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NewsTranscript
00:00The Senate approved the 2025 budget of the DSWD for the Ayuda Para sa Kapos Angkita Program or ACAP, which is an assistance for minimum wage earners.
00:11This can only be done by one person and another program of the DSWD.
00:15Here is the House Speaker on the testimony of Sandra Ginaldo.
00:20There is a dispute between the Senate and the House regarding the fund for the Ayuda Para sa Kapos Angkita Program or ACAP.
00:32This is followed by Senator Aimee Marcos' announcement, the sponsor of the budget of the DSWD, that the ACAP has been removed from the Senate version.
00:40It's confusing and to be honest, I already removed the version of the Senate.
00:48Are you saying there's no ACAP in the Senate version?
00:51Yes, I deleted it entirely.
00:53How much did you delete, Mr. President, Madam Chair?
00:56Yes, Php 39 billion which was added in the House version and Php 41 billion added for AICS.
01:07It can only be done by one ACAP and the previous AICS or Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation.
01:15While we recognize the necessity of immediate relief by direct financial assistance,
01:22it's imperative that we focus also on social protection initiatives,
01:28foster long-term development and self-reliance rather than creating a new Ayuda Nation.
01:36We don't want that.
01:38In 2024, ACAP was first implemented to protect minimum wage earners from the effects of inflation in the country.
01:47According to one of its sponsors, House Speaker Martin Romualdez,
01:51ACAP will provide Php 3,000 to Php 5,000 of aid to qualified beneficiaries.
01:57But the ACAP is controversial,
01:59which was criticized by some senators because it's not in the proposed 2024 budget of the DSWD
02:05and it's also not in the approved version of the budget for the House and Senate.
02:09It just suddenly appeared in the version of the Bicameral Conference Committee back then.
02:14In the 2025 budget, the funding for this was tripled from Php 13 billion in 2024 to Php 39.8 billion for 2025.
02:26According to the camera, ACAP needs to provide aid to minimum wage earners who earn Php 21,000 or less every month.
02:34But according to the senators, this won't go to the poorest Filipinos.
02:39We don't have problems with the program in itself, but we wanted to make sure that it's clearer this time.
02:48Like they say, this is for middle-class individuals.
02:55It's not for the poorest of the poor sector of our society.
03:01Speaker Romualdez has changed his mind.
03:04He said that this fund needs a lot of people and he's ready to fight the camera.
03:09I'm a bit worried because some of our friends in the Senate want to scrap ACAP.
03:18Do you agree?
03:20Yes!
03:21Do we want to remove ACAP?
03:23Yes!
03:24What do we say, Senator? Do we want to remove it?
03:27Yes!
03:28Romualdez ordered the House Appropriations Committee to work hard to get ACAP back
03:34once the national budget for the Bicameral Conference Committee has been discussed.
03:38In the Senate, I don't think they understand because they don't go down too much.
03:43What we see is that this is what our countrymen want, this program from the House Appropriations Committee.
03:52So I will tell our friends in the Senate to go around and ask the people what they want.
04:00And what I see in all of our meetings is that they want this program to be scrapped.
04:07For GMA Integrated News, Sandra Aguinaldo, your witness.