‘Magna Carta for the Poor’ hurdles committee level

House of Representatives. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—A bill, which seeks to uplift the lives of the impoverished through employment, feeding programs and education, is on its way to the plenary of the House of Representatives.

The chamber has calendared for floor deliberations House Bill 4528, or the “Magna Carta of the Poor.”

The bill aims to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of eradicating poverty and hunger.

The measure hurdled the Committee on Poverty Alleviation chaired by Camarines Sur Representative Salvio Fortuno.

One of the bill’s provisions is to use food items seized for violating customs laws for feeding programs to be led by the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD).

“To ensure the implementation of the food assistance program, all food items and food products, including rice, corn, sugar and other prime commodities, seized and forfeited with finality in favor of the government for violations of customs laws shall be automatically transferred or turned over to the DSWD for proper disposition,” one of the bill’s authors Cebu City Representative Raul Del Mar said.

Under the bill, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and local government units should engage the poor in food self-sufficiency programs. One way is for the DA to buy the harvests of poor farmers.

For employment, the bill wants a system of information dissemination among the poor over job opportunities in the public and private sectors.

Also, at least 30 percent of the skilled labor force of private contractors and subcontractors working for government should be reserved for the poor.

For education, the bill also provides for socialized college education, student loans and study-now-pay-later plans.

For housing, the bill wants a subsidy scheme for decent shelters among the poor to ensure the security of tenure for the impoverished.

The bill also wants LGUs to provide basic health services, as well as free delivery of services and medicines, for the poor.

The authors of the bill are Del Mar, Rep. Marcelino Teodoro (1st District, Marikina City), Rep. Erlinda Santiago (Party-list, 1-SAGIP) and Rep. Ma. Victoria Sy-Alvarado (1st District, Bulacan).

The funding will be sourced from existing anti-poverty appropriations of the different anti-poverty departments and agencies.

At least 182 or more than half of the House of Representatives are co-authors, including Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

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