House balks at ‘absurd’ Senate allegations about cash aid program

MANILA, Philippines —  The House appropriations committee chairperson has denied allegations of possible irregularities in the P26.7-billion cash aid project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, saying that its alleged use for the people’s initiative (PI) campaign is “unfounded.”

House Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales has also insisted that senators approved the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) during the budget legislation process, calling their line of questioning about its “sudden” appearance in the 2024 budget “absurd.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Rep. Elizaldy Co (AKO Bicol) said that Sen. Imee Marcos’ allegations about the AKAP program — which the department said was not in the proposed budget — had “tarnished” the intention of the cash aid program.

“Dinudungisan po ni Senador Imee Marcos ang malinis na intensyon ng AKAP na tulungan ang mga kababayan nating may trabaho ngunit kapos ang kita. Taumbayan na po ang bahalang humusga sa kanyang pamumulitika sa isang programang pantulong sa mahirap,” Co said.

(Sen. Imee Marcos is tarnishing the clean intentions of AKAP to help our compatriots who have jobs but have low income. It's up to the people to judge this politicization of a program to help the poor.)

Co issued the statement after Sen. Imee Marcos and other senators on Tuesday questioned the inclusion of the project in the 2024 budget and expressed their “surprise” and lack of knowledge about a program with billions of funding.

This was raised during the Senate hearing on the people’s initiative (PI) campaign for Charter change — proponents of which face allegations of vote-buying and using government aid to clinch enough signatures. House leaders and Speaker Martin Romualdez has denied orchestrating the campaign but have repeatedly expressed support for it.

While the AKAP program is not an exclusive program for Congress, DSWD Undersecretary Fatima Aliah Dimaporo said during the Senate hearing that the cash aid program is “technically foreign in the sense that it has no guidelines yet.”

Dimaporo added that the AKAP program was not part of the National Expenditure Program for 2024.

Meanwhile, Gonzales said that “one or two