DSWD Sec. Rex Gatchalian —Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Thursday reiterated that its Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program or AKAP is not a pork barrel program.

DSWD Sec. Rex Gacthalian made the pronouncement in response to retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio who claimed that the cash assistance under AKAP “resembles the controversial pork barrel” and that “barangay officials submit the list of beneficiaries.”

“With due respect to the former Supreme Court Justice, AKAP is not [a] pork barrel since any good Samaritan can refer potential beneficiaries and the barangay has nothing to do with AKAP based on our existing guidelines,” Gatchalian said in a statement.

READ: DSWD: Akap beneficiaries don’t need political backers

He also clarified that the AKAP guidelines does not empower barangay officials to make the list of beneficiaries who will receive the cash assistance from the agency on their own.

Gatchalian then further explained that while legislators and local officials can refer potential aid recipients, it is the agency’s social workers who vet the beneficiaries to make sure that they are eligible based on the AKAP guidelines.

“The original intention of the AKAP program is to protect the minimum wage earners and near-poor Filipinos from the effects of inflation that erode their buying power,” said Gatchalian.

“It is intended to provide a menu of assistance for goods and services that are affected by high inflation depending on the needs of the individuals,” he added.

According to the DSWD, the General Appropriations Act of 2024—specifically, the Special Provision No. 3 of the DSWD Budget—authorized the P26.7 billion funding for AKAP, serving as financial assistance to minimum wage earners falling under the category of low income that were severely affected by the rising inflation.

It added that almost 5 million “near poor” Filipinos have already benefitted from the AKAP from January to December 26 this year.

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