Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 8425)
Republic Act No. 8425 is known as the "Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act."
The policy is to adopt an area-based, sectoral, and focused intervention to poverty alleviation empowering every poor Filipino family to meet its minimum basic needs and actively pursue asset reform and redistribution of productive economic resources to the basic sectors.
Basic sectors refer to the disadvantaged sectors of Philippine society, including farmer-peasant, artisanal fisherfolk, workers in formal and informal sectors, indigenous peoples, women, differently-abled persons, senior citizens, calamity victims, youth, students, children, and the urban poor.
The NAPC is a coordinating and advisory body under the Office of the President created to implement the Social Reform Agenda (SRA), succeeding the Presidential Commission to Fight Poverty, the Social Reform Council, and the Presidential Council for Countryside Development.
The President of the Philippines heads the NAPC as Chairperson. Members include heads of key government departments, presidents of local government leagues, and representatives from the basic sectors elected by the sectoral councils.
The NAPC coordinates social reform and poverty programs, recommends policy measures, ensures participation of basic sectors, oversees implementation and monitoring, advocates fund mobilization, provides incentives to local governments, and submits annual reports to Congress.
The PDTF, funded primarily from PAGCOR earnings and government appropriations, is a trust fund monitored by the NAPC intended to finance microfinance projects, capability building, community organizing, research, and related activities for the benefit of the poor.
Microfinance is a credit and savings mobilization program exclusively for the poor, involving viable alternative credit schemes and saving programs such as small loans, collateral-free arrangements, group character loans, simplified loan application, and small denominated savers' instruments.
LGUs are responsible for formulating, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the National Anti-Poverty Action Agenda in their jurisdictions, including identifying the poor, sourcing funding, coordinating efforts with the private sector, and submitting progress reports to the NAPC.
The PCFC is a government-controlled corporation and lead government entity tasked with delivering microfinance services exclusively for the poor, mobilizing financial resources, and coordinating with other agencies for effective microfinance implementation.