Poverty alleviation can never be achieved  through rhetoric. Articulation of intention to help the poor, however sincere it may be, remains senseless if not concretized by tangible actions. The implementation of the Poverty-Free Zones Program (PFZP) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is a step beyond rhetoric. It is an operationalization of intention to help the poor.

The PFZP was launched in 2001 a DOLE’s contribution in realizing the government’s objective of combating poverty. Its overall objective is to assist target communities to become self-reliant by providing opportunities for adequate and sustainable sources of livelihood and income for its member families. It is designed to organized and focus the delivery of various services to achieve systematic and rational convergence of services/assistance of government agencies and private organizations that can successfully transform these target communities to become self-sufficient.

On its second year of implementation, one may ask how far the Program has gone in terms of achieving its objectives. This study is an attempt to respond to this question. 

The Institute for Labor Studies volunteered to undertake this study specifically to assess the state of implementation and success of the PFZP with the end goal of providing prescriptions to improve it, found necessary. And it did find some areas for improvement. With lessons drawn from the PFZP site visits, and from the experiences of China, Thailand and Indonesia, recommendations on the PFZP were drawn up in the last section of this study. 

Of course, the Institute alone cannot claim credit for this study. There were individuals and institutions, particularly the Japan International Cooperation Agency, that helped in the completion of his study. To these individuals and institutions, the Institute would like to say “thank you.”

But we owe the completion of this study the most to the burning need to help the poor.