House to fight for inclusion of low-income earners’ cash assistance in next year’s national budget

By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter

THE House of Representatives will “fight” to retain funding for a Social Welfare department’s indigent aid program next year, Speaker and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said on Thursday following the Senate’s decision to cut the program under its version of the proposed 2025 national budget.

The Ayuda Para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) is a program under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that provides financial assistance to workers whose income falls below the poverty threshold. It provides one-time cash assistance between P3,000 to P5,000 to eligible beneficiaries.

“We will fight for AKAP,” Mr. Romualdez said in a statement, objecting to the Senate’s move to remove the program from their version of the budget bill.

The Senate deleted AKAP as a line item in their proposed budget, opting instead to merge it with another DSWD aid program, according to Senator Maria Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos.

“In my opinion, it would be better if we combine the AICS (Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations) and the AKAP. This way, we can provide greater aid to our fellow citizens who are truly in need,” she said in a Thursday statement in Filipino.

The financial aid program drew criticism from the Senate during a controversial campaign to amend the Constitution through a People’s Initiative in early 2024, with Ms. Marcos linking the dole-outs to the signature drive.

Mr. Romualdez and Party-list Rep. Elizaldy S. Co, who heads the House appropriations panel, formulated AKAP in 2023 to provide a stop-gap measure for working Filipinos with limited income.

Social Welfare Secretary Rexlon T. Gatchalian bucked the Senate’s move to cut AKAP, telling senators that “millions could fall back into poverty” if they decide to remove it. “We most respectfully urge our senators to keep AKAP funded in 2025,” he said in a separate statement on Thursday.

The aid program has already helped about four million indigent Filipinos, according to Mr. Gatchalian, with the DSWD already disbursing about P20.7 billion of the total P26.7 allotted under the 2024 General Appropriations Act.

“We stand with Secretary Gatchalian in urging our colleagues in the Senate to uphold the AKAP budget,” Mr. Romualdez said. “This is about ensuring that no Filipino family falls back into poverty because of insufficient support.”

The House has allotted P39 billion to AKAP for 2025, according to its version of the budget bill.

Lawmakers should consider the potential effects of combining AKAP and AICS together, Hansley A. Juliano, who teaches politics at the Ateneo de Manila University, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

“This can potentially make beneficiaries resentful of this loss of policy.”

While both provide social aid to indigent Filipinos, AICS is primarily concerned with giving support services, including medical, burial, education, and food assistance to Filipinos in crisis. AKAP is constrained to low-income earners.

“Realignment is understandable, but eligibility needs to be expanded to account for people who were relying on AKAP,” he said.