THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Activity: Timeline
SOW 101

THE PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD

From existing historical accounts, we can deduce that activities approximating the nature of
social welfare existed during the pre-colonial in Philippine history.

Available documents tells us that pre-historic Filipinos lived in small scattered communities
usually located along mouths of rivers and coastal plains. These were preferred because rivers and
bays provided water and food, and means of transportation. These communities were independent
social units called “barangays” ( from boats with such a name that were being used to move people
from place to place) composed of parents, children, relatives, and slaves. The “ barangay” was often
ruled by a headman, who was usually the oldest member of the community, and known as the
“dato” .His responsibility was to oversee the welfare of the members of his barangay. He also
functioned as arbiter of conflict and leader in times of danger.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL WORK PROFESSION IN THE PHILIPPINES

1905 The Philippine chapter of the American Red Cross ( one of the branches to be organized in
American territories) was established to take charges o disaster relief in the country and to administer
American Red Cross funds from the United States.
1908- The Philippine General Hospital was established in 1908 followed by the University Hospital
under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Services of America, and the Mary Johnston Hospital
under the auspices of the Methodist Church.
1915- The American government created the Public Welfare Board with the passage of Legislative Act
No. 2510, essentially to coordinate the welfare activities of various existing charitable organization.
1917 - The Associated Charities which was founded as a family welfare agency is generally considered
as the “mother” of the social work profession in the Philippines. This agency was the first to use
casework as a method of helping people, the first to use social workers as full-time, paid employees,
and the first to hire a trained social worker as its executive secretary.

1920- The Division of Dependent Children in the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner. On her
part, in the government sector, Mrs. Martinez introduced new concepts in child welfare work.

1921- Josefa Jara Martinez, a government pesionada who had obtained a social work diploma from
the New York School of Social Work. The Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner was created
under the supervision of the Department of Interior.
1922 The Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner prepared solicitation forms which is required the
public to demand of any person appealing for donations to charities.
1924- The Associated Charities had become an independent agency under the supervision of the
Public Welfare Commissioner, and was being partly financed by the government and partly by private
contributions.
1930- The Associated Charities was already employing college graduates as home visitors, who were
provided some kind of in-service training. Non-degree social work courses were then being offered at
the University of the Philippines, and shortly before the outbreak of World War II, a civil service
examination was given to social workers.
1940- the Office of the Commission of health and Public Welfare (the office which took charge of
health and welfare services between 1930 and 1940) was abolished and replaced by a Department of
Health and Public Welfare.
1941- An Executive Order established under the Bureau of Public Welfare (, of the new Department) a
Public Assistance Service, which took over the activities that used to be performed by the Associated
Charities which, by then, had ceased to exist.
1946- The establishment of the War Relief Office to provide relief and rehabilitation services to war
victims resulted in the employment of more social workers, with full or little college education. The
Bureau of the Public Welfare, re- opened in 1946, but lack of funds greatly limited its operations.
1947- Recognizing the need for a more centralized and better integrated social welfare program, the
Bureau become the Social Welfare Commission, and was placed under the Office of the President. The
Philippine Association o
1948- President Quirino created the President’s Action Committee on Social Amelioration (PACSA)
which was charged with “duty of giving relief assistance to the hungry, the homeless and the sick … to
victims of dissident depredation and violence”.
1949-The Council of Welfare Agencies of the Philippines and the Community Chest of Greater Manila
were organized.
1951- The Social Welfare Commission and the President’s Action Committee on Social Amelioration
were fused into one agency called the Social Welfare Administration.
1961- The big boost to the professionalization of social work was the launching of the UNICEF-Assisted
Social Services Project of the Social Welfare Administration.
1965-mid-sixties was the passage an important development of the Republic Act 4373 “An Act to
Regulate the Practice of Social Work and the Operation of Social Work Agencies in the Philippines”
1972-President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared Martial Law and set up a crisis government. This was the
period of the First (1960s) and Second (1970s) United Nations-declared “Development Decades”
1976-The Department of Social Welfare became the Department of Social Services and Development
shifting emphasis from the traditional, often institution-based social welfare to community -oriented
program and services which underscored peoples own capacities for problem-solving
1987-President Corazon C. Aquino signed Executive Order No. 123, reorganizing the MSSD and
renaming it Department of Social Welfare and Development. The Department was” Evolving from
mere welfare or relief agency the greater task of development.”
1991- R.A.7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code, was passed. The DSWDD along with
other national agencies had to “shift gears” it had to devolve its implementing functions together with
its programs and services, direct service workers, budget corresponding to salary and funds pf the
programs, and assets and liabilities to staff and to the local government units starting in 1992.
1999- The country’s NGO (Non- Government Organization) networks launched the Philippine Council
for NGO Certification (PCNC), envisioned as self -regulatory body which, though a memorandum of
agreement with Department of finance will be authorized to certify NGO’s applying fir done
institution status based on specific based.

), NGO Certificationn (for

2006- There were 16,134 licensed social workers in the country. Year-end Report, the DSWD cites its
having intensified the implementation of pro-poor programs, which are in consonance with the
Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP)