MANILA, Philippines -- Despite dole-outs and subsidies, the government has still failed to help the poor, as shown by a poverty-stricken mother who killed her own children and committed suicide, a former government official said.

"It is very alarming, and this is not the first we've heard of mothers and fathers harming their own children out of desperation. It tells [us] that we are approaching a situation of poverty where people are falling off the brick," said Corazon "Dinky" Soliman, former social welfare secretary, after the forum on Social Welfare and Poverty Reduction attended by representatives of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, non-government organizations, the academe, among others.

On Tuesday, Janeth Ponce, 32, forced three of her children to drink a bottle of liquid toilet bowl cleaner before drinking the same substance herself in Magdalena town in Laguna province. Television reports said Ponce's husband worked as a construction worker in Manila and has not been able to send them money for over a month.

"[They have] reached a tipping point and instead of violence against a perpetrator, it is horizontal violence that’s happening. It’s violence against even your loved ones and it’s really an act of desperation," said Soliman.

"Why is it alarming? It is because that means we are not able to reach people like them and provide them hope," she added.

Soliman said it was high-time the government provided long-term solutions, including "good governance."

Meanwhile, Bertie Lim of the Makati Business Club said subsidies have done little to alleviate poverty.

Instead, government subsidies merely disrupt the normal operations of the market, prompting higher prices of goods, Lim said.

"It is better to allow the market to operate because that's also for the consumer. [Subsidies] drive away investments," he added.

Lim said borrowing money from banks abroad just so the government could provide for the poor was not a good idea.

"It is bad to run deficits to pay for subsidies. And when the prices go up they [poor] cannot afford anything anymore," he said.