MANILA, Philippines – Going by what senators discovered during their probe into the people’s initiative on Tuesday, February 13, the push for charter change can be traced back to the budget deliberations in the last quarter of 2023.

Senators were baffled after they found that some P26.7 billion “magically” appeared in the approved 2024 budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The funds in question were supposedly for financial aid of the agency called Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita or AKAP.

“Nagulat din ako sa AKAP at mas lalo akong nagulat sa halaga, P26.7 billion. Isang programa na ngayon ko lang natuklasan at ngayon lang narinig,” said Senator Imee Marcos, chairman of the Senate committee on electoral reforms.

(I was also surprised by the AKAP, more so, its huge budget of P26.7 billion. It’s a program that I only discovered and heard of now.)

Marcos, who also sponsored the 2024 DSWD budget, said that she was unaware of the said project.

“I understood AKAP was under the DSWD budget. If you recall, in the Senate, I handle the DSWD budget. But like the Comelec’s mysterious additional P12 billion, this P26.7 billion in the budget of the DSWD is alien to me,” she said.

Marcos alleged that the AKAP funds were used to lure people to sign in favor of amending the Constitution through a people’s initiative. She read out a text message which said, “All soft projects, including AKAP, must go through the office of the Speaker, AKAP, AICS, TUPAD, MAIP for the PI and other efforts.”

DSWD Undersecretary Fatima Aliah Dimaporo said that the project was also “foreign” to her but called it a “happy surprise.”

“A happy surprise, Senator Bato, madam chair. A happy surprise because it will help the disadvantaged at the end of the day,” Dimaporo said.

During the hearing, Senator Bato dela Rosa said that they were not blaming DSWD for the insertion of the funds because they themselves were unaware of their “new project.”

“Kaya nga sabi ng aming chairman, it’s very magical kayo mismo DSWD hindi ‘nyo alam na uy boom! May AKAP pala na ganito kalaki,” Dela Rosa said. (That’s why our chairman said it’s magical because the DSWD itself was surprised that there’s this huge AKAP budget.)

What happened?

Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, said that the AKAP budget was an amendment by the lower house during the bicameral conference. “Obviously, when it was proposed wala namang nakalagay na (it was not indicated that it will be used for people’s initiative.”

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian confirmed that funds for AKAP were not part of the agency’s line items for its 2024 budget. “Noong naghearing kami, wala pa talaga iyan, pero hindi rin namin kayang sumagot kung ano ang nangyari during the bicameral conference meeting.”

(During our budget hearing, it really wasn’t there, but we couldn’t provide any answers on what happened during the bicameral conference meeting.)

In a statement on Wednesday, February 14, Senior House Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. said the Senate approved the P26.7-billion AKAP funds when it passed the 2024 budget.

“AKAP is part of the 2024 national budget. The Senate gave its stamp of approval on AKAP when it passed the then proposed P5.768-trillion outlay for this year in plenary last November 28,” he said.

“It would be absurd now for senators to be questioning the AKAP and other assistance funds included in the national budget and administered by the DSWD because they approved it,” Gonzales added.

– With reports from Kaycee Valmonte/Rappler.com