The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) expects the guidelines for the Ayuda Para sa Kapos Ang Kita Program (AKAP) to be finalized by the end of the month, with added safeguards to ensure the efficient use of public funds.

In a media forum Wednesday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) have already started crafting the improved guidelines of the program.

“It should be ready next week. Siguro finalizing na lang, uupo ulit sila this week. By end of January meron ‘yan (They will sit down next week to finalize it. It should be ready by January), “ Pangandaman said.

The crafting of the coordinated guidelines is needed for the release of the funds after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. placed the PHP26-billion AKAP budget for 2025 under conditional implementation.

AKAP is a program under the DSWD that distributes one-time cash aid to “near poor” minimum wage earners.

According to Pangandaman, “more safeguards” will be introduced in the guidelines, including the beneficiaries’ use of the national ID for claiming the grant.

A key provision will also ban the use of tarpaulins, stickers, and T-shirts with politicians’ faces or names, to prevent any political exploitation of the program.

“Dapat makarating po siya sa tamang beneficiaries. Hindi siya parang raffle. Siguro, dapat makarating siya sa tamang beneficiaries (The aid should reach the right beneficiaries. This should not be like a raffle),” she said. (PNA)