DSWD grilled over 'secret' program anew
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Monday, September 16 found itself defending a program that it did not request.
During the DSWD’s budget hearing in the Senate, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III questioned the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) and why it appeared to be hidden from the senators.
AKAP, which has a budget of P26.7 billion in 2024, is for those earning minimum wage but are negatively impacted by high inflation. However, the DSWD did not request this project in the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP), which serves as the executive branch’s budget proposal to Congress.
“Paano naging national program, by law, ang isang programang hindi dumaan sa other House ng Congress?” Pimentel asked.
(How did a program become a national program when it did not pass through the other House of Congress?)
“As far as senators are concerned, it’s like a secret, invisible, off-limits program,” the senator added.
The program was no longer in the NEP 2025, but DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian explained that the agency had long wanted a program for those on the borderline of poverty, which is the target of AKAP.
Gatchalian said that AKAP was still able to help people, with a high disbursement rate of 92.20%, which translates to 701,884 beneficiaries served. However, he said he leaves the decision to Congress.
“We defer to the wisdom of the Congress and the Senate what discussions will be undertaken in the next plenary,” Gatchalian said.
Sen. Imee Marcos, who has previously criticized the insertion of the AKAP in the 2024 General Appropriations Act, said that the DSWD did not request for the program in the first place.
“We’ve been accused in the Senate of actually having participated in AKAP simply because we lent our electronic signatures to the final Bicam report, which became the GAA 2024. But in truth and in fact, we were never made aware of this program,” Marcos said.
AKAP was the program embroiled in the People’s Initiative controversy that eventually triggered a row between the House of Representatives and the Senate.
In February, senators accused lawmakers in the lower chamber of using AKAP to gain signatures for the People’s Initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution.
The House of Representatives have a different tone towards the AKAP program however, with the Rep. Rosemarie Panotes (Camarines Norte, 2nd District) filing House Bill 10700 or the “Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program Act.
Surprise items
This was not the first time that senators were puzzled over a change made in the 2024 budget during the bicameral committee’s report.
During the hearing on Department of Transportation’s proposed budget, senators were shocked to find an 81% reduction in the agency’s budget in the 2024 GAA from the 2024 NEP. Congress left the DOTR with a mere P41.2 billion, compared to its proposed P213.17 billion.
The rest was transferred to unprogrammed funds.
Senators were also surprised to find a provision in the 2024 GAA that allowed the Department of Finance to order back an agency’s idle funds back into the country’s coffers.
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