Camille Naredo

A government employee speaks to people lining up at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) central office in Quezon City on August 20, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File

A government employee speaks to people lining up at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) central office in Quezon City on August 20, 2022. Some of the people started lining up Friday night after the agency earlier announced that indigent students throughout the country may get between P1,000 to P4,000 in educational assistance as part of DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

DSWD

Agatha Gregorio

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175749291725520220820-dswd-classes-crowd-GC-10.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-dragging" alt="A government employee speaks to people lining up at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) central office in Quezon City on August 20, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A government employee speaks to people lining up at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) central office in Quezon City on August 20, 2022. <em>George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA -- Around seven million individuals may not receive social welfare due to the cut in the budget for Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) and zero funding being assigned to Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) in the Department of Social Welfare and Development&#x27;s (DSWD) proposed 2026 budget, according DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian. </p><p>Gatchalian called this &quot;a bit alarming,&quot; adding he hopes the decision towards this slashed budget would be reconsidered.</p><p>The reduction in funds for DSWD protective services in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) compared to the previous year is close to around P50 billion, the DSWD chief said.</p><p>Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman explained in August that the AKAP still has remaining funds from this year, and fiscal space for next year is &quot;limited.&quot;</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2025/8/13/zero-funding-eyed-for-akap-in-2026-flood-control-to-get-p274-9-b-2026">READ: Zero funding eyed for AKAP in 2026; flood control to get P274.9-B</a></div><p>&quot;Mawawala ho &#x27;yung AKAP. Dati nandoon sa protective services &#x27;yun. Malaking kawalan ho &#x27;yun. And then the budget for AICS also or the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation, nabawasan din ho. So put together, we&#x27;re looking at close to around 50 billion worth of reductions,&quot; Gatchalian said. </p><p>The projected service gap or unserved clients under AICS in 2026 is at 2.978 million, while it is at 4.068 million under AKAP.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;re looking at around 7-million individuals who may not be able to receive social welfare in their crisis situation… It&#x27;s a bit alarming,&quot; Gatchalian said.</p><p>Negros Occidental 6th District Rep. Mercedes Alvarez also asked what the alternative would be for families who would be impacted by the budget cut.</p><p>&quot;Now the alternative thereof, I leave it to our policymakers. But again, there is a notion in the department that we merge the program consolidated into the AICS to make sure that people do not lose their social welfare. But again, I put it on the table for our policymakers that even AICS, itself has been reduced. So sana ho ma-reconsider ng ating mababang kapulungan &#x27;yung dilemma ng departamento,&quot; Gatchalian said.</p><p>The DSWD&#x27;s 2026 budget under the NEP is at P223.2 billion.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/8/19/akap-program-to-continue-despite-zero-proposed-budget-in-2026-dswd-1250">READ: AKAP program to continue despite zero proposed budget in 2026 -- DSWD</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>DSWD TO LOOK INTO IMPROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF &#x27;AYUDA&#x27; PROGRAMS</strong></div><p>Some lawmakers, including Caloocan 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice, raised concerns on &quot;ayuda&quot; programs.</p><p>According to Erice, programs like AKAP have become a way for politicians to dole out money.</p><p>&quot;Mayroon pong kultura na nagawa &#x27;yung AKAP na hindi maganda sa communities… Ang sabi po sa aking distrito, nangyari po &#x27;yung barangay captains, sila po nagdi-distribute. Habang forms, nanggagaling sa representative. Tapos ho binibigay sa barangay captain. Barangay captain po, &#x27;yung 5,000– naging 2,500 nalang pagdating sas beneficiary,&quot; Erice said.</p><p>&quot;I don&#x27;t think that the DSWD has enough social welfare workers to determine the eligibility of beneficiaries. Ang nangyayari po, ito po ay naging dole outs naming mga pulitiko,&quot; Erice added.</p><p>Erice said he would prefer that DSWD personnel interview people in crisis so they could give financial assistance directly to beneficiaries. </p><p>In response, Gatchalian clarified there already are guidelines for AKAP and AICS.</p><p>But for instances wherein these are not implemented properly, Gatchalian said he intends to work with the office of Erice to isolate cases and deal with them accordingly.</p><p>Regarding what is being done against those getting kickbacks from &quot;ayuda,&quot; Gatchalian said: &quot;A active information campaign is taken before, during the event. Onstage, there are nakapaskil na mga huwag kayo magpapapayag na may magkakaltas. We verbalize it paulit-ulit.&quot; </p><p>&quot;Grievance mechanisms are also there. And when we do detect such cases, the harshest criminal liabilities are filed in courts,&quot; Gatchalian added.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;SOCIAL WELFARE SHOULD GO TO CRISIS SITUATIONS, NOT GAMBLING&#x27;</strong></div><p>The DSWD is also working with service providers to address the matter of how some individuals receiving &quot;ayuda&quot; or financial aid end up losing this in gambling, according to Gatchalian.</p><p>Prior to this, Bukidnon 3rd District Rep. Audrey Zubiri asked if there was a way to link up with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) to obtain their database on online gamblers.</p><p>&quot;In some instances, in the provinces when ayuda is being given out, whether it be AICS or AKAP, we have noticed that a lot of the people who are lining up, and these are supposedly individuals in crisis situations are very busy on their phones. Mamaya, &#x27;pag tiningnan mo, magugulat ka nalang na ayan, naglalaro na pala ng Scatter. And so my concern is baka mamaya hindi pa nila natatanggap &#x27;yung ayuda nila, nagastos na nila,&quot; Zubiri said.</p><p>&quot;Is there a way that we can perhaps link up with maybe PAGCOR and get their database on who are our online gamblers?&quot; Zubiri then asked.</p><p>The DSWD is working on this, with the agency having met with GCash &quot;so many times,&quot; according to Gatchalian. </p><p>But he said the &quot;biggest hurdle&quot; is disclosing their &quot;very powerful&quot; database, considering how this could lead to exposing people in poverty to &quot;fake news and abuses online,&quot; Gatchalian said.</p><p>They are working with service providers to look at what may be &quot;isolated&quot; in their database to respond to this.</p><p>Gatchalian also agreed that  social welfare should go to crisis situations and not gambling.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>GATCHALIAN APPEALS FOR SOCIAL PENSION BUDGET INCREASE </strong></div><p>Gatchalian meanwhile asked Congress for an increase in their budget for social pension, citing the waitlist of nearly 1-million senior citizens for this spanning across different local government units (LGU).</p><p>&quot;We are appealing to Congress to augment the budget for social pension, so we can adequately service the 1 million waitlist,&quot; Gatchalian said.</p><p>The senior citizens in the waitlist are already qualified, but the agency does not have enough funds to help them, Gatchalian added. </p><p>Funding for social pension for indigent senior citizens is at P49.8 billion under the 2026 NEP.</p>

<p>"We're looking at around 7-million individuals who may not be able to receive social welfare in their crisis situation… It's a bit alarming," Gatchalian said.</p>

"We're looking at around 7-million individuals who may not be able to receive social welfare in their crisis situation… It's a bit alarming," Gatchalian said.

DSWD: Around 7-M may not get social welfare due to cut in AICS budget, zero funding for AKAP

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DSWD: Around 7-M may not get social welfare due to cut in AICS budget, zero funding for AKAP

Agatha Gregorio,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 10, 2025 04:31 PM PHT

|

Updated Sep 10, 2025 05:22 PM PHT

Read More:

budget

Department of Social Welfare and Development

DSWD

Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation

AICS

Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program

AKAP

Rex Gatchalian

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