The Department of Social Welfare and Development will come up with a real-time monitoring mechanism of its Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita (AKAP) program fund and its recipients to ensure transparency in utilization just as the campaign period for local posts are set to begin next week.
Aside from attempting better monitoring, the ban on the presence of politicians or any political materials during payout events for AKAP beneficiaries will also be strictly enforced, as explicitly stated in the DSWD’s new joint guidelines with the National Economic and Development Authority and Department of Labor and Employment issued on March 6.
According to Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2025-01, the guidelines for AKAP this year focus on ensuring that only qualified beneficiaries are given social assistance and that the program is depoliticized, especially during off site implementation, or when payout activities are held outside of DSWD offices.
Social Welfare spokesperson Irene Dumlao said the revised rules on AKAP implementation shall serve as safeguards from politicking during the election period. A new provision is the “reporting requirement” where DSWD field offices have to submit reports regularly containing financial data and a “narrative analysis” of the program status in their area. The information will be posted on the DSWD website for public consumption and updated monthly.
With regard to the list of AKAP beneficiaries, only the name and the province of residence would be made available in compliance with data privacy laws, Dumlao noted.
A program as vulnerable to the machinations of politicos during the campaign period such as AKAP ideally should’ve come with protection mechanisms from the onset. Why that isn’t so, one can only guess. Hopefully the new initiatives are a case of better late than never, even though candidates all over the country have been busy unofficially campaigning for months by now.
However, if the added mechanisms can prevent AKAP misuse during the most critical part of the campaign period, perhaps we can consider it a win for the Filipino people and our democracy. Let us hope that implementation is effective and that the people who crafted the protections didn’t leave behind more loopholes that can be exploited.*
