Committee on Poverty

House of Representatives
Committee Hearing through Zoom
Sept. 1, 2020

I. Short Sponsorship Speech for HB 5250 by Cong. Limkaichong

To the honorable chair, distinguished colleagues, and to our resource persons, good
afternoon.
It is my privilege to sponsor before this committee House Bill No. 5250. It is high time
that we enhance community participation in the local development process.

Except for the provision on the endowment fund, all the bills filed that institutionalize
community-driven development are substantially similar. All of them, including the one I
authored, aim to strengthen the role of citizens in crafting community action plans. We all hope
to institutionalize DSWD’s Kalahi-CIDSS or the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive
and Integrated Delivery of Social Services, which is a program that has demonstrated success
in delivering basic social services, community empowerment and poverty alleviation.

The KALAHI-CIDSS project seeks to alleviate poverty by addressing the lack of capacity
and resources at the local level as well as the limited responses of LGUs to community
priorities. The three main components of KALAHI-CIDSS are capacity building and
implementation support, community grants and monitoring and evaluation. The projects will be
identified by the communities based on their respective needs and the stakeholders are given
the opportunity to participate in the planning, budgeting, and implementation of community
identified programs.

Through this legislation, the program can receive continued funding from the national
government. Hence, it will have strong prospects for long-term sustainability.

For inclusive growth and increased resiliency especially of our poorest communities, I
sincerely hope for the urgent passage of this measure in this Committee.

II. Comments and Suggestions

1. Committee Report on the Substitute Bill to HB 5249 – Granting 50% discount on

funeral services to indigent families and granting free funeral services to
extremely poor families nationwide, appropriating funds therefor (Rep. Carlos
Isagani Zarate)
a. Sec. 4 which provides for Free Funeral Services for Extremely poor
families limits the availment of free funeral services to two per month per
funeral branch. Perhaps we can consider doing away with this limitation
especially in this time of pandemic where a life-threatening disease can
 easily spread within the household and claim the life of more than two
family members.
b. Include in Sec. 3 the definition of “At-need funeral services” as this
somewhat vague term was used in Sec. 5.
c. The last sentence of Sec. 5 can be made into a separate provision which
would clarify that the grant benefits without prejudice to other financial
assistance granted by the government applies to both Indigent Families
and Extremely Poor Families.
d. The phrase “Funeral Services” can be added in the title of Section 6 for
the provision to read as: “Requirements for Availing Free Funeral
Services or Discount”.
e. The last sentence of Sec. 6 can be clarified by indicating therein which
specific certification is not necessary before the family can avail of the
funeral services. If the family cannot present such certification, does the
last sentence mean that they can still avail of the funeral services but
without the benefits of this bill (i.e. no discount or free services)?

2. HBs 4407, 4470, 4764 & 5250 – Institutionalizing the community-driven

development approach as a national strategy for inclusive growth and social
protection, mandating all national government agencies and departments,
including their attached agencies, offices and bureaus, local government units,
and other government instrumentalities to implement their community-based
programs, activities, and projects, and appropriating funds therefor (Reps.
Maximo Dalog Jr., Lianda Bolilia, Allen Jesse Mangaoang, and Jocelyn Sy
Limkaichong)

a. Chapter I, section 5 - The definition of poor, vulnerable, disadvantaged

and marginalized should have greater clarity because any member of a
particular community can claim these said definitions. A suggestion would
be to conduct an initial interview to the target community using a Likert’s
scale method to distinguish groups of people falling under the said
definition.

b. Chapter I, section 7, subparagraph (h) - Crowdsourcing social scientists

from different outlets of the government and academe is needed if the
goal is to encourage community members to partake in data gathering for
their development. This could be advantageous because you can also
gather existing scientists that have established rapport to the target
community.

c. Chapter II, Section 13 - The Community Project Management Committee

should include experts in project development to guide elected officials
 policy development and monitoring and maintenance after project
completion. Accordingly, the committee should also provide a venue for
capacity building so as to ensure the sustainability of the project to the
community.

d. HBs 4407, 4470, 4764 & 5250 (Chapter III, Sec. 16, subparagraph (b) -
The secretary or any appointed representative in DENR can be added in
the board of directors. This is to ensure that proper assessment of
environmental projects being proposed have no detrimental effect in the
structural composition of the environment.

III. Possible Questions to be Raised at the Committee Hearing

1. For the Committee Report on the Substitute Bill to HB 5249:

a. Is the free funeral services applicable to areas where funeral homes are seldom?
b. What is the rationale behind the discount being set at 50% for indigent families?
c. What certification under Sec. 6 is not necessary for the families to avail of the
funeral services? If the family cannot present such certification, does the last
sentence mean that they can still avail of the funeral services but without the
benefits of this bill (i.e. no discount or free services)?

2. For HBs 4407, 4470, 4764 & 5250:

a. What are the major challenges and constraints faced by DSWD in the process of
implementing the CDD approach?
b. Has the CDD approach been used before to implement programs that were
made by and for the benefit of indigenous peoples?
c. Is CDD applicable to groups of people like the Badjaos that are nomads and
have no permanent residency?
d. Are communities qualified in liquidating their expenses? Shouldn’t there be a
check and balance in liquidating expenses to avoid corruption and mishandling of
public funds?
e. What will be the process of assessing the success of the programs?
IV. Difference between HBs 4407, 4470, 4764 & 5250: Endowment Fund

For House Bill 5250

For House Bill 4764

For House Bill 4470

For House Bill 4407