Imee tells House: Name source of AKAP funds

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SEN. Imee Marcos yesterday said congressmen should disclose the source of the P26.7 bil­lion funding for the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Project (AKAP) lodged with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), as she bared that billions of pesos were slashed from the retirement pensions for military and uniformed personnel, retirement pays and benefits for government workers, and for the welfare of overseas Filipino workers in the 2024 national budget.

In a statement, Marcos said a comparison between the National Expenditure Program (NEP) prepared by the Executive branch submitted to Congress and the 2024 Gen­eral Appropriations Act (GAA) showed that the Pension and Gratuity Fund “suffered” a P110.25 billion cut — from P253,205,826,000 to P142,956,826,000.

She also said there was a P5.4 billion cut in the P15.31 billion budget proposed in the NEP for the Department of Migrant Work­ers (DMW), and the complete deletion of programmed funding for foreign-assisted flagship projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

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“The President did not mention AKAP in the NEP, nor was it in the bicameral ver­sion of the GAA, yet it appeared in the final, printed version… Labu-labong P60 billion ang inilaan. Di natin alam kung para sa bigas, o sa trabaho, o sa outright ayuda (P60 billion was allotted. We don’t know if it’s for rice, jobs, or outright cash assistance),” Marcos said as she cited anew the DSWD’s admis­sion that it still had to draw up the program’s implementation guidelines.

Marcos also reiterated that AKAP, which also has more than P33 billion al­lotment in the national budget’s “unpro­grammed funds,” was an insertion made by the House of Representatives in the final version of the 2024 GAA, to which e-signatures of senators were allegedly “attached after the fact.”

Marcos said she is now consulting with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and DSWD ahead of a possible Sen­ate investigation on the AKAP issue, which will be separate from the ongoing probe be­ing conducted by the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and Revision of Codes on the reported pay-offs related to the people’s initiative for Charter change.

“Hindi ko kinokontra ang AKAP kundi ang tiwaling paggamit nito para sa pulitika. Alam naman natin ang national budget ngayong taon ay election budget (I am not against AKAP, but its misuse for political ends. We all know that this year’s national budget is an election budget),” Marcos said, referring to the national and local elections in 2025 she added.

House Deputy Speaker David Suarez assured the public that funds for the pen­sion of retired military and uniformed personnel are intact contrary to Marcos’ claim that the insertion of the AKAP fund defunded billions of pesos in pensions.

“Tuloy at walang mababawas sa pension ng retired government workers at military personnel (The pension of retired gov­ernment workers and military personnel continues and it it remains in tact),” said Suarez. “Walang dapat ikabahala ang mga retiradong government at military pensioners at kanilang mga kaanak (Our retired govern­ment workers and military pensioners and their families have nothing to worry).”

Senators have questioned the existence of AKAP, which they said was not tackled in plenary during the budget deliberations.

In response, Congressmen said it was introduced during the budget bicameral conference committee meeting which was approved by the upper chamber as proven by their signatures in the final version of the budget measure.

Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, chairperson of the Committee on Finance, said AKAP was described in the national budget as an “anti-poor program” which he said was similar to the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).

“Siguro binigyan ng ibang pangalan para may branding ang House. ‘Yan ang nakikita ko diyan. But hopefully nga, huwag magamit at huwag magpagamit ang mga government agencies and directors, ang bureaus para gamitin sa people’s initiative, dahil para sa tao yan, hindi sa politika (Maybe it was given a different name so it can have the branding of the House. That’s what I see in that AKAP. Hopefully, it will not be used and our gov­ernment agencies, directors, bureaus will not use it for the people’s initiative because that is for the people, not for politics),” Angara said in an interview with the Senate media.

He said the Senate can exercise its over­sight functions to determine how AKAP was utilized but clarified that it can be done after the allotted funds for the program have already been spent, otherwise they will be accused of interfering with its implementation.

WHY ONLY NOW?

At a press conference, which is now being held daily by the House leadership, lawmakers questioned the timing of Mar­cos’ tirades, saying she should have raised her concerns on the AKAP program dur­ing the Senate plenary deliberations and the bicameral conference hearings with congressmen on the 2024 national budget.

“The GAA (General Appropriations Act) was signed in December. It’s almost the end of February, bakit ngayon lang kinukuwestyon ito (why is it only being questioned now?),” said Rep. Margarita Nograles (PL, PBA). “If talagang may (If there were) irregularities, this should have been raised as early as the discussions.”

Nograles said it is unfair for senators to relate to the PI campaign all financial assistance programs that congressmen included in the GAA, adding that Marcos was making it appear that it is wrong for lawmakers to allot funds in the annual na­tional budget for the benefit of the people.

Rep. Rodge Gutierrez (PL, 1-Rider) slammed the presidential sister’s claim that the bicameral meetings on the budget did not go through the normal process, call­ing it a “grave accusation that should be studied carefully and investigated.”

“Paano po natin masasabi na hindi dumaan sa proseso e kayo nga po ang nag-signify (How can you say that it didn’t go through the correct process when you, yourself, signified), you showed approval of the same by giving that signature?” he asked Marcos.

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Gutierrez said the DSWD and the DBM approved the AKAP’s inclusion in the bud­get during the discussions with lawmakers as early as October.

‘IMEE’S INSERTION’

Rep. Jil Bongalon (PL, Ako Bicol) said almost 900,000 households or 4.3 million “poorest of the poor” Filipinos did not receive financial assistance worth P13 bil­lion from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the DSWD because of a budget realignment made by Marcos in favor of the AICS program of the DSWD.

“If we do the math, P13 billion divided by P15,000 per household per year, means 867,000 families or 4.3 million poor indi­viduals, got zero cash assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Devel­opment’s 4Ps program last year, thanks to Sen. Imee,” he said, calling the budget re­alignment as “cruel and unconscionable.”

The lawmaker, a vice chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, said he began inquiring about the budget cuts after his office received numerous com­plaints from 4Ps beneficiaries, with some criticizing the delays in aid distribution, and others complaining that they did not receive cash grants last year.

“As vice chair of the Committee on Appropriations, I learned that it was Sen. Marcos — as head of the Senate finance sub-committee in charge of DSWD’s bud­get — who slashed P13 billion from the 4Ps budget. This left the most vulnerable sec­tors without financial aid last year, possibly until the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) receives its 2024 budget,” he said.

By tinkering with the 4Ps budget, Bon­galon said the “reallocation allowed Sen. Marcos and select political allies like Vice President Sara Duterte to distribute aid to their chosen beneficiaries instead of the real intended recipients of the 4Ps program.”

He said the P13 billion budget realign­ment is just the “tip of the iceberg.”

“I understand that Sen. Imee has been realigning significant portions of the 4Ps budget every year since 2021 but we’re still compiling the data,” he said, adding: “Sen. Imee takes issue with AKAP… which will provide cash grants to our ‘near poor’ kababayans. It’s ironic that she even wants a Senate inquiry into AKAP when she should be the one investigated for depriving the ‘poorest of the poor’ of P13 billion last year.”

Asked to comment on Bongalon’s allega­tions, Marcos shrugged and said: “Dedma (I don’t care).” — With Wendell Vigilia

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