A measure seeking to institutionalize the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program has been approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives.
Overwhelmingly passed with 176 affirmative votes during plenary session on Wednesday night, June 4 was House Bill (HB) No.11395.
The measure saw its second reading passage last Feb. 5, or just before Congress went on a four-month recess for the mid-term elections.
The House approved the bill amid criticisms that AICS was a political tool. But the program's proponents in the legislative chamber have insisted that it's a key mechanism of the government in helping Filipinos in need.
In 2023, 6.5 million Filipinos received P40.9 billion worth of aid under AICS.
The objective of HB No.11395 is to institutionalize the AICS program of the DSWD that is financially and administratively capable of responding to the needs of Filipinos when dealing with extreme circumstance.
Through the measure, each qualified beneficiary is granted financial, medicooal, transportation, food, material assistance, and other forms of assistance available in the DSWD. This includes referral service, psychosocial support or intervention, and legal consultation, based on the assessment of the social workers of the DSWD.
It puts in place an Integrated Program Delivery System, which concerned agencies and LGUs may access in order to identify the types of assistance available to qualified beneficiaries and for purposes of assistance augmentation as well as prevention of possible abuse of the AICS program.
It also provides for the minimum personnel complement of the Crisis Intervention Division/Unit offices and authorizes the DSWD to create the required plantila and staffing pattern necessary for the program's implementation, in coordination with the Depart ment of Budget and Management and the Civil Service Commission.
Moreover, HB No.11395 mandates any public or private entity that provides services under the AICS program to accept guarantee letter, coupon, check or voucher issued by the DSWD as ful or partial payment of the obiligation of the qualified beneficiary.
It alao creates a Congressional Oversight Committe composed of five senators and five representatives, to be appointed by the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively, and co-chaired by the chairpersons of the Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development of the Senate, and the Committee on Social Services of the House of Representatives.
The four other members from the Senate and House of Representatives shall be composed of three members from each of the aforementioned committees, and one from the minority.
The bill Iicludes a sunset clause mandating the Congressional Oversight Committee to conduct a systematic evaluation on the continuity of the proposed law within two years after its effectivity.