HISTORY OF GROUP WORK IN THE PHILIPPINES

THE PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD

Social work in those times centered on mutual protection and economic survival.

THE SPANISH PERIOD

The Spaniards brought the teaching, to do good to others for the salvation of their souls, and which for
many years was the underlying philosophy behind all social welfare activities.

1565 – Don Miguel Lopez de Legaspi established the first hospital in Cebu for the purpose of attending
to the wounded and the victims of diseases.

1882 – Hospicio de San Jose was founded to house the aged and orphans, the mentally defective and
young boys requiring reform, but later limiting admission to children who were discharged, later to be
adopted or employed.

1885 – Asilo de San Vicente de Paul, an asylum for girls was established, offering religious instruction,
primary education, and training in housework in its inmates.

The hospitals, asylums, orphanages and schools were maintained using subsidies and grants from the
Spanish government. However, these were not sufficient and donations from philanthropic individuals
were also solicited.

THE AMERICAN PERIOD

1899 – Americans occupied the country and introduced a new educational system, new health methods,
and religious freedom.

1902 – The Civil government created an agency, the Insular Board, to coordinate and supervise private
institutions engaged in welfare work.

February 5, 1915 – The American government created the Public Welfare Board with the passage of
Legislative Act No. 2510, essentially to coordinate the welfare activities of various existing charitable
organizations.

January 1917 – The first government entity to operate as a welfare agency, and an initial step in child
welfare services, was set up.

1900 – Attempt was made to alleviate the condition of deaf children at the Philippine Normal School.

1910 – A school for the deaf and blind was organized.

1905 – The Philippine chapter of the American Red Cross was established to take charge of disaster
relief in the country and to administer Red Cross funds from the United States.
1907 – La Gota de Leche was established to furnish child-caring institutions with fresh cow’s milk from
dairy farm in Pasay, Manila, supervised by a veterinarian. This agency later opened free consultation
clinic for mothers.

1913 – Associacion de Damas Filipinas was organized by civic-spirited women to help destitute mothers
and their children.

1921 – Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner was created. It absorbed the functions of the Public
Welfare Board which, while charged with coordinating and intensifying the activities of child welfare
organizations and agencies, was unable to cope with the mounting problems in the health field, which
was manifested by the high infant mortality rate in the second decade of the century.

1922 – The Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner prepared solicitation forms which it required the
public to demand of any person appealing for donations and charities. This was done to protect the
public and organizations from unscrupulous persons collecting funds. This practice, however, was not
legally sanctioned until 1933.

1924 – The Associated Charities had become independent agency under the supervision of the Public
Welfare Commissioner, and was partly financed by the government, and partly by private contributions.

– The Philippine Legislature passed a law (Philippine Legislative Act No. 3203) relating to the care and
custody of neglected and delinquent children and providing probation officers for them.

1933 – The administration of social welfare in the Philippines was marked by significant developments
when Frank Murphy became the Governor-General. Scholarship grants for professional training in social
work in the United States were made available.

– The Legislature appropriated funds for the operations of government child and maternal health
centers which was established in every town with at least two thousand populations.

The economic depression in the 1930s created serious economic problems. The Associated Charities
were unable to cope with the number of applicants for relief and other social services, despite
appropriations made by the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner, under its director, Dr. Jose
Fabella.

Josefa Jara Martinez who obtained a diploma in Social Work in 1921, worked for the Public Welfare
Board where she started to introduce the scientific approach in social work.

The Murphy administration’s social welfare programs marked the first time the government assumed
full responsibility for the relief of the distressed due to any cause.

THE COMMONWEALTH PERIOD

THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION

Social Welfare activities during the period consisted mainly of giving medical care and treatment, as well
as food and clothing, to the wounded soldiers, prisoners and civilians.

THE POST-WAR YEARS

1946 – The Bureau of Public Welfare re-opened but lack of funds limited its operations.

October 4, 1947 – The Bureau became the Social Welfare Commission and was placed under the Office
of the President.

August 1948 – President Quirino created the President’s Action Committee on Social Amelioration. It is a
comprehensive program of health, education, welfare, agriculture, public works and financing.

1946 – The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was created by the United
Nations General Assembly to further maternal and child health in economically underdeveloped
country.

1948 – UNICEF became active in the Philippines, establishing basic health care services to mothers and
children, consisting of medical care, feeding programs and health education.

January 3, 1951 – The Social Welfare Commission and the President’s Action Committee on Social
Amelioration were fused into one agency called the Social Welfare Administration.

THE SOCIAL WELFARE ADMINISTRATION

Division of Public Assistance

Assistance was given in the form of material aid like food, financial aid, transportation aid, medical aid,
institutional care and work relief.

Service was rendered in the form of rehabilitation services and administration and supervision of
rehabilitation projects and workshops.

Child Welfare Division

Casework and guidance services for children are under this unit.

Division on Rural Welfare

This was created by Administrative Order No. 7, on September 5, 1951.

It deals with the mounting social problems in the rural areas.

1965 – Republic Act 4373, “An Act to Regulate the Practice of Social Work and the Operation of Social
Work Agencies in the Philippines”

– The law requires completion of a Bachelor of Science in Social Work degree, one thousand hours of
supervised field practice, and the passing of a government board examination in social work for licensing
or registration as a social worker.

– It is the formal recognition of social work as a profession in the Philippines.

THE SEVENTIES

September 8, 1976 – The Department of Social Welfare became the Department of Social Services and
Development shifting emphasis on the traditional, often institution-based social welfare to community-
oriented programs and services.

June 2, 1978 – President Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 1397, converting departments into
ministries thus the Ministry of Social Services and Development. The organizational structure, functions
and programs remains the same.

The sixties and seventies marked the existence of voluntary organizations and establishment of even
more agencies.

THE EIGHTIES

The Self-Employment Assistance was upgraded to make it more responsive to its client’s needs. Case
Management System was launched. Social Welfare Indicators monitor the level of well-being of the
MSSD service users.

January 30, 1987 – President Corazon C. Aquino signed Executive Order No. 123, reorganizing MSSD and
renaming it Department of Social Welfare and Development. The Department was evolving from mere
welfare or relief agency to the greater task of development. The approach taken by the agency during
this period is described as preventive and developmental, participative and client-managed.

THE NINETIES

The DSWD continued the five program areas of concern during the early nineties.It also gave priority
attention to Low Income Municipalities (LIMs) and other socially-depressed barangays. The aftermath of
the Mt. Pinatubo eruption was the use of Crisis Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), a form of crisis
intervention used with victims of disasters and other crisis situation.

October 10, 1991 – R.A. 7160 Local Government Code was passed. Implementing functions together
with its programs and services were devolved to its local government unit. The Department, however,
retained its specialized social services consisting of four categories: (a) Center/institution-based services;
(b) community-based programs and services; (c) locally-funded and foreign-assisted projects; and (d)
disaster relief and rehabilitation augmentation.

Today, countless social agencies, organizations and institutions under private sponsorship are engaged
in the provision of many different social services. NGOs play a very important role in supplementing the
needs of the rising disadvantaged sectors in our society.

R.A. 4373 (the Social Work Law, 1967) provides that no social welfare agency shall operate and be
accredited unless it shall first have registered with the Social Welfare Administration which shall issue
the corresponding certificate of registration.

R.A. 5416 (1968) empowers the Department to (1) set standards and policies; (2) accredit public and
private institutions and organizations; and (3) coordinate government efforts in social welfare work to
avoid duplication, friction and overlapping of responsibility in social services.

Reference

Almanzor, A. (1966). The Profession of Social Work in the Philippines: Historical Background.
International Social Work. 9: 27-34.

Price & Artaras (2013) Professional ‘Imperialism’ And Resistance: Social Work In The Filippines, Trabajo
Social Global 2013, 3 (5), 28-53

Social Work & Beyond (2010) https://socialangakingwork.blogspot.com/2010/01/history-of-social-