Administrative Order No. 21

Purpose

SECTION 2. Purpose. These Rules are promulgated to proscribe the procedures and guidelines for the implementation of Title I of RA No. 8425 in order to facilitate compliance therewith and achieve the objectives thereof.

Declaration of Policy

SECTION 3. Declaration of Policy. It is the policy of the State to: a) Adopt a sustainable, integrated, area-based, sectoral and focused intervention to poverty alleviation wherein every poor Filipino family shall be empowered to meet its minimum basic needs of health, food and nutrition, water and environmental sanitation, income security, shelter and decent housing, peace and order, education and functional literacy, participation in governance and family care and psycho-social well-being; b) Actively pursue asset reform or redistribution of productive economic resources to the basic sectors, including the adoption of a system of public spending which is targeted towards the poor; c) Institutionalize and enhance the Social Reform Agenda (SRA), which embodies the results of the series of consultations and summits on poverty alleviation; d) Adopt and operationalize the following principles and strategies as constituting the national framework integrating various structural reforms and anti-poverty initiatives: i Social reform shall be a continuing process that addresses the basic inequities in Philippine society through a systematic package of social interventions. ii. The SRA shall be enhanced by government in equal partnership with the different basic sectors through appropriate and meaningful consultations and participation in governance. iii. Policies, programs and resource commitments from both government and the basic sectors shall be clearly defined to ensure accountability and transparency in the implementation of the SRA. iv. A policy environment conducive to sustainable social reform shall be pursued. v. The SRA shall address the fight against poverty through a multi-dimensional and cross-sectoral approach which recognizes and respects the core values, cultural integrity and spiritual diversity of target sectors and communities. vi. The SRA shall pursue a rights-based and gender-responsive approach to fight poverty. vii. The SRA shall promote ecological balance in the different ecosystems in a way that gives the basic sectors a major stake in the use, management, conservation and protection of productive resources. viii. The SRA shall take into account the principle and interrelationship of population and development in the planning and implementation of social reform programs, thereby promoting self-help and self-reliance. ix. SRA implementation shall be focused on specific target areas and basic sectors. x. The SRA shall advocate and institutionalize a multi-sectoral approach towards building social consensus on poverty alleviation at the national and local levels, thereby mobilizing the different but potentially complementary capacities, resources and perspectives of civil society, government, and business towards a concerted societal effort at alleviating poverty. SECTION 4. Definition of Terms. a) Artisanal fisherfolk – refers to those directly or indirectly engaged in taking, culturing, or processing fishery or aquatic resources. These include, but are not to be limited to, those engaged in fishing using gears that do not require boats, or boats less than three (3) tons, in municipal waters, coastal and marine areas; workers in commercial fishing and aquaculture; vendors and processors of fish and coastal products; and subsistence producers such as shell-gatherers, managers, and producers of mangrove resources, and other related producers. b) Children – refers to citizens below 18 years old whose right to survival, development, protection and participation are to be promoted, protected and fulfilled in a manner consistent with their evolving capacities. c) Cooperatives – refers to duly registered associations of at least 15 persons, majority of whom are poor, having a common bond of interest, who voluntarily join together to achieve a common social and economic end; organized by members who equitably contribute the required share capital and accept a fair share of risks and benefits of their undertaking. d) Farmers and landless rural workers – refers to those who are engaged directly or indirectly in small farms and forest areas, and workers in commercial farms and plantations, whether paid or unpaid, regular or season-bound. These shall include, but are not limited to: i Small-scale farmers who own or are still amortizing lands that are not more than three (3) hectares, tenants, leaseholders, and stewards; and ii. Rural workers who are either wage earners, self-employed, or unpaid family workers directly and personally engaged in agriculture, small-scale mining, handicrafts, and other related farm and off-farm activities. e) Indigenous Peoples – refers to a group of people or homogenous societies identified by self-ascription and ascription by others, who have continuously lived as an organized community on communally bounded and defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing common bonds of language, customs, tradition and other distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through resistance to political, social and cultural inroads of colonization, non- indigenous religions and culture, become historically differentiated from the majority of Filipinos. ICCs/IPs shall likewise include peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country, at the time of conquest or colonization, or at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures, or the establishment of present state boundaries, who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled outside their ancestral domains. f) Urban Poor – refers to those residing in urban and urbanizable slum or blighted areas, with or without the benefit of security of abode, where the income of the head of the family cannot afford in a sustained manner to provide for the family’s basic needs of food, health, education, housing, and other essentials in life. g) Migrant Workers – refers to Filipinos who are to be engaged, are engaged, or have been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which they are not legal residents, whether documented or undocumented. h) Non-Government Organizations – refers to duly registered non-stock, nonprofit organizations focused on the upliftment of the basic or disadvantaged sectors of society by providing advocacy, training, community organizing, research, access to resources and other similar activities. i) Party-List Organizations – any organized group of persons duly registered in the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) as a party, organization or coalition participating in the party-list system as a national, regional or sectoral party or organization or a coalition of such parties or organizations. j) Persons with disability – refers to those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. k) Political Parties – refers to organized groups of citizens advocating an ideology or platform, principles and policies for the general conduct of government and which, as the most immediate means of securing their adoption, regularly nominate and support certain leaders and members as candidates for public office. l) Senior citizens – or “elderly” shall mean all resident citizens of the Philippines who are at least sixty (60) years old. m) Students – refers to anyone enrolled in and regularly attending school at the secondary, post-secondary, graduate and post-graduate levels. n) Victims of disasters and calamities – refers to persons suffering under conditions involving mass casualty and/or major damages to property, as well as disruption of means of livelihoods and normal way of life in affected areas as a result of the occurrence of natural or human-induced hazards. o) Workers in the formal sector – refers to workers in the formal economy, or those who are employed by any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee and shall include the government and all its branches, subdivisions, and instrumentalities, all government-owned and-controlled corporations and institutions, as well as nonprofit private institutions or organizations. p) Workers in the informal sector – refers to self-employed, occasionally or personally hired, subcontracted, paid and unpaid family workers in household; incorporated and unincorporated enterprises, including home workers; micro-entrepreneurs and producers, and operators of sari-sari stores and all other categories who suffer from violation of workers’ rights. q) Youth – refers to persons whose ages range from fifteen (15) to thirty (30) years old. RULE II THE PHILIPPINE APPROACH TO SOCIAL REFORM AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION

A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Poverty Alleviation

SECTION 1. A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Poverty Alleviation. Strategies or programs of government and civil society shall incorporate the elements that will address each of the four dimensions of the SRA, namely: a) Economic Dimension (Asset Reform). Asset reform seeks to address the issue of economic inequity by widening the citizens’ share of resources, whether natural or manufactured, from which they can earn a living and increase the fruits of their labor. Such reform necessarily addresses existing inequities in the ownership, distribution, management and control over resources. The government shall give priority to the enactment and strict implementation of laws that widen the share of the basic sectors in the resources of society. The government shall likewise undertake budgetary reform to implement asset reform. b) Socio-Cultural Dimension (Access to Quality Basic Services and Protection of the Security of Life, Person, Livelihood, Indigenous Culture and Freedom from Violence). These reforms refer to the equitable control and access to socio-cultural services and facilities especially education, health, housing and other basic services necessary to enable the citizens to meet their basic human needs, live decent lives and ensure that the benefits of asset reform are equally shared by all rightful beneficiaries. The government shall, therefore, work to eliminate all forms of discrimination which cause women, youth and children, the elderly and persons with disability, to be further marginalized and excluded within their own economic sectors. c) Ecological Dimension (Sustainable Uses of Productive Resources). These reforms ensure the effective and sustainable utilization of the natural and ecological resource base, thus assuring greater social acceptability and increased participation of the basic sectors in the conservation, management and development of environment and natural resources. d) Governance Dimension (Equal Representation and Participation). This involves reforms that will address the issue of political equity and equal participation in all venues of society, especially on decision-making and management processes that affect their rights, interests and welfare. The government shall ensure that sectoral representation is institutionalized at all levels of government, with particular emphasis on the decision-making structures of the different local government units.

Executive Committee

SECTION 4. Executive Committee. An Executive Committee shall be created to oversee the execution of the powers and functions of the NAPC. The Executive Committee shall be chaired by the Lead Convenor and shall be composed of the Vice-Chairpersons and two (2) other members, i.e., one (1) from the government sector and one (1) from the basic sectors. The Executive Committee shall have the following functions: a) Set the agenda for the meetings of the NAPC; b) Oversee the implementation of the NAPC Resolutions concerning poverty alleviation programs; c) Ensure that grievances are addressed in the appropriate forum; and d) Perform such other functions as may be delegated by NAPC. RULE IV FLAGSHIP PROGRAMS SECTION 1. Flagship Programs and Lead Agencies. The NAPC shall determine the framework and direction of flagship programs and designate Flagship Lead Agencies for sectoral and multi-sectoral programs which address the specific and cross-sectoral needs of the basic sectors as provided in RA No. 8425.

SECTION 5. Adoption of Ground Rules for the Sectoral Assemblies and the Election of the Chairperson. Each Technical Working Committee shall have the authority to draft the proposed ground rules for their respective Sectoral Assemblies, without prejudice to review by the Lead Convenor, which, among others, shall provide the procedure for discussion of the Sectoral Assembly ground rules, recognition of Sectoral Assembly organizations, and voting for the Chairperson and other matters related to the Sectoral Assembly proceedings. At the commencement of the Sectoral Assembly, the Chairperson of the Technical Working Committee shall: a) Open the Sectoral Assembly; b) Present the draft proposed ground rules to be observed by the Sectoral Assembly; and c) Facilitate the election of the Chairperson of the Sectoral Assembly. Should the Chairperson of the Technical Working Committee be among the nominees for Chairperson of the Sectoral Assembly, another member of the Technical Working Committee shall be chosen to facilitate the election.

Conduct of the Sectoral Assembly, Its Powers and Functions

SECTION 6. Conduct of the Sectoral Assembly, Its Powers and Functions. Upon the election of the Chairperson in every Sectoral Assembly, the elected Chairperson shall take over the role of facilitating the conduct of the Sectoral Assembly. The Chairperson shall immediately proceed with the adoption of the ground rules for the Sectoral Assembly. To ensure the fairness and objectivity of the selection process of the Sectoral Council, the Chairperson of the Sectoral Assembly shall be disqualified from being nominated for the position of Sectoral Representative. Among others, it shall be the duty of the Sectoral Assemblies to: a) Determine the composition, powers and functions of the Sectoral Councils, such as the responsibility for coming up with a consensus on anti-poverty programs, including flagship programs and other issues affecting the sector, and to assist the Sectoral Representative in the monitoring of the implementation of the flagship program at the local level; b) Set the qualifications required for each member of the Sectoral Councils; c) Establish the process of electing the members of the Sectoral Councils, including replacements in cases of vacancies; d) Elect the members of their respective Sectoral Councils which shall not be less than fifteen (15) but not more than twenty-five (25) members; e) Set the qualifications required for each nominee to the position of Sectoral Representative; f) Establish the process of selecting the nominees to the position of Sectoral Representative; and g) Formulate and approve the Code of Ethics and Conduct and transparency and accountability mechanisms among the Sectoral Councils. Provided, that nominees to the Sectoral Councils and Sectoral Representatives shall be taken from among the legitimate members of each Sectoral Assembly. Provided further, that they shall observe the minimum 30 percent (30%) gender quota for women, including having at least one (1) woman-nominee as Sectoral Representative. Provided finally, that no individual elected or appointed to a government position, whether at the national or local level, shall be allowed to be a member of any Sectoral Council or be a Sectoral Representative and neither shall government employees, whether at the national or local level, be considered eligible in either capacity. In the performance of their functions, the Sectoral Assemblies shall exercise transparency and follow democratic procedures. Whenever necessary and upon due notice, the Sectoral Assembly may be convened by the Sectoral Council.

Constituting the Sectoral Councils

SECTION 7. Constituting the Sectoral Councils. Upon the adoption of these Rules, the Sectoral Council of each basic sector shall be immediately organized in accordance herewith. Thereafter, each Sectoral Council shall elect three (3) nominees to the position of Sectoral Representative, provided that at least one (1) nominee is female. The list of nominees shall be submitted to the President who will appoint the Sectoral Representatives from among these three (3) nominees within thirty (30) days from receipt of the lists. The incumbent Sectoral Councils shall perform the functions of the succeeding Technical Working Committees. Provided that the outgoing Sectoral Representative will act as the Chairperson of the Technical Working Committees and the Sectoral Assembly. RULE VI SECTORAL COUNCILS SECTION 1. Sectoral Councils. The Sectoral Councils shall be the venue for the basic sectors to establish a consensus among themselves on all matters concerning the sector, including the nomination and recall of Sectoral Representatives in the NAPC.