By Filane Mikee Cervantes/PNA
MANILA — The Senate on Tuesday approved on final reading a measure providing for a Magna Carta of the Poor to ensure that indigent Filipinos are provided with basic services and adequate support.
A total of 13 senators voted in favor of Senate Bill No. 2121, while none voted against it. There was no abstention.
The bill aims to prioritize programs that ensure the full enjoyment and realization of 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.
Once passed into law, it will provide the poor with full access to government services offered by its departments, agencies, and instrumentalities, maintain a system of free public education, and ensure equitable access to a system of good quality health care and protection, among others.
It will also protect the rights of the workers by ensuring compliance with core labor standards and prioritize the implementation of the socialized housing program.
Senator Loren Legarda, principal author of the bill, said the measure seeks to alleviate poverty by ensuring that every Filipino rightfully receives the minimum basic needs that will enable him to participate in the country’s growth and development.
“We also want to strengthen convergence between the government and its basic sectors to fully make its services accessible to the poor,” she said.
Legarda said the Magna Carta of the Poor will adopt an area-based, sectoral, and focused intervention to poverty alleviation.
“It will institutionalize long-term strategies and solutions that will give the poor dignity and a better way of life. Most importantly, the poor will be empowered to become productive members of society and key players in the country’s overall growth and development,” she said.
