produce simplified handbooks for sea-based and land-based OFWs, revising the handbooks produced by the previous administration.

• The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration opened applications for the Education for Development Scholarship Program in November 2024. Eligible applicants are OFW dependents entering first year college who pass a qualifying exam administered by the Department of Science and Technology where those qualified are given P60,000 annually for financial aid in their studies.
• The OFW Dependent Scholarship Program also opened applications in November 2024. Eligible applicants are dependents of low-income OFWs currently enrolled and/or incoming college students where financial aid is at P20,000 annually.

• The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration formed the OFW Children’s Circle (OCC) in 2022 aimed at helping kids cope with the social costs of labor migration. From its five pilot areas, the OCC is now conducting arts, sports and other educational activities in at least 15 of the country’s 17 regions.
• OWWA was given a P571.94 million budget to fund its three educational and social assistance programs in 2024, such as the Education for Development Scholarship Program and OFW Dependent Scholarship Program for college students, as well as the Education and Livelihood Assistance for dependents of deceased OFWs.

• The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration formed the OFW Children’s Circle (OCC) program 10 days before Marcos’ 2022 SONA, following his directive as president-elect.
• The program’s activities aim to help kids “cope with the negative effects and social costs of migration”. A total of 13,339 children of OFWs have registered in the program as of May 2023 in its pilot areas: Metro Manila, Ilocos region, the Southern Tagalog region, Central Visayas, and Southern Mindanao.
• OWWA continues to offer three educational and social assistance programs for children and siblings of OFWs, started by previous administrations, with 20,104 individuals availing of the programs in 2022.
• There were 259 beneficiaries from January to May 2023 of the Education and Livelihood Assistance program for dependents of the deceased, based on data OWWA sent to VERA Files.
• Applications are on-going for the Education for Development Scholarship Program (for college students; P60,000 maximum per school year) and OFW Dependent Scholarship Program (for college students; P20,000 per school year).

• The Philippine Creative Industries Development Council (PCIDC) has approved a creative industry framework, which aims to make the country Asia’s Premiere Creative Hub by 2030.
• The 19-member PCIDC is yet to complete its membership as only two of its nine private sector representatives, particularly for the audiovisual media and cultural sites domains, have been appointed as of June, the council told VERA Files in a July 12 email.
• Representatives for the Publishing and Printed Media, Creative Services and Design domains are awaiting the president’s approval while nominations for Performing Arts, Digital Interactive Media, Traditional Cultural Expressions and Visual Arts representatives are ongoing.

• The Philippine Creative Industries Development Act or RA 11904 lapsed into law three days after Marcos’ last SONA. Its implementing rules and regulations were signed in December 2022.
• Under the law, a Creative Industries Development Council is tasked to create opportunities and employment for creative workers, ensure financial-enabling mechanisms, and incentivize excellence in the industry.
• The Department of Trade and Industry allotted P20 million this year for a “creative venture fund” meant to jumpstart startups in the creative industry.
• A memorandum of understanding with Indonesia was signed in September 2022 to exchange information on market research and policy trends in creative industries, and facilitate co-production, co-branding, and marketing of creative products and services.
• Marcos appointed film and TV director Paul Soriano, creator of his campaign ads for the May 2022 elections, as presidential adviser on creative communications. The president said Soriano is tasked with promoting the local creative industry to the world.