DSWD airs concern over AICS funding cut in proposed 2027 budget

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Tuesday expressed concern on the significant budget cut for the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) under the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP).

During the House committee on appropriations’ briefing for the proposed budget of the DSWD next year, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian shared that the DSWD and its attached and supervised agencies received P241.2 billion under the 2027 NEP, which is lower than its funding of P269.9 billion under the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA). 

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Gatchalian said that the AICS program was given P33.3 billion funding under the 2027 NEP, which is almost a 50 percent decrease of the allocation of P63.9 billion funding under the 2026 GAA.

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He also shared that the agency targets to reach 4,630,000 beneficiaries next year, more than the target beneficiaries of 4,241,314 this year.

“Given the nature of the program, the NEP amount may not be enough to achieve the same level of performance for the past two years,” Gatchalian said. 

Gatchalian underscored the importance of AICS as he described it as the “adaptive and shock-responsive social protection” in times of crisis.

He shared that the agency already provided cash relief to 1.839 million drivers amid the rising oil prices due to the Middle East conflict and served 5.75 million households as of September 5. 

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Augmentation for SLP’s budget

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Gatchalian also shared that the DSWD requested the House committee to augment P1 billion to the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) to serve more beneficiaries. 

He said that the SLP was given P5.1 billion under the 2027 NEP, which slightly declined from the 2026 GAA’s allocation of P5.3 billion. The agency is aiming to serve 251,449 households under this program next year. 

“I’m very happy na maraming partners natin ang tinatanong ang SLP. It means ando’n na tayo sa mindset where we teach people how to fish,” Gatchalian expressed.

(I’m very happy that we have many partners asking about the SLP. It means we’ve reached the mindset where we teach people how to fish.)

Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Adrian Amatong supported additional funding for the SLP as he noted that the program supports beneficiaries who want to venture into their own livelihoods. 

“Dapat nando’n na tayo sa mode na enabling our people na makatayo sa sarili nila kasi kung laging binibigyan ng dole outs, walang mangyayari, lalaki yung utang dahil sa dole outs natin,” Amatong said in the same hearing. 

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(We should be on the mode of enabling our people to stand on their own because if we let them depend on dole outs, nothing will happen and our debt will balloon.) /gsg