The Development of the Social Work Profession in the Philippines

In 1917, the Associated Charities was founded and considered as the “mother” of the social
work profession in the Philippines. It is also the first agency to use casework as a method of helping
people, the first to use social workers as full-time, paid employees, and the first to hire a trained social
worker as its executive secretary who is Josefa Jara Martinez, who had obtained a social work diploma
from the New York School of Social Work.

Non-degree social work courses were then being offered at the University of the Philippines in
the late 1930’s. And before the outbreak of World War II, a civil service examination was given to social
workers. While in the private sector several voluntary organizations were employing trained social
workers as executive secretaries. The idea of social work as a professional career must have taken root
at about this period, that several more Filipino women went to the United States to pursue academic
training in social work.

The War Relief Office was established in 1946 to provide relief and rehabilitation services to war
victims during World War II, which resulted in the employment of more social workers, with full or little
college education. The WRO started to hire “relief grantees” employing people with who had formal
education in social work. This was followed by different agencies such as PRATRA, PACSA and SWA and
was stopped in 1959.

Two UN experts arrived in the country to conduct a series of social casework institutes, mainly
for the workers of PRATRA, WRO and Social Welfare Commission.

President Elpidio Quirino established the Presidential’s Action Committee on Social Amelioration
(PACSA) in 1948. It is a community development agency to help with the problem of social unrest in the
countryside.

The Philippine School of Social Work was established in 1950, offering a one-year degree
program called Master of Arts in Social Administration. The first director was Josefa Jara Martinez. The
following year the school’s graduate program was expanded to two years and the degree changed to
Master of Social Work. Shortly, the University of the Philippines and Centro Escolar University also
started offering social work courses at the graduate level. And by the early fifties these schools started
offering a Bachelor’s degree in social work as well as the University of Santo Tomas.

In the late fifties, social workers were employed in the hospital as a medical social workers.

In July 1961, UNICEF was founded; it is a project of Social Welfare Administration. The aim of the
project was to improve child welfare services. It is a big boost to the professionalization of social work.

On June 19, 1965, Republic Act No. 4373 was passed, regulating the practice of social work and
the operation of social work agencies.
 The Philippine Association of Social Workers is the national organization for professional social
workers in the country, founded on November 12, 1947, it was incorporated on April 18, 1948 and re-
incorporated with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 18, 1988, changing its name to
Philippine Association of Social Workers, Incorporated (PASWI)

When the Social Work Law was passed a re-assessment of the content both undergraduate and
graduate social work curricula became necessary. For this reason three national workshops in social
work education were held. The first workshop in March 1967 resulted in the formation of an Ad Hoc
Committee. At the end of six months, The Ad Hoc Committee recommended a formal organization of
the schools to promote the cause of social work education in the country. However, it was not until the
end of the third workshop in 1969 that the formal organization took place with the PASW turning over
the functions of its own Social Work Education Committee to the newly formed group which decided on
the name Schools of Social Work Association of the Philippines. In 1977, the Professional Regulation
Commission, upon the endorsement of the Social Work Board, approved SSWAP’s recommendation that
the board examination cover the following areas with their corresponding weightage: Human Behavior
and Social Environment – 20 %; Social Welfare Policy Programs – 20 %; Social Work Practice /Methods
(Theory) – 20 %; Field Practice – 40 %. SSWAP also succeeded in working for the change of examination
period from March to June.

In December 1990, the SSWAP was registered and incorporated with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, and assumed a new name, The National Association for Social Work Education,
Inc.

The Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP) was
promulgated on May 10, 1996. The ETEEAP was adopted in the context of the government’s desire to
“to take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all.”

To guard against a misuse or abuse of the ETEEAP, the PRC passed a Resolution (#8, 2003)
providing guidelines for the implementation of R.A 4373.