DSWD defends program for 'near poor' Filipino workers
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Wednesday, Feb. 14 defended the “Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program” (AKAP) that aims to prevent the “near poor” minimum wage earners from going below the poverty line.
In a statement, Gatchalian pointed out that not a single centavo of the AKAP budget allocated in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) has been spent because the DSWD is still crafting the program’s guidelines to ensure its smooth and efficient fulfillment of the agency’s mandate.
This was in response to a Senate investigation into the potential link between the people’s initiative (PI) signature campaign for Charter change and the DSWD assistance program.
Gatchalian explained that when the 2024 GAA included a program like AKAP, it was “welcome” news for the DSWD because “we were already contemplating such a program.”
He recalled that DSWD officials met with national statistician Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa, chair of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) secretariat and a well-known poverty expert, in the third quarter of 2023.
“We were already exploring programs that will provide a safety net for those classified as near poor. Undersecretary Mapa briefed us on the value of a near poor program so as to prevent a vicious cycle of minimum wage earners and 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) graduates going back to poverty,” Gatchalian said.
“Sayang (It’s a pity) if they slip back into poverty because we have made investments to pull them out of poverty like 4Ps. Years of human capital investment will go to waste if they fall back and start all over again,” he added.
Under AKAP, Gatchalian defined the near poor segment as minimum-wage earners who are vulnerable to economic shocks such as runaway inflation, which can easily send them back into poverty.
Households that have already exited the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are also classified as near poor, requiring a safety net such as the AKAP program to keep them from falling below the poverty line.
“This segment in our society feels excluded from our DSWD programs. An economic shock such as a runaway inflation can easily send the ‘near poor’ back to poverty,” Gatchalian said.
The DSWD chief pointed out that the legislative branch has the power of the purse.
“We respect their wisdom in crafting the national budget,” he said.
“The GAA enjoys presumption of regularity because it went through tough scrutiny of the legislative branch. We will be remiss in our duties if we do not implement what is in the budget,” he added.