Last week, stung by accusations that politicians are using the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) clarified that politicians, including candidates for the 2025 midyear elections, are not allowed to distribute any form of financial aid from the agency.
Only DSWD personne can release the assistance under AKAP or the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) based on the guidelines, DSWD Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said in an interview.
A 2021 memorandum circular reportedly prohibis the use of DSWD activities “in any manner that could in any way influence the vote of a person or the results of the election.”
These include the display of election paraphernalia, distribution of election materials, playing of campaign jingles, political campaigning of a candidate and misrepresentation of the source of the assistance.
Dumlao, however, admitted that some legislators are on the ground to exercise oversight functions and some ‘local partners’ are present to provide logistical support.
She disclosed that the DSWD personnel always tell beneficiaries that the politicians have nothing to do with the distribution and that the politicians are told to just observe and not speak.
The good assistant secretary must not be aware of the actual practice on the ground as there is enough proof on the social media accounts of politicians showing them addressing beneficiaries and claiming that the assistance was released on their efforts.
There are even credible accounts of the politician’s leaders in the barangays determining who gets on the list of AKAP beneficiaries, which is the job of the DSWD under the program guidelines.
In urging the public to report violations of the existing guidelines on the distribution of assistance, the DSWD is setting up for sure disappointment anyone complains about political interference.
And its personnel cannot do anything about a congressman joining the distribution of the assistance and misrepresenting the source of the assistance, lest they become the subject of the politician’s ire and be reported to the regional director.
The anomalous situation of sitting politicians using government funds for obvious campaigning is not helped by a recent warning issued by the Commission on Elections.
While COMELEC Chairman George Erwin Garcia warned that candidates in next year’s elections caught politicizing government social programs would be charged and face imprisonment and disqualification, it allowed the continuation of several programs under the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Health, Department of Public Works and Highways, and the DSWD.
Among the programs exempted from the election ban on the government spending are DOLE’s the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (Tupad) Program, with a 2025 funding of P14.1 billion, and the AKAP which Congress blessed with P26 billion.
This means in the next three months or so before the 45-day election period or even beyond, members of the House of Representatives as well as provincial governors and city mayors will be very busy courting the votes of AKAP recipients which their district office selected with the silent assent of the DSWD field officers.
The COMELEC’s warning that any abuse or mishandling could result in the suspension of exemption and legal action against violators, including winning candidates, would likely fall on deaf ears.
The luxury of being able to buy voters using government funds and not their own is too powerful to resist for legislators and chief executives, even for those who would like to win cleanly.