MANILA – Nasa P26.7 bilyong halaga ng tulong pinansyal sa ilalim ng Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) ang kinuwestyon ng mga senador kahapon sa pagpapatuloy ng public hearing sa people’s initiative o PI.
Sinabi ni Sen. Imee Marcos, na namuno sa imbestigasyon ng committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation, na nagulat siya nang malaman ang P26.7-bilyong Ayuda Kita sa Kapos program. Sinabi ng DSWD na wala ang AKAP sa national expenditure program.
Sinabi ni Marcos sa isang text message na natanggap niya na nagsasabing “lahat ng soft project kabilang ang AKAP ay dapat dumaan sa opisina ng Speaker, AKAP, AICS, TUPAD, MAIP para sa PI at iba pang pagsisikap.”
Ang tinutukoy ni Marcos, na nag-sponsor ng DSWD budget para sa 2024, ay ang Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) at ang Medical Assistance to Indigent Patients (MAIP) programs.
Walang agarang komento mula kay Speaker Martin Romualdez.
“I understood AKAP was under the DSWD budget. If you recall, in the Senate, I handle the DSWD budget. But like the Comelec’s mysterious additional P12 billion, this P26.7 billion in the budget of the DSWD is alien to me,” wika ni Marcos.
Sinabi ni Sen. JV Ejercito na nagulat din siya nang marinig ang tungkol sa AKAP, isang programang hindi alam ng mga senador na nagtalakay sa General Appropriations Act of 2024.
“AKAP is just as foreign to us,” sinabi ni DSWD Undersecretary Fatima Aliah Dimaporo.
“It is not an exclusive project or program for Congress, but it is technically foreign in the sense that it has no guidelines yet, so it does not exist as a program,” sinabi ni Dimaporo nang tanungin ni Sen. Ronald dela Rosa kung nagpasya ang Kongreso na pondohan ang proyekto o kung hiniling ito ng DSWD.
Nang tanungin ni Marcos kung kasama ba ang AKAP sa national expenditure program, sumagot si Dimaporo, “No.”
“Do we allot enormous sums of money such as this almost P27 billion for a project or a program that is undefined, unnamed, unfamiliar with no guidelines whatsoever with no target beneficiaries, and is just left open? Is this the usual practice in the DSWD?” giit pa ni Marcos.
“Not necessarily, so sometimes DSWD has these magical projects that no one has ever heard of before?” sabi pa niya.
Sinabi ni Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman na ang P26.7-bilyong AKAP sa 2024 budget ay wala pang IRR.
“This is another cash subsidy program of the DSWD for those impacted by the country’s rising inflation. All other programs likened to ayuda has already been comprehensively released,” paliwanag ng DBM secretary.
