DSWD: P26.7-billion AKAP aid yet to be spent

The P26.7 billion set aside for the Department of Social Welfare and Development's aid program for the near-poor has yet to be spent pending the guidelines for its implementation, the agency's spokesman said on Thursday.

Assistant Secretary Rommel Lopez said the allocation for the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) was not in the National Expenditure Program that the executive branch submitted to Congress but added that the DSWD had been looking for ways to help the minimum wage earners since 2023.

"Not even a cent of this P26.7 billion was spent kasi ito nga po kinakailangan pa natin maayos ang guidelines for us to make sure na yung provisions ng GAA ay masusunod natin," Lopez said.

(Not even a centavo of this P26.7 billion has been spent because we have to first complete the guidelines so we can be sure that the provisions of the General Appropriations Act will be followed.)

Amid allegations that the AKAP had been used to buy signatures for the people's initiative for Charter change, Lopez said the aid program could be used to spend for any initiative.

"It is only the DSWD who can identify kung sino ang karapat dapat na benepisyaryo. It is only the DSWD throughits special disbursement officer who can pay out or disburse 'yung public funds. Wala na pong iba," Lopez said.

(Only the DSWD can identify the rightful beneficiaries. It is only the DWD, through its special disbursement officer who can pay out or disburse the public funds. No one else.) —NB, GMA Integrated News