SOCIAL Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian yesterday said around seven million individuals in dire financial situations will not be able to receive social aid because there was no budget allocated for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) program for 2026.
Gatchalian also said that the beneficiaries of the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program have also been significantly reduced.
“It’s a bit alarming,” Gatchalian told the budget hearing of the House Committee on Appropriation on the DSWD’s proposed P223 billion budget for 2026, as he urged lawmakers to augment the budget for AICS.
Gatchalian told Negros Occidental Rep. Mercedes Alvarez that because of the reduction in the AICS budget, the target beneficiaries have been reduced from six million to 3.6 million, which means that there will be some 2.978 million underserved beneficiaries next year.
AICS has a proposed budget of P27.028 million for 2026.
Gatchalian also said that since the AKAP was removed from Malacañang’s National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2026, four million will also lose financial aid from the government’s assistance program for minimum-wage earners.
“So we are looking at around seven million individuals who may not be able to receive social welfare in their crisis situation,” Gatchalian said.
“So sana ho ma-reconsider ng ating Mababang Kapulungan ‘yung dilemma ng departamento na may mahigit seven million tayong Pilipino, pamilyang Pilipino na maaaring hindi matulungan kung hindi natin ire-restrore o dagdagan ang probisyon para sa AICS (I hope the lower house can reconsider the department’s dilemma that there are seven million Filipinos, Filipino families, that will not receive help if we don’t restore the provision for AICS,” he said in Filipino.
The P26 billion AKAP allocation in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) has been a source of controversy as critics have been accusing the House leadership of treating the fund as “pork.”
Last July, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco accused Speaker Martin Romualdez of “controlling” the release of funds for the various financial assistance program of the Marcos administration, including AICS, Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Worker (TUPAD), and Medical Assistance to Indigent Patients (MAIP).
House spokesman Princess Abante has denied Tiangco’s allegations, saying the Speaker does not exercise post-appropriation control over government programs.
