(MANILA BULLETIN)

If House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co would have his way, he would make Filipino workers' monthly minimum salary P45,000. 

Co has this to say in recent television interview wherein he insisted that the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD's) Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) was justified and, most of all, corruption-free. 

“If I have my way, if I have enough funds, or if we have enough funds, we would give all minimum-wage earners P5,000 because I always say the minimum wage should be P45,000," he said. 

But Co, a second-termer in the House of Representatives, quickly acknowledged that such scenario was not feasible. In fact, it would be disastrous to the economy. 

"[But if you do that], there will be super-inflation, many businesses will close down. So the only way to do it is give it directly as a targeted response to the minimum-wage earners’ hardship,” he said. 

This targeted response comes in the form of AKAP, the Bicolano said. 

The minimum daily wage in Metro Manila is P645. The P45,000 monthly salary would be more than twice the current minimum rate.

Co, whose committee is in charge of helping craft the national budget law every year, says that his main aspiration is to see to it that AKAP is continously implemented in the country. 

In a nutshell, the AKAP is the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) or government financial aid mechanism for the working individual who find it hard to make ends meet. Whereas, the 4Ps is for the poorest of the poor. 

DSWD’s AKAP has been grabbing headlines as of late due to allegations of corruption in its facilitation. 

According to the DSWD, AKAP provided P5,000 in cash assistance to nearly five million near-poor Filipinos in 2024. It achieved a 99.31percent utilization rate of its P26.7 billion budget.