Government Social Workers Fight Virus and Public Criticism: The Implementation of Social Amelioration Program During Covid-19 Pandemic in the Philippines

This paper talks about the issues surrounding the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) by the Philippine government and how the social workers are caught between looking after themselves in this pandemic, being vigilant against criticisms, and making credible decisions on the eligibility of people who are going to avail SAP. In critically analyzing the issues and power relations, the paper presents two ideas: (a) analyzing the perspectives of the government and citizens on deciding who are eligible beneficiaries of the program using the deservingness theory which best describes the perspectives in play in the decision making and how these perspectives create tension in the implementation of the program; and (b) analyzing the power perspectives of the social worker, using Michel Foucault’s ideas of power, which help social worker maintain professionalism, remain optimistic about their profession, make sound judgments amidst all the noises of the bureaucracy, public doubts, criticism and possibly burn out.