Social Enterprise Bill Promotes Better Lives to Poor Communities

Before the close of the month where the international days of disaster risk reduction and eradication of poverty are both held, an alliance of organizations and lawmakers reiterate the call to reduce poverty through the substitute Senate Bill 2210, otherwise known as the Poverty Reduction through Social Entrepreneurship (PRESENT) Bill.

“Poverty as an already complex problem needs to be solved through proper infrastructure and healthy environment for social enterprises“, Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV who authored the PRESENT Bill said.

Recently, SWS reveal that 12.1 million or 55% of Filipino families consider themselves poor while some 9.3 million or 43% families say that they are food-poor. These numbers are above last year’s average of 52% and 39%, respectively.

While the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew during the recent years, the Filipino people do not feel that their lives become better-off. In a study made by Filipino economist Cielito Habito, he explained that the bulk of the country’s GDP which is 76.5%, represents the rise in aggregate wealth of the 40 richest families in 2010-2011.

Committee Chair Senator Bam Aquino, Senators Cynthia Villar and Nancy Binay express their support for the PRESENT Bill.

The PRESENT Bill promotes social enterprise as an important way of addressing poverty. Social enterprise is a vehicle by which poor can create their own wealth in addition to employment opportunities as they assume the role of workers, suppliers, and owners in their own community enterprises.

At the core of the bill is the development of interventions that will allow the poor and marginalized sectors, some of whom are farmers, fisherfolks, indigenous people (IPs), women, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities (PWDs) to participate in the value chain of goods and services where they can own a bigger portion of wealth created.

The bill also seeks to empower people by becoming gender sensitive and ecologically mindful, reflecting that its foundations are built from the triple bottomline approach.

“Inequality presents challenge to the poor sectors to undertake economic activities that will uplift their lives. Through social enterprise initiatives, we hope that wealth will be redistributed at the same pace with social and environment aspects”, Jay Bertram Lacsamana, the executive director of the Foundation for a Sustainable Society, Inc. (FSSI) said.

The poor as stakeholders of social enterprises are also provided with loans, funds for research and development, social value procurement, trainings and capacity-building activities, and insurance for social enterprises especially in times of disasters.

The bill is supported by the PRESENT Coalition, an alliance of various social enterprise practitioners, advocates, NGOs, and academes who have joined together to lobby the passing of the bill in the houses of Congress and the Senate.

Representatives Cresente Paez along, Teddy Baguilat and Anthony Bravo also filed a similar bill in the lower house. It is now awaiting a second reading in the lower house. Convenors of the said alliance are Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) and the Foundation for a Sustainable Society, Inc. (FSSI).

Photo above: The PRESENT Coalition discusses the SE Bill with Cong. Cresente Paez of the lower house.