DPA 315 Special Issues on Social Development & Change

1. SOCIAL EQUITY IN THE PHILIPPINES:
A Continuing but Elusive Promise
JAMANDRE, ALFREDO, Q.
DPA 315 – SPECIAL ISSUES ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE
Professor
Josefina B. Bitonio, DPA

2. INTRODUCTION:
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In light of the notion that social equity is linked to moral principles like justice and
fairness, it must be a key premise of modern administration, especially in our nation, the
Philippines. Multiple programs were taken into accounts as the country continuously reflect and
give consideration to the environment and its people. The main intention of social equity is to have
a fair and just society. Just like how government works, every sector in the community must be
given equal opportunities. It was said that there should be some biases when it comes to those who
are at the bottom of the society, those who were not given enough chance to opportunities. Social
equity was deep-rooted with the poverty in the country years ago through the areas that were
belittled by many such as those people living in a rural areas, most likely Indigenous people and
people on the agri-fishery sectors. However, huge and different sectors were continuously social
equity on the country.

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Social equity is impartiality, fairness and justice for all people in social policy. Social
equity takes into account systemic inequalities to ensure everyone in a community has access to
the same opportunities and outcomes. Equity of all kinds acknowledges that inequalities exist and
works to eliminate them.
Social equity is, as defined by the National Academy of Public Administration, “the fair,
just and equitable management of all institutions serving the public directly or by contract; and the
fair and equitable distribution of public services, and implementation of public policy; and the
commitment to promote fairness, justice and equity in the formation of public policy.”
DISCUSSION:

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According to American Planning Association, social equity “must be
informed by local planning history, the equity landscape and the input of
diverse stakeholders” in order to be impactful and successful. The
organization goes further to explain: “Planning for social equity means
recognizing planning practices that have had a disparate impact on certain
communities and actively working with affected residents to create better
communities for all,” and that three major issues related to social equity
include “gentrification, environment justice and community engagement and
empowerment.”
DISCUSSION:

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EQUITY VS. EQUALITY:

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EQUITY VS. EQUALITY VS. REALITY:

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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL EQUITY AND SOCIAL EQUALITY?
The term equity refers to fairness and justice. The term equality refers to equal
opportunity, equal access, equal treatment, equal sharing and division of resources,
keeping everyone at the same level regardless of the tools they already do or don’t have
access to. Social equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and
allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.
Social equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or
opportunities
SOCIAL EQUITY AND SOCIAL EQUALITY

8. SOCIAL EQUITY IN THE PHILIPPINES
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In order to correct social injustices and ensure that every countrymen has an equal
opportunities specially the poor people, several programs for the country were taken into account
such as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. Progressive taxation is a different tried-and-true
policy mechanism that the government uses to finance vital development projects and public
services in an effort to reduce inequality.
Several programs like the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (a conditional cash
transfer program) implemented by the DSWD and the country's current tax reform program,
known as Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), the first of four packages of a
comprehensive tax reform program (CRTP) led by the Department of Finance (DOF), through the
lens of social equity.

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Various presidents noticed that if there is a sudden increase in taxes or on necessities
such as oil or petroleum, it will always be the poor who will be affected more. Government is
starting to look for the cost of fertilizer, the cost of sending veggies, and the cost of a
fisherman's gasoline when he sails. In spite of the fact that the rich are generally observed to
consume more gasoline in relation to their income, the poor are actually disproportionately
affected by the rise in oil prices. This is due to the fact that the rise in oil prices only accounts for
a smaller portion of the total income of the wealthy, who can more easily afford the increase
without it having a significant impact on their comfortable lifestyles, as opposed to the poor,
whose consumption is primarily made up of basic food items, the prices of which have
skyrocketed. The poor are also negatively impacted by the diesel excise tax. However, it is
continuously observing and trying to reduce the effect of uncertainties to the public specially
those who are at the bottom.
SOCIAL EQUITY IN THE PHILIPPINES

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SOCIAL EQUITY IN THE PHILIPPINES
Social equity has been continuously progressing in the Philippines,
but still so hard to achieve. Even if numerous presidents promised to practice
social equity and prioritizing the poor, everyone fails. They have no definite
plan in order to sustain the needs of the poor. Everytime politicians were
campaigning, they were promising about social equity, prioritizing the poor
and they are the voices of those at the bottom, but whenever they wins, they
just sit and nothing happens to the promise. Those promised were still
remains as words being torn.

11. CONCLUSION
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Due to the open nature of public administration and despite the rhetoric and numerous
interventions that the government has created and put into place over the years, the poor have
remained behind in the process of so-called progress. The poor have been the object of
numerous public administration and governance projects and programs that have been created
with the intention of improving their lives. Yet, it is still unclear if they have had any effect on
social equity. Helping the underprivileged, disenfranchised, and marginalized segments of
society should be the main goal of public administration. Overall, there are still difficulties in
improving the lives of the poor and low-income earners and in closing the wealth gap. Given such
strong economic growth rates, social justice should have been easier to obtain but nevertheless
remains elusive. Indeed, the need for inclusive development that ensures social equity and
redistribution becomes more urgent.

12. END
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