AKAP 2.0

For the second time around, the 19th Congress inserted anew a House-created “pork-barrel” allocation in the guise of “ayuda.” Provided in this year’s National Expenditure Program (NEP) of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM), it was dubbed Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program, or AKAP for short. From an original House proposal of P39 billion, the Senate reduced AKAP to the same amount of the previous year’s P26 billion in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman confirmed this year’s AKAP was again one of the many “insertions” in the 2025 GAA. At our Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Wednesday, the DBM chief reassured the public, however, that the 2025 AKAP will be released with specific “trigger points” or thresholds before the funds are released.

Such “trigger points” may include, she cited, the current inflation rate among the fresh implementing guidelines. Pangandaman quoted the specific instructions as contained in PBBM’s veto message sent to the respective leaderships of both chambers of the 19th Congress.

To wit: “However, to ensure that the government assistance is not merely a provisional solution to a persistent issue, I am compelled to subject the implementation thereof to the convergence of efforts of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), geared towards more strategic interventions leading to the long-term improvement of the lives of the qualified beneficiaries, while guarding against misuse and duplicative and fragmented benefits.”

In his own words, PBBM – albeit somewhat reluctantly – imposed this condition on the 2025 AKAP.

The Chief Executive himself created last year a Cabinet team to specifically find ways to temper the impact of inflation on all Filipinos. So why should there be presidential qualms on AKAP?

Rising cost of goods and services is among the problems that have hounded the incumbent administration since PBBM assumed office in June 2022. Opinion surveys consistently showed that more than half of Filipinos did not approve of PBBM’s handling of the country’s inflation problem.This even prompted PBBM to issue Executive Order (EO) 28 on May 26, 2023 establishing an Inter-agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook and the Economic Development Group to address inflation and poverty in the country.

The AKAP  surreptitiously appeared in the 2024 GAA. A total of P26.7 billion was allocated for AKAP to “be used to implement and provide assistance to minimum wage earners under the category of low-income that were severely affected by rising inflation.” It further provided “its implementation is subject to the guidelines to be issued by the DSWD and the existing, accounting and auditing rules and regulations.”

Initially, AKAP was introduced as “special provision number 3” in last year’s budget law. As the head of the implementing agency, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian reported almost five million “near-poor” Filipinos have benefitted from the 99.31-percent utilization rate of AKAP last year. The AKAP provided cash assistance at a minimum of P5,000 per eligible family beneficiary. Those with income that fall below the poverty threshold and did not receive assistance from other government programs qualified under existing DSWD guidelines for the AKAP for medical, funeral, food and other cash relief.

For additional safeguards, the DSWD chief acknowledged the offer of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia to keep out the candidates in the May 12, 2025 national and local elections and other politicians from the distribution areas of the AKAP and other DSWD “ayuda” payouts. Also, Gatchalian agreed to invite local Comelec personnel to be present at the distribution of “ayuda” payouts. Garcia also sternly reminded the DSWD that its personnel may face administrative charges if they are found complicit with politicians who are violating the ban on “ayuda”payouts.

“DSWD looks forward to working with Comelec monitors to see to it that all rules set forth by the department and Comelec are followed to the dot,” Gatchalian vowed. “We will also ensure that all our personnel are oriented with the Comelec election-related rules so that we all adhere to these faithfully.”

The Comelec approved last week the DSWD’s request to exempt its 28 programs and services, including AKAP, from the campaign spending ban. The nationwide election campaign period took effect starting yesterday. But Comelec clarified all these “ayuda” programs must be suspended 10 days before election day.

“Basically, the new guidelines will be an enhancement of the existing 2024 guidelines,” Gatchalian declared.

The existence of AKAP became public knowledge only after presidential sister Sen. Imee Marcos exposed it in February last year. Or this was almost two months after PBBM signed into law the 2024 GAA. Sen. Imee accused the Lower House of being behind the “insertion” of AKAP in the 2024 budget’s final version. She claimed the e-signatures of senators, including hers, “were attached after the fact” at the bicameral conference committee (bicam) on the 2024 budget bill.

“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,” Sen. Marcos bewailed.

“I am not against AKAP but its misuse for political ends. We all know the coming year’s national budget (is) an election budget,” she warned.

Subsequently, accusations and denials were exchanged on the alleged use of congressional “insertions” and realignments in the 2024 GAA. The new AKAP and the other DSWD “ayuda” programs allegedly bankrolled the signature-gathering for people’s initiative mode to amend the country’s 1987 Constitution.

Fast forward. Opinion surveys done in December 2024 showed self-rated poor Filipinos increased significantly from the previous year. The inflation rate in December also accelerated to 2.9 percent from the previous month’s 2.4 percent. Although not in the President’s NEP, AKAP still got into the 2025 GAA.

Although not directly released to them, the senators get to share P5 billion of AKAP for distribution while the balance of P21 billion will be for the House members. Hence, the “ayuda” AKAP 2.0 was neither scrapped nor vetoed.