The Right to Social Security in Pilipino Law: Legality, Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Adaptability

Abstract

This thesis argues that the Philippines is yet to fulfil its international social security obligations. Based on the criteria of legality, availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability (LAAAA), a socio-legal research assessment tool that is developed in this thesis, detects that more than 58 per cent of Filipinos have no legal right to social security. Expressed differently, more than half of the Philippine population have no access to the provision of social security in the Philippines. It is argued that corruption is a significant factor that limits the Philippines compliance with its international obligations. There are three sections to this thesis. The first section of the thesis analyses whether the Philippines has internalised its social security obligations through an examination of the policies and programs which prevent and ameliorate poverty in its domestic legal order. This part examines how poverty is identified and measured in the Philippines, the composition of its social security system, and how its system compares with that of other Asian nations. It establishes that the Pilipino provision of social security is composed of three elements: social insurance, social assistance, and sub-systems of welfare assistance, but these do not alleviate or prevent poverty. The cash rate for social assistance is insufficient. This section identifies that the family is considered the primary institution of the Pilipino social security. The second section examines how the human right to social security was established by many nations, including the Philippines, following World War II. It traces the development of internationalisation and looks at varying opinions regarding the interpretation of what constitutes the right to social security. This part also contains a discussion about the Philippines’ obligations established under the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the 1952 International Labour Organization Convention 102 on the Minimum Standards of Social Security and the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. This part establishes that the Philippines has international obligations concerning the right to social security that it took an active part in establishing. Having identified the Philippines’ obligations under international law, the LAAAA assessment tool is used to measure the Philippines’ level of compliance concerning its international obligations regarding the right to social security. LAAAA has been developed from the four standards of availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability adopted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) to measure the fulfilment of the other rights enumerated by the ICESCR. The additional standard, legality, has been added to assess whether the Philippines has complied with its treaty obligations. The assessment tool shows that, in practice, the Philippines has not achieved the goals of its international obligations. The standard of legality indicates that the Philippines has implemented more welfare programs based on contributory rather than non-contributory legislation. Overall, the use of the assessment tool has detected that the Pilipino provision of social security contains selective welfare programs, policies and legislations that limit the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability of the system. Thus, the provision of social security in Pilipino law has not responded appropriately to the needs of its people. The final section of the thesis provides explanations for the high number of Filipinos without adequate social security. It argues that corruption has been a significant drain on public resources, thus limiting their availability for other purposes, including social security. Focusing on the period 1965-2016, it finds that there was an endemic culture of corruption arising from patron-client relations between public officials, the economic and political elites, and the poor. This section establishes the ways in which public corruption has impeded the design and implementation of welfare programs that complied with the intended spirit of the nation’s international obligations.