Speaker vows to fight for AKAP funding

Speaker Martin Romualdez vowed yesterday to fight and secure funding for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)'s Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) in the 2025 budget, high-lighting the program's impact on more than four million "near poor" Filipinos nationwide.

- Delon Porcalla

"This initiative has proven its value by providing immediate relief to struggling households, empowering them to weather economic challenges and ensuring their resilience against inflation and other (financial) shocks," Romualdez told journalists who covered the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair in Legazpi City, Albay.

"AKAP is not just a safety net. It is a lifeline for millions of Filipino families teetering on the edge of poverty," he stressed.

Romualdez said the AKAP, conceptualized under his leadership, has been instrumental in supporting working families with insufficient 1ncome.

The Speaker highlighted that AKAP's impact is evident in its extensive reach, with P20.7 billion of the P26.7-billion allocation already utilized, benefiting millions across all regions, including over 539,000 families in the National Capital Region (NCR) alone.

Regions like Central Luzon, Bicol and Western Visayas have also achieved significant fund utilization rates exceeding 70 percent.