House eyes P39.8 billion aid for minimum wage earners in 2025 budget

The House of Representatives has earmarked P39.8 billion in funding for the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) under the P6.325 trillion proposed budget for 2025, an amount three times higher than AKAP’s current funding, House appropriations panel chairman Zaldy Co said Tuesday.

Co, in a statement, said the House small committee agreed to introduce the amendment for a higher budget for AKAP “due to public clamor.”

The 2024 national budget allocation for AKAP, the program which grants cash assistance those who earn P21,000 and below per month, only stands at P13 billion.

"The additional funding is crucial for supporting those in need. That includes minimum wage earners vulnerable to economic shocks like sudden death of a household head, sickness, loss of jobs or runaway inflation that can easily send them back to poverty,” Co said.

In addition, Co said the P39.8 billion AKAP just forms part of the P292 billion worth of social programs funded under the proposed 2025 budget which also include:

• P39.8-billion for the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS)
• P3.4 billion for the Sustainable Livelihood Program for low-income families
• P20.28 billion for the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) and the Government Internship Program
• P30 billion for the Commission on Higher Education’s Tertiary Education Subsidy and Tulong Dunong programs (split evenly)
• P7 billion for Department of Education for the construction of new school facilities and repair of existing ones
• P8.44 billion for subsistence allowance of military personnel
• P3.2 billion for airport expansion on Pag-asa Island along with a shelter port in Lawak, Palawan.
• P30 billion for the Department of Agriculture's Philippine Irrigation Network Piping System, solar-powered irrigation systems, and cold storage projects. 
• P44 billion for the National Irrigation Administration’s establishment of pump irrigation and solar-driven pump irrigation projects.
• P56.87 billion for the Health department’s Health Facility Enhancement Program, Medical Assistance for Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients Program, and improving specialty and legacy hospitals.
• P1 billion for the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital, among others.

The proposed P6.325 trillion budget for 2025 is undergoing Finance panel deliberations in the Senate at the moment.

The House’s third reading approved version of the proposed 2025 budget can be adopted by the Senate or subjected to further discussions at the Bicameral Conference Committee level wherein the contingent from the Senate and House reconcile the differing versions  of their approved 2025 proposed budget, respectively.

Once the Bicameral panel reconciles these versions and approves the committee report, it will be up to the President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr.’s signature for the bill to become a law.

The President, however, has the authority to veto, meaning reject, certain provisions of the Congress-approved proposed budget before he signs it into a law. — BM, GMA Integrated News