ASEANEWS HEADLINE-ECONOMY | MANILA: Bicam OKs higher P63.8 billion ‘pork’ aid
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MANILA, Philippines — The bicameral conference committee has more than doubled the funding for the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), to P63.8 billion from the amount proposed by Malacañang, despite concerns over the program’s vulnerability to political misuse.
AICS, administered by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), is one of the pork barrel-type aid programs flagged by budget watchdogs as prone to patronage politics, along with the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients. MAIFIP has been allotted P51 billion in 2026.
MAIFIP funds should instead go to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., according to an alliance of at least 72 medical and health professionals’ organizations.
Malacañang proposed P26.9 billion for AICS. The House of Representatives doubled this to P59.09 while the Senate endorsed P34 billion.
During bicameral deliberations, House appropriations committee chair Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing claimed the request for additional funding originated from DSWD Sec. Rex Gatchalian, who was pushing for an expansion in the number of AICS beneficiaries.
Suansing said the secretary requested as much as P70 billion in total funding to accommodate an additional seven million recipients, but fiscal constraints limited what Congress could approve.
Senate finance committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian, Rex’s brother, supported the increase, citing the scale of humanitarian needs following a succession of disasters including earthquakes and typhoons Uwan, Tino and Ramil that displaced millions of Filipinos.
He said the government faces recurring pressure to augment AICS funding toward the end of each year, as the program would usually run out of funding.
Gatchalian said the increase was also justified by the Senate’s decision to remove the Strengthening Assistance for Government Infrastructure Program (SAGIP) from the budget.
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Lawmakers had flagged SAGIP as a source of funding for anomalous flood control projects, prompting senators to argue that providing sufficient AICS funding upfront would reduce reliance on unprogrammed appropriations later in the year.
The sharp expansion of the AICS budget, however, has revived debates over the program’s design and its susceptibility to patronage politics.
Transparency advocates and several senators have repeatedly warned that the discretionary nature of AICS – which provides cash aid to individuals facing emergencies – makes it prone to political intervention, particularly during campaign periods.
Poll period swelling
During plenary budget deliberations at the Senate, Sen. Panfilo Lacson cited data showing that AICS funding consistently ballooned during previous election years before tapering off afterward.
He said allocations stood at P18.2 billion in 2020 and P23.5 billion in 2021, before surging to P39.7 billion in the 2022 election year. Funding dipped in 2023 and 2024, then climbed again to P44.4 billion in 2025, when midterm elections were held.
“This is the pattern: ginagamit ito sa pulitika. Not needs-driven but driven by politics,” Lacson said during Senate deliberations on the DSWD budget.
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He argued that AICS, while crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic, has evolved into a mechanism that encourages political visibility and mass payouts rather than targeted, data-driven assistance.
Lacson also raised concerns over reports of large gatherings during AICS distributions, sometimes attended by elected officials.
“If this is just a stop-gap intervention for individuals in crisis situations, then why are gatherings of beneficiaries en masse?” he said, adding that such practices foster “utang na loob” or debt of gratitude rather than genuine social protection.
On Tuesday night, Sen. Erwin Tulfo, a former DSWD secretary, moved during bicam deliberations to adopt the House version of the AICS budget, citing how disasters in 2025 had strained the program’s resources.
Tulfo said that by the fourth quarter of each year, the DSWD would typically begin requesting for additional quick response funds to keep assistance flowing.
Banned
As concerns over politicization surfaced during the bicam, Tulfo clarified that the proposed 2026 General Appropriations Bill includes provisions barring politicians from participating in or being present during cash assistance distributions.
“In the special provisions, there should be no politicians. We can only ask the DSWD and direct them to the calamity-stricken area. The DSWD chooses the beneficiaries,” he said.
Tulfo said the policy, which he implemented during his tenure as DSWD secretary and which he said remains in place under Secretary Gatchalian, assigns social workers the responsibility of identifying beneficiaries.
With those safeguards clarified, Tulfo pushed for a P34-billion increase in AICS funding, arguing that readily available assistance is critical during emergencies.
Also Tuesday night, the bicameral conference committee restored the Office of the Vice President’s proposed 2026 budget to P889.2 million, matching the allocation initially submitted under the NEP.
The amount reverses the earlier reduction made by the House of Representatives, which had lowered the OVP’s budget to P733 million during its deliberations.
During deliberations at the Senate, however, Duterte-allied senators moved to increase the funding for the OVP to P889.2 million, with the chamber ultimately approving the same amount proposed in the NEP.
House lawmakers had cited Vice President Sara Duterte’s decision not to participate in budget hearings as the basis for the cut.
Duterte declined to respond to questions regarding the use of roughly P625 million in confidential funds released to her office in 2022 and 2023.
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For the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, the increase in AICS indicates that the pork barrel system is still thriving.
“Despite public demands to abolish the pork barrel system, Congress continues to prioritize programs that concentrate discretionary power in the hands of politicians,” Bayan chairman Teodoro Casiño said. — Emmanuel Tupas
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