Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 11291)
Republic Act No. 11291 is officially titled the "Magna Carta of the Poor."
The declared policy of the State is to uplift the standard of living and quality of life of the poor, provide sustained opportunities for growth and development through area-based, sectoral, and focused interventions, and empower poor Filipinos to meet minimum basic needs through government and basic sectors' partnership.
Basic Sectors refer to disadvantaged groups including farmer-peasants, fisherfolk, formal and informal workers, indigenous peoples, women, persons with disability, senior citizens, victims of calamities, youth and students, children, urban poor, and members of cooperatives.
Progressive Realization is the process of implementing the rights and provisions of the Act at a pace according to available funds and adjusting to current needs and exigencies.
The fundamental rights include the Right to Adequate Food, Right to Decent Work, Right to Relevant and Quality Education, Right to Adequate Housing, and Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health.
The DSWD is tasked to mitigate hunger especially during calamities, implement supplementary feeding programs, ensure availability and accessibility of adequate food supplies, and engage the poor in food self-sufficiency activities.
The Department of Labor and Employment must ensure access to job information, require contractors on public works to allocate 30% of skilled labor to qualified poor residents, promote livelihood programs, enforce core labor standards, and foster inclusive social dialogue.
Public education from kindergarten to high school is to be free, higher education is made accessible through free or socialized programs, scholarships, loans, and quality technical-vocational training is supported through scholarships and financial assistance.
Funding is sourced from existing appropriations in the General Appropriations Act allocated to various departments implementing antig-poverty programs, with preferential budget consideration and provisions for additional funds.
LGUs are required to align their development, investment, and poverty reduction plans with the National Poverty Reduction Plan and implement the same, with monitoring by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.