DSWD: Rules on Akap dole nearly done

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In a bid to avoid complaints of politicking, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Sunday said that the government was formulating guidelines for the controversial cash assistance program Ayuda Para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (Akap).

The proposed guidelines will ensure the eligibility of individuals before qualifying as beneficiaries under Akap, which was a last-minute insertion in the 2025 General Appropriations Act and highly criticized for its possibility of swaying voters in the upcoming 2025 midterm elections.

READ: DSWD, Dole, Neda to craft guidelines for release of P26-B Akap funds

Gatchalian said he met with Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan last Friday to discuss the “refined intake form” for Akap.

This was in compliance with the President’s call for new guidelines for the “conditional implementation” of Akap and to heed his line-item veto message on Akap.

One of the agreed salient provisions in the guidelines was maintaining a ceiling on the number of household members who can avail of the program to “minimize instances of duplication of aid,” said Gatchalian.

The guidelines will also put “consequences” to fraudulent activities, such as forging documents and beneficiary lists, although he did not specify.

Both Laguesma and Balisacan agreed to the proposed guidelines, believing this would “help pacify pertinent public concern” amid initial backlash to the program, he added.

Gatchalian also explained that the program “intends to address the significant strain of inflation to the financial capacity of those who earn less than the minimum wage,” although critics pointed out how the cash assistance program could be prone to corruption.

“In case of the social welfare in take, [the refined intake form] will show us if our clients’ goods are affected by the effects of inflation,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English in a statement.

“Anybody can refer [a beneficiary to the program], but our social workers and the result of interviews and assessment will be followed at the end of the day,” Gatchalian also said.

The new intake form will also determine if the beneficiaries in the program were “indeed affected” by inflation, according to Gatchalian, while acknowledging that state social workers have always “practiced prudence” in screening individuals before letting them into the program.