MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Besieged by calls from various sectors, including the Catholic church, to show how it is helping people in these times of high oil and food prices, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered concerned agencies to consolidate their programs to ensure that these would reach the poor.

"There is still time to generate social impact if efforts are targeted," the President said Tuesday in issuing Administrative Order 232 creating the national social welfare program.

"The existing programs of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development, the Department of Health, the Government Service
Insurance System, the Social Security System, and other agencies dealing with social welfare shall be clustered together into a national social welfare program that directly addresses the impact of the adverse global environment," the order said.

The work of clustering will be headed by the administrator of the SSS, who will have a Cabinet rank.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said the President felt it was important to put into one framework the social welfare programs of the government to have "convergence and cohesiveness."

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said that funded social welfare programs for the year of four agencies -- DSWD, DOH, Department of
Education, and Department of Labor -- amounted to about P45 billion.

In her opening statement at the Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Arroyo said the government would continue with ongoing programs such as the distribution of rice to school children, conditional cash transfer to poor families, and cooperation with bus and jeepney operators to ease the burden of high fuel prices on commuters.

"Magagawa natin ito mula sa lumalagong kaban ng bayan mula sa buwis ng mga may kayang antas ng ating lipunan [We will be able to do all these from our growing public coffers that come from the affluent sector]," she said.

Arroyo said the National Food and Energy Council would also meet to revise programs to enhance rice production until the end of the year.

"Titiyakin nating masigasig at malawakan ang pagtatanim ng palay,
kasama ang [We are going to ensure the vigorous and widespread planting of palay, along with] FIELDS -- fertilizer, irrigation and other infrastructure, extension, equipment and education, loans, dryers and other post-harvest facilities, and seeds," she said.

Arroyo said that the National Economic Development Authority Cabinet group would also examine trends of global trade.

"If on the liability side of the national balance sheet we sustain loss from rising prices of commodities we import like oil and rice, then we should endeavor to generate compensating gains on the asset side through commodities we can export," she said.

"This assertive side consists of 'hard' commodities such as primary products, supplemented by 'soft' commodities such as tourism and outsourced business processing," she added.

One of Arroyo's economic advisers and Albay Governor Joey Salceda had proposed a three-year P316-billion "social protection plan" intended to shore up the economy and provide a cushion to the poor.

The proposed plan will involve the President asking Congress for a supplemental budget for "conditional cash transfers to poor households, agricultural production stimulus, strategic rice reserve, college scholarships, income tax relief to working families, power discounts to households, and housing stimulus."