MANILA — The Senate Finance Committee has recommended to the full Senate the deletion of the controversial Ayuda sa Kapos Ang Kita Program (AKAP) from the Office of the Secretary's Budget in the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the proposed 2025 General Appropriations Bill.

The recommendation is stated in one of the annexes to the Committee Report submitted by the panel to the plenary session of the Senate covering House Bill 10800, which is the House version of the proposed budget for next year.

AKAP was controversial in the 2024 budget deliberations because it was an adjustment made at the last minute by the bicameral conference committee instead of being tackled by the full Senate. 

A special provision in the 2024 DSWD Secretary's Office budget allocated P26.7 billion for the AKAP. AKAP was envisioned to help minimum wage earners affected by rising inflation. 

There was no similar provision in the DSWD Secretary's Office budget for 2025 in the original National Expenditure Program submitted to the House by the Executive.

The same committee report inserted a new provision creating a Sustainable Livelihood Program to be used to support microenterprises and employment facilitation. 

The recommendation mandates the Department of Social Welfare and Development to establish a list of program beneficiaries with the conditions that will qualify them to avail of the benefit. The SLP fund cannot be used for seminars, training, public information program and any other purpose not directly connected with the livelihood program.

Likewise, another new provision that introduced by the panel is the Farmers and Fisherfolk Assistance Program which shall get P3.3 billion to provide a monthly assistance of P2,500 for the bottom 100 thousand marginalized farmers and fisherfolks included in the registry system for basic sectors in agriculture. Not more than 10% of the amount shall be used for administrative and overhead expenses.

The panel also recommended the increase of the DSWD's Quick Response Fund from P1.250 billion to P1.75 billion.

Another new provision is the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI CIDSS) Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay with 4.9B for various aid programs.

There is also a new provision for a supplementary feeding program for undernourished children ages 2-5.

These are all part of the over P164 billion worth of realignments made by the Senate panel to the 2025 Budget approved by the House which now has to muster the vote of the full Senate. 

Any differences between the 2 chambers will have to be resolved by a bicameral conference committee before a final budget bill can be signed by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.