Beyond a cosmetic solution

Last week, President Marcos signed Executive Order No. 52, “Oplan Pag-abot” (reaching out), making it one of his administration’s anti-poverty measures. Pilot-tested last year by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the program will serve as a platform for an “enhanced and unified” delivery of social services to “families or individuals in street situations” (FISS), the President said.

With a P300 million budget in 2024, the program intends to profile some 5,000 FISS this year and take them off the streets for their safety, while offering them livelihood, relocation, and decent shelter. Tasked to oversee the program is the DSWD, with assistance from various government agencies among them the departments of the interior, trade and industry, labor, health, budget, and education, as well as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor.

But just how different is “Oplan Pag-abot” from similar programs launched by previous administrations that hardly made a dent in the country’s frayed social fabric?

Rights-based approach

For one, this latest program would be digitalized for a more accurate and comprehensive profile and database on the targeted families, DSWD Undersecretary Eduardo Punay said.

Social workers will also be working with the Commission on Human Rights for a rights-based approach to convince FISS to avail of the program. “Our rule is, puwedeng kulitin pero bawal pilitin (we can be persistent without forcing anyone),” Punay said.

He added that based on interviews, social workers will assess the appropriate interventions needed by beneficiaries who are then sent either to DSWD care facilities, or back to their homes in Metro Manila or the provinces. Meanwhile, they will be offered medical, livelihood, and other assistance, with local government units (LGUs) given community grants to improve access to basic services in their area to entice the beneficiaries to stay.

Under its “Balik-Probinsya” component which covers expenses for the street dwellers’ return to their home provinces, the program will endorse qualified families for inclusion in the “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program” and other government anti-poverty initiatives.

‘Balik Probinsya’“Oplan Pag-Abot” is definitely a commendable effort meant to address the homelessness in big cities that was caused by loss of employment, especially during the pandemic, unstable jobs and insufficient income, domestic violence, or the loss of homes due to natural disasters.

But while well-intentioned, the program should manage people’s expectations and address the realities on the ground that are behind the problems hounding FISS, most of which are unfortunately rooted in long-standing systemic issues.

For one, program managers must ask just how effective the “Balik Probinsya” offer has been. While beneficiaries disillusioned with the city may welcome moving back to the province, how many of them really stay? Does the government even monitor if there are enough jobs and opportunities in these provinces, the lack of which drove rural folk to the city in the first place? What community grants can the program offer, and will Tesda’s training be enough to help beneficiaries start small businesses, learn a new trade, and earn enough to send their children to school? With a bigger share of the internal revenue allotment, LGUs must be compelled to set aside part of their now bigger budget to offer better social services, like more health centers, schools, and maybe a feeding program for children from disadvantaged families.

Cosmetic solution

With most provinces relying on agriculture, it is also incumbent on the government to look into what ails this sector that has driven farmers and their families into such grinding poverty that they’d risk being homeless in the city, rather than stay and cultivate their land. Farm subsidies to offset high agricultural costs, especially fertilizer and other farm inputs, might be worth exploring, as are better irrigation options now that the effects of El Niño are starting to be felt. Building more cold storage facilities for high-value crops will also help, as farmers are often forced to choose between letting their harvest go to waste, or selling them at a loss and going into crippling debt.Hopefully, “Oplan Pag-abot” won’t be seen by beneficiaries as another passive dole-out program, but one that deserves their active involvement. Nor should the program be regarded by tourism stakeholders as a cosmetic solution meant to get rid of ramshackle houses pitched on city streets. With elections looming, local officials must be warned as well against using the program as part of their political campaign. Instead, it should prompt the government to look at the bigger picture and see street dwellers as mere manifestations of the rot in the countryside, to which it must arduously reach out.