HISTORY OF SOCIAL WELFARE/SOCIAL WORK IN THE PHILIPPINES

THE PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD

Social Welfare work in those times centered on mutual protection and economic survival.

THE SPANISH PERIOD

The Spaniards brought the teaching, to do good to others for the salvation of their souls, and
which for many years was the underlying philosophy behind all social welfare activities.

1565 – Don Miguel Lopez de Legaspi established the first hospital in Cebu for the purpose of
attending to the wounded and the victims of diseases.

1882 – Hospicio de San Jose was founded to house the aged and orphans, the mentally
defective and young boys requiring reform, but later limiting admission to children who were
discharged, later to be adopted or employed.

1885 – Asilo de San Vicente de Paul, an asylum for girls was established, offering religious
instruction, primary education, and training in housework in its inmates.
The hospitals, asylums, orphanages and schools were maintained using subsidies and grants from
the Spanish government. However, these were not sufficient and donations from philanthropic
individuals were also solicited.

THE AMERICAN PERIOD

1899 – Americans occupied the country and introduced a new educational system, new health
methods, and religious freedom.

1902 – The Civil government created an agency, the Insular Board, to coordinate and supervise
private institutions engaged in welfare work.

February 5, 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 organizations.

January 1917 – The first government entity to operate as a welfare agency, and an initial step in
child welfare services, was set up.

1900 – Attempt was made to alleviate the condition of deaf children at the Philippine Normal
School.

1910 – A school for the deaf and blind was organized.

1905 – The Philippine chapter of the American Red Cross was established to take charge of
disaster relief in the country and to administer Red Cross funds from the United States.

1907 – La Gota de Leche was established to furnish child-caring institutions with fresh
cow’s milk from dairy farm in Pasay, Manila, supervised by a veterinarian. This agency later
opened free consultation clinic for mothers.

1913 – Associacion de Damas Filipinas was organized by civic-spirited women to help

destitute mothers and their children.

1921 – Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner was created. It absorbed the functions of
the Public Welfare Board which, while charged with coordinating and intensifying the activities
of child welfare organizations and agencies, was unable to cope with the mounting problems in
the health field, which was manifested by the high infant mortality rate in the second decade of
the century.

1922 – The Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner prepared solicitation forms which it
required the public to demand of any person appealing for donations and charities. This was done
to protect the public and organizations from unscrupulous persons collecting funds. This
practice, however, was not legally sanctioned until 1933.

1924 – The Associated Charities had become independent agency under the supervision of the
Public Welfare Commissioner, and was partly financed by the government, and partly by private
contributions.
– The Philippine Legislature passed a law (Philippine Legislative Act No. 3203) relating to the
care and custody of neglected and delinquent children and providing probation officers for them.

1933 – The administration of social welfare in the Philippines was marked by significant

developments when Frank Murphy became the Governor-General. Scholarship grants for
professional training in social work in the United States were made available.
– The Legislature appropriated funds for the operations of government child and maternal health
centers which was established in every town with at least two thousand populations.

The economic depression in the 1930s created serious economic problems. The Associated
Charities were unable to cope with the number of applicants for relief and other social services,
despite appropriations made by the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner, under its
director, Dr. Jose Fabella.

Josefa Jara Martinez who obtained a diploma in Social Work in 1921, worked for the Public
Welfare Board where she started to introduce the scientific approach in social work.

The Murphy administration’s social welfare programs marked the first time the government
assumed full responsibility for the relief of the distressed due to any cause.
THE COMMONWEALTH PERIOD

1940 – The Office of the Commissioner of Health and Public Welfare was abolished and
replaced by a Department of Health and Public Assistance Service, which took over the activities
that used to be performed by the Associated Charities which, by then, had ceased to exist.

THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION

Social Welfare activities during the period consisted mainly of giving medical care and
treatment, as well as food and clothing, to the wounded soldiers, prisoners and civilians.

THE POST-WAR YEARS

1946 – The Bureau of Public Welfare re-opened but lack of funds limited its operations.

October 4, 1947 – The Bureau became the Social Welfare Commission and was placed under the
Office of the President.

August 1948 – President Quirino created the President’s Action Committee on Social

Amelioration. It is a comprehensive program of health, education, welfare, agriculture, public
works and financing.

1946 – The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was created by
the United Nations General Assembly to further maternal and child health in economically
underdeveloped country.

1948 – UNICEF became active in the Philippines, establishing basic health care services to
mothers and children, consisting of medical care, feeding programs and health education.

January 3, 1951 – The Social Welfare Commission and the President’s Action Committee on
Social Amelioration were fused into one agency called the Social Welfare Administration.

THE SOCIAL WELFARE ADMINISTRATION

Division of Public Assistance
 Assistance was given in the form of material aid like food, financial aid, transportation
aid, medical aid, institutional care and work relief.
 Service was rendered in the form of rehabilitation services and administration and
supervision of rehabilitation projects and workshops.
Child Welfare Division
 Casework and guidance services for children are under this unit.
Division on Rural Welfare
 This was created by Administrative Order No. 7, on September 5, 1951.
 It deals with the mounting social problems in the rural areas.
 “Self-Help” became the underlying philosophy for the rural community development
projects.
1965 – Republic Act 4373, “An Act to Regulate the Practice of Social Work and the Operation
of Social Work Agencies in the Philippines”
– The law requires completion of a Bachelor of Science in Social Work degree, one thousand
hours of supervised field practice, and the passing of a government board examination in social
work for licensing or registration as a social worker.
– It is the formal recognition of social work as a profession in the Philippines.

THE SEVENTIES

September 8, 1976 – The Department of Social Welfare became the Department of Social

Services and Development shifting emphasis on the traditional, often institution-based social
welfare to community-oriented programs and services.

June 2, 1978 – President Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 1397, converting departments
into ministries thus the Ministry of Social Services and Development. The organizational
structure, functions and programs remains the same.
The sixties and seventies marked the existence of voluntary organizations and establishment of
even more agencies.

THE EIGHTIES

The Self-Employment Assistance was upgraded to make it more responsive to its client’s needs.
Case Management System was launched. Social Welfare Indicators monitor the level of well-
being of the MSSD service users.

January 30, 1987 – President Corazon C. Aquino signed Executive Order No.

123, reorganizing MSSD and renaming it Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The Department was evolving from mere welfare or relief agency to the greater task of
development. The approach taken by the agency during this period is described as preventive and
developmental, participative and client-managed.

THE NINETIES

The DSWD continued the five program areas of concern during the early nineties. It also gave
priority attention to Low Income Municipalities (LIMs) and other socially-depressed barangays.
The aftermath of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption was the use of Crisis Incident Stress Debriefing
(CISD), a form of crisis intervention used with victims of disasters and other crisis situation.

October 10, 1991 – R.A. 7160 Local Government Code was passed. Implementing functions
together with its programs and services were devolved to its local government unit. The
Department, however, retained its specialized social services consisting of four categories: (a)
Center/institution-based services; (b) community-based programs and services; (c) locally-
funded and foreign-assisted projects; and (d) disaster relief and rehabilitation augmentation.

Today, countless social agencies, organizations and institutions under private sponsorship are
engaged in the provision of many different social services. NGOs play a very important role in
supplementing the needs of the rising disadvantaged sectors in our society.

R.A. 4373 (the Social Work Law, 1967) provides that no social welfare agency shall operate
and be accredited unless it shall first have registered with the Social Welfare Administration
which shall issue the corresponding certificate of registration.

R.A. 5416 (1968) empowers the Department to (1) set standards and policies; (2) accredit public
and private institutions and organizations; and (3) coordinate government efforts in social
welfare work to avoid duplication, friction and overlapping of responsibility in social services.