Speaker Martin Romualdez | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of the House of Representatives of the Philippines
LEGAZPI, Albay — House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has urged “some senators” opposing the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) to talk to the people so that they would understand its significance.
In an ambush interview on the sidelines of the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF) here on Thursday, Romualdez was asked about a part of his speech in which he asked Albay residents if they agree with the importance of AKAP as some of his friends in the Senate appear to be against it.
“Yes, we heard that some people in the Senate do not understand [AKAP’s huge impact] because they rarely engage with the people,” he said in Filipino.
“That’s why we’re here visiting provinces and attending the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair. Over two dozen provinces have been visited, and now we are going back to Bicol, and we saw that the people here want this program, which is under the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development),” he added.
According to Romualdez, he will tell his friends in the Senate who oppose the AKAP to “move around and ask the people what programs they want” so that they would know their sentiments.
During the BPSF, Romualdez asked the crowd if they wanted the AKAP to continue.
“Is that okay with you? Please tell me if programs like AKAP are okay with you because some of our friends in the Senate are contemplating if they would continue this. While we are crafting the budget, I want to know, I want you to be the witness if AKAP is okay with you,” he said.
“So that I can tell my friends in the Senate that they should stop cutting the budget for AKAP which is really a big help for the people, and it is very popular,” he added.
Last November 6, it was reported that the Senate committee on finance had recommended the removal of AKAP funds under the proposed 2025 national budget, as stated in the Senate’s committee report on House Bill (HB) No. 10800.
READ: Senate panel wants removal of budget for DSWD’s AKAP
HB No. 10800, or the 2025 General Appropriations Bill, is the version of the budget approved by the House last September 25.
READ: P6.352 trillion budget for 2025 gets House nod
Key lawmakers in the House, including Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon, said any government program is open to criticism, but it should be geared towards improving the AKAP.
“I would suggest and I would appreciate it if the criticism would help the government on how to improve the program. Because for me, personally, I visit our region, our province, and I see that the program helps people,” Bongalon said in a separate interview.
“So if there is a move to criticize the program, maybe we should criticize in the sense that we should improve the program, not to the point that it will be totally removed, because our people will suffer. What we’re doing is we’re just giving back the rightful share of these individuals, who are also paying taxes,” he added.
Much controversy has surrounded AKAP ever since House leaders conceptualized it for the 2024 national budget.
Senator Imee Marcos, Romualdez’ cousin, claimed that the P26.7-billion insertion for AKAP has “defunded billions of pesos in pensions for retired military and uniformed personnel as well as government workers.”
READ: Imee Marcos: AKAP ‘defunded’ billions from gov’t pension
Marcos also said she was unaware that funds were diverted to AKAP, but House Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. said Marcos was one of the senators who signed the page containing the AKAP provisions in the 2024 General Appropriations Budget’s committee report.
READ: Magic project? Gonzales says Senate approved funding for AKAP
On December 13, 2023 — after the bicameral conference committee meeting on the then-proposed 2024 national budget — House appropriations committee chair and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co said that he and Romualdez thought of a project that would assist Filipino workers who are considered near-poor and it was AKAP.
According to Co, workers with a monthly salary of P23,000 or less will get a one-time P5,000 financial aid under the AKAP.
READ: Workers earning no more than P23,000 monthly to get P5,000 aid – House
Deputy Majority Leader and ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo said it was he who thought of the AKAP, when he was still DSWD secretary.
Tulfo said he had observed that middle-class workers are often neglected or left behind in most government aid programs because the government has been focused on implementing measures to help the poor.
READ: Rep. Tulfo: AKAP is for neglected middle-class workers, not for bribery