Don’t remove AKAP funds, DSWD appeals to senators

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THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) late Tuesday night appealed to senators to reconsider their decision to defund the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP), saying it has helped an estimated four million “near poor” Filipinos.

AKAP provides for a one-time P3,000 to P5,000 cash assistance to workers whose incomes fall below the poverty threshold and are not receiving assistance from other government programs.

It is designed for the near poor, or “lower middle class” segment of the population, which includes minimum wage earners vulnerable to economic shocks like the sudden death of a household head, sickness, loss of job or runaway inflation that can easily send them back to poverty.

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Secretary Rex Gatchalian said removing the AKAP might lead to millions of near poor Filipinos to “fall back into poverty.”

“We respectfully urge our senators to keep AKAP funded in 2025. This program’s impact speaks for itself. Without it, millions could fall back into poverty,” Gatchalian said during the Senate plenary deliberations on the DSWD’s proposed budget for 2025.

The Senate Committee on Finance has recommended the removal of the AKAP in the proposed P6.352 trillion national budget for next year.

Instead of AKAP, the Senate panel recommended that its P39 billion allocation be used for the DSWD’s various programs, including the Sustainable Livelihood Program, Farmers and Fisherfolks Assistance Program, Quick Response Fund, Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services, Supplementary Feeding Program, and Operation and Maintenance of Bahay Pag-asa.

The program was conceptualized by Speaker Martin Romualdez and House appropriations committee chairman Zaldy Co to address the gaps in assistance for working Filipinos with limited incomes.

Gatchalian said the program was allotted P26.7 billion in the 2024 national budget, of which P20.7 billion, or 77.57 percent, has already been utilized.

He said the AKAP funds were distributed across the regions, 70 percent of which were obligated in Central Luzon, the Bicol region, and Western Visayas.

He added 589,000 individuals benefitted from AKAP in Metro Manila alone.

The House has asked the Senate to retain the AKAP in the 2025 budget. Rep. Gerville Luistro has filed House Bill No. 11048, or the proposed AKAP Act, which seeks to make the program permanent in the national budget. 

The proposed measure underwent first reading in the lower chamber last November 13. It was referred to the House Committee on Social Services.

A similar measure, House Bill No. 10700, was filed by Camarines Norte Rep. Rosemarie Panotes in August and was referred to the same committee.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III has said that AKAP is “technically” an “insertion” of the House of Representatives in the 2024 national budget since it was not included in the President’s budget request.

Pimentel said it would be best if AKAP will be deleted in the 2025 proposed national budget since its implementation lacks details, aside from it not being on the President’s budget.

AKAP became controversial after it was inserted in the final version of the 2024 national budget. Senators have said that the allocation was not discussed during the Senate plenary deliberations.

The AKAP was also linked to the signature campaign for Charter change.

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