EDITORIAL - Keep politicians away from AKAP

The implementing rules and regulations for the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program are out, although distribution of the aid has not yet started, according to the agency in charge of AKAP, the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The DSWD has been allocated P26.7 billion under the national budget this year to implement AKAP, whose intended beneficiaries are low-income minimum wage earners who have been severely affected by rising inflation.

Excluded from AKAP are beneficiaries of other regular DSWD assistance programs such as the conditional cash transfer or 4Ps – the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. AKAP includes food and medical aid, funeral assistance and cash handouts ranging from P1,000 to P10,000, with the amount to be based on the need assessment conducted by a DSWD social worker.

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian has said politicians will not be allowed to directly participate in the distribution of AKAP. The DSWD must make sure this aspect of the aid program is strictly enforced. Local government units have a role in the distribution of AKAP. With the midterm elections approaching, the DSWD could be hard-pressed to stop LGU officials from taking personal credit for any form of state-funded aid.

The DSWD should go one step further and get all its programs away from the clutches of credit-grabbing or epal politicians, from national to local and grassroots government levels. Several politicians are notorious for epal and are surely known to the DSWD, an agency with supervision over many of the cash handouts and other forms of aid to the poorest sectors. Credit grabbing is supposed to be banned on billboards providing the details for public infrastructure projects. This should be extended to ayuda or aid programs. AKAP can be a good start for this.