No Poverty Reduction Without Disaster Resilience: Pass the PRESENT Bill!

For twelve years, the past has come to the present. This phrase captures the long and unfinished legislative journey of the bill on social enterprises with the poor as primary stakeholders—from its early incarnation as House Bill No. 6085 during the 15th Congress (2012–2013), widely known as the Magna Carta for Social Enterprises, to what is now the Poverty Reduction Through Social Entrepreneurship (PRESENT) Act.

That earlier bill, formally titled An Act Promoting Social Enterprises with the Poor as Primary Stakeholders (SEPPS) and Providing Incentives Therefor, was filed by Senator Sonny Angara. Its purpose was straightforward yet transformative: to institutionalize social enterprises as a deliberate, long-term strategy for poverty reduction. Although it did not become law, the bill introduced a powerful policy idea—that poverty reduction is not only about welfare transfers, but also about enabling the poor to become co-owners, producers, and decision-makers in viable enterprises.

From 2016 onward, the advocacy did not fade. Instead, it evolved into what is now known as the PRESENT Bill. The shift in framing—from a “Magna Carta” to “Poverty Reduction Through Social Entrepreneurship”—reflected a deeper recognition that social enterprises are not marginal actors at the fringes of the economy. They are central to inclusive growth, value-chain upgrading, and community-based development, particularly in contexts where markets and state services fail to reach the poorest.

Sustaining this continuity has been a broad alliance of advocates known as the PRESENT Coalition. Under the leadership of the Institute of Social Entrepreneurship in Asia, led by its founder Lisa Dacanay, the Coalition has consistently articulated the bill’s core pillars. These include a clear and operational definition of social enterprises with the poor and marginalized as primary stakeholders; the creation of a national PRESENT Program with defined planning and implementation mechanisms; and a coherent set of incentives and benefits such as tax relief, preferential access to financing, market support, and capacity-building.

Equally central is the establishment of a Social Enterprise Development Fund or similar financing mechanisms. Such a fund would provide seed capital, credit lines, and emergency stimulus, recognizing that social enterprises are wealth-creating organizations that pursue social missions in ways that must be financially and ecologically sustainable. Over time, refinements to the bill have also incorporated preferential procurement and market access for social enterprises, stronger inter-agency coordination through a Social Enterprise Development Council, and special recovery and rehabilitation support for enterprises affected by disasters and extreme events.

In 2024, the Tabang Bikol Movement (TBM), a regional volunteer network for disaster resilience and sustainable development, joined the PRESENT Coalition. This followed a Regional Social Enterprises Summit convened with TBM partners from the Mariners Polytechnic Colleges Foundation, Central Bicol State University of Agriculture, Bicol University, Naga College Foundation, and Bicol State College of Applied Sciences and Technology, with research support from the Commission on Higher Education.

TBM’s engagement reflects a crucial policy insight: poverty reduction and disaster resilience can no longer be treated as separate agendas. Climate-related disasters—typhoons, floods, droughts, and sea-level rise—disproportionately affect the poorest communities. These are the same communities that social enterprises serve, employ, and organize. Because they are locally embedded, socially accountable, and adaptive, social enterprises can often respond faster than large institutions. They are uniquely positioned to protect livelihoods, maintain access to essential goods and services, and support community-level recovery.

As the Coalition pushes for the bill’s passage, the challenge is how to strengthen its disaster-resilience dimension without prolonging the legislative process. A strategic entry point already exists in Chapter II, Poverty Reduction Through Social Enterprise, particularly Section 6 on the formulation of the PRESENT Program. This section enumerates guiding principles such as people’s participation, sustainability, gender sensitivity, and the development of accessible social services for the poor.

Adding an eighth principle—on disaster resilience and climate responsiveness—would be both efficient and impactful. This would ensure that social enterprises are enabled to anticipate, reduce, and manage disaster and climate-related risks; protect livelihoods and productive assets of marginalized sectors; maintain continuity of operations during crises; and contribute to community resilience and recovery. It would also reduce long-term government relief costs, align enterprise development with national disaster risk reduction and climate policies, and prevent repeated cycles of poverty triggered by disasters.

By embedding disaster resilience as a guiding principle, all implementing actors—from national agencies to local governments—can move in step. In doing so, the PRESENT Act becomes not only a pathway out of poverty, but a forward-looking instrument that equips social enterprises, and the communities they serve, to withstand and recover from an increasingly uncertain climate future.