Social Welfare as a basic function of the state was a concept that materialized only after Second World War, although different groups were undertaking pockets of social work in the first decade of American occupation in the country. After the war, the government gradually assumed the major responsibility for social welfare.
1. Public Welfare Board (PWB) in 1915
The first government effort in social welfare was the creation of Public Welfare Board in 1915, whose function included studying, coordinating and regulating all government and private entities engaged in social services.
2. Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner (OPWC) in 1921
In 1921, public welfare was broadened to include the actual operation of institutions of special groups such as orphans, the aged, defective and handicapped individuals. Consequently, the Board was abolished and an Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner was established in its place. A Division of Dependent Children was attached to it and in 1925 the government constructed Welfareville Institutions, the seat for more than forty years of all national public child-caring institutions.
3. Bureau of Public Welfare (BPW) in 1932 under the Department of Public Instruction (DPI)
In 1932, the Bureau of Public Welfare was created to take place of the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner. The Bureau was placed under the Department of Public Instruction alongside the bureaus of health and education.
4. Bureau of Public Welfare (BPW) in 1941 under the Department of Health and Public Welfare (DHPW)
On May 31, 1939 the Commonwealth Act No. 430 creating the Department of Health and Public Welfare was enacted. Two years elapsed before the new Department of Health and Public Welfare was finally established with the Bureau of Public Welfare as a part.
At the outbreak of war, the Bureau, in addition to coordinating and supervising public and private institutions for social welfare, also managed all public child-caring institutions and the provision of child welfare services. It also distributed relief supplies during the war.
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA),
Philippine Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (PRRA) in 1945, and
Philippine Relief and Trade Administration (PRATRA) in 1947
In 1945, the Philippines was liberated. Heavy relief goods were distributed by the United States Army and later on by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). Supplies brought by the UNRRA were distributed by the Philippine Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (PRRA), which was founded on 1945. On August 1947 the PRRA was succeeded by the Philippine Relief and Trade Administration (PRATRA). The latter not only received and allocated supplies to health and welfare agencies but it also built up a national system of provincial relief offices.
5. Social Welfare Commission (SWC) in 1947 under the Office of the President
In 1947, President Manuel Roxas abolished the Bureau of Public Welfare and created the Social Welfare Commission under the Office of the President.
6. Presidential Action Committee on Social Amelioration (PACSA) in 1948
On August 12, 1948 President Elpidio Quirino created the Presidential Action Committee on Social Amelioration (PACSA) to effect socio-economic reforms in the countryside to counteract social unrest that was then plaguing the government.
7. Social Welfare Administration (SWA) in 1951
In 1951, the Social Welfare Commission and PACSA were merged by virtue of Executive Order No. 396 and became the Social Welfare Administration (SWA). SWA was primarily charged with the proper enforcement of the laws and regulations relative to relief and other social services, and with the administration of all charitable and relief agencies, including institutions for care of the aged and/or infirm and of dependent, defective and/or delinquent children supported wholly or partly by the government.
8. Department of Social Welfare (DSW) in 1968 - RA 5416 (Social Welfare Act)
On May 1, 1968 the SWA became Department of Social Welfare with the passage of Republic Act 5416 or the Social Welfare Act of 1968. Elevating the Social Welfare Administration to a Department meant greater autonomy, increased personnel, expanded program and coverage and more client served. RA 5416 declared social welfare a matter of government policy.
9. Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) in 1976
In 1976, DSW was renamed Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD to underscore the shift in image of the Department from dole out to development, from hand-out of relief to productivity, to self-actuialization.
10. Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) in 1978
With Presidential Decree No. 1397, DSSD became Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD).
11. Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in 1987
When President Corazon C. Aquino came to power after People Power Revolution of 1986, she reorganized the bureaucracy including the then MSSD. In 1987, President Aquino issued Executive Order 123 that reorganized the MSSD and renamed it as the Department of Social Welfare and Dvelopment (DSWD).
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