An early Christmas gift is what’s in store for an estimated 48 million poor and low-income Filipinos next year with the recent signing by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the P5.768-trillion 2024 national budget.
This is definitely a pro-poor budget as it includes almost P500 billion social amelioration program or “ayuda” for at least 12 million poor and disadvantaged families.
According to Speaker Martin Romualdez, this is the first time the government is allocating a substantial amount of P500 billion or half-a-trillion for assistance to poor households nationwide.
“We are hoping that in some way, we are able to support people who badly need government help to get them through hard times,” he said.
What he is referring to is the introduction in the 2024 budget of a new program, called AKAP, or the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita.
The initial P60-billion fund seeks to provide direct cash assistance to the ‘near-poor’ or families earning up to P23,000 a month.
At least 12 million households will benefit from it, including low-income workers, such as those in construction and factories, drivers, and food service crew, among others.
Target beneficiaries would receive a one-time cash assistance of P5,000. If the program proves successful, the government can continue implementing it in 2025.
AKAP will complement existing government programs targeting the poorest of the poor.
These are Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Tulong Pang-hanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/ Displaced Workers (TUPAD) of the Department of Labor and Employment. For 2024, Congress allocated P23 billion for AICS and P30 billion for TUPAD.
Congress, according to Romualdez, will continue to allot public funds for what he termed “legacy projects” that will ensure food security, assure Filipinos of adequate medical care through specialty hospitals, and provide the homeless with decent housing.
The food security component, for instance will allocate P5 billion to support farmers with free irrigation, seeds, fertilizer, and other farm inputs.
Another P5 billion would be spent for buying their produce at market prices and ensure the supply of affordable and high quality local rice.
The legislature will also allot funding for the construction of new specialty hospitals or expansion of existing ones, and the provision of free treatment and consultation, free medicines, and quality medical services to indigent patients, and ensure the availability of funds for the accelerated implementation of the Marcos administration’s housing program for the poor.
All these tell us in no uncertain terms the government is exerting every effort to uplift the lives of the poor and low-income sectors in society, and see to it that no one is left behind in the nation’s march to sustained economic growth in the years ahead.