P39.8-B AKAP REMOVED FROM 2025 BUDGET

SENATOR Imee Marcos confirmed that the Senate deleted the P39.8-billion allocation for the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) inserted in the proposed 2025 budget by the House of Representatives.

During the plenary debate on the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) proposed P233.86-billion budget, the female senator said she deleted the AKAP budget entirely.

“I deleted it entirely. I proposed to merge the AICS (Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation) and AKAP and pool it into one standby fund for those in need. That way, there will be no dispute or jealousy over the fund allocation,” Marcos said.

The AKAP funding was realigned to the DSWD’s AICS program.

Marcos said the proposed merger of AKAP and AICS funds will be discussed at the Bicameral Conference Committee, where the House contingent is expected to defend its budget insertion for a separate DSWD project criticized as the lawmakers’ pork barrel.

“While we recognize the necessity of immediate relief by direct financial assistance, it is imperative that we focus also on social protection initiatives, such as the Sustainable Livelihood Program and the Kalahi-CIDSS, which foster long-term development and self-reliance rather than creating a new ‘ayuda’ nation,” the senator said.

Marcos said among those qualified to avail of the merged AKAP-AICS program are people subsisting below the poverty line, unemployed, self-employed, seasonally and periodically employed and those in crisis or emergencies.

Meanwhile, Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo said the House of Representatives’ contingent to the Bicameral Conference Committee for the proposed 2025 national budget will “fight” to restore the funding for the AKAP due to economic reasons.

“Ipaglalaban ng Kongreso na i-retain ang AKAP kasi kitang-kita naman natin na napakaganda ang programa na ito,” Quimbo, senior vice chairperson  of the House Committee on Appropriations, said.