MANILA, Philippines — “We don’t create magical projects. These are part of the General Appropriations Act.”
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Undersecretary Fatima Aliah Dimaporo had this to say on Tuesday when she was asked by Senator Imee Marcos if one of their programs, Ayuda sa Kapos sa Kita Program (AKAP), was created “magically” to push for people’s initiative.
Marcos posed her question during the Senate’s Tuesday hearing on the signature campaign for Charter change (Cha-cha).
P26.7 billion for Cha-cha?
According to Marcos, AKAP was one of the government-sponsored aids used to lure Filipinos into participating in the controversial signature drive for amending the 1987 Constitution.
“Nagulat din ako sa AKAP at mas lalo ako nagulat sa halaga. P26.7 billion isang programa na ngayon ko lang natuklasan at ngayon lang narinig,” said Marcos.
(I was surprised with AKAP, but I was even more surprised by its amount. P26.7 billion for a program that we’ve only discovered and heard about.)
“I understand it’s under the DSWD budget. If you recall, in the Senate, I handle[d] the DSWD budget, but like the Commission on Elections’ mysterious additional P12 billion, this P26.7 billion in the budget of the DSWD is alien to me,” said Marcos.
Later in the hearing, Dimaporo admitted that AKAP is “foreign” to them, as it was provided in the line item.
Dimaporo’s disclosure then prompted Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who was also present in the hearing, to ask why the budgeting process seemed a little off.
“Baliktad na pala ang budgeting process natin? Ang Kongreso na magdedecide kung anong project i-implement ninyo? Hindi pala kayo ang nagre-request sa Congress [para sa] project na popondohan [o] program na popondohan? Baligtad eh,” said Dela Rosa.
(Is our budgeting process reversed? Congress will decide which projects you will implement, and you will no longer request allocation to Congress for your projects that need to be funded? It’s reversed.)
Answering Dela Rosa’s prodding, Dimaporo explained that AKAP is “not an exclusive project or program for Congress.”
“It will be a regular program, but it is technically foreign in the sense that it has no guidelines yet, so it does not exist as a program,” she said, adding that guidelines have to go through proper policy procedures, so it’s not invented out of thin air.
Dimaporo likewise emphasized that the agency is “open to many innovations and new programs,” explaining that it is “not a new thing where we create something new.”
Dela Rosa, on the other hand, stressed that they did not see the allocation in the National Expenditure Program, which was why they were very surprised.
But for Dimaporo, this was a “happy surprise” because it “will help the disadvantaged at the end of the day.”
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