More ‘ayuda’—but to what end?

On paper, it looked like a praiseworthy initiative: In the wake of massive public outrage over revelations of astounding levels of corruption in flood control projects, a subcommittee of the House committee on appropriations slashed the proposed P255.5-billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for 2026 and realigned P46 billion of that money.

The recipient of the redirected funds is the “ayuda” or social assistance programs of the government. Per the approved proposal of House Minority Leader and 4Ps party list Rep. Marcelino Libanan, P32.6 billion will go to the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), while P14.82 billion will augment the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers. The reallocation meant that AICS funds for 2026 would go up to P59.5 billion from P26.9 billion, while Tupad’s original P12.1 billion would now be P26.9 billion.

Well and good for the country’s poorest of the poor, right?

Well, not quite. As an attempt to contain the people’s anger by shifting public funds away from the disreputable DPWH and redirecting it to social amelioration, the move feels less like a sincere gesture of compassionate governance and more like a panicked act of appeasement.

Big-time kickbacks

For years, Congress has chipped away at the budget for health, jobs, transport, agriculture, and education while fattening up flood control allocations, and now the reason for that scheme has been laid bare: endless public works, especially flood-control projects, are where the big-time kickbacks happen for the triad of private contractors, DPWH personnel, and political overlords that routinely divide the spoils.

According to a just-released study by the Ateneo School of Government, the DPWH’s flood control budget has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, from P42.28 billion in 2015 to P254.3 billion in 2025, such that by this year that figure is even bigger than the budgets of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (P230.1 billion), Department of Agriculture (P129 billion), Department of Health (P223.2 billion), and Department of Transportation (P180.9 billion).

For the first time in history, the DPWH’s total 2025 budget of P1.114 trillion is even bigger than that of the Department of Education (P984 billion), which under the Constitution should receive the largest yearly allocation.

But while institutional social welfare programs suffered significant cuts because of reduced funding, immense sums were meanwhile funneled to cash assistance programs such as AICS (P9.5 billion), Tupad (P3.4 billion), the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP, P14.3 billion), and the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (Akap, P26 billion).

Flood of generosity

The reason for this flood of generosity was evident: 2025 was an election year, and politicians needed the billions they paid themselves from the national budget to woo voters and bankroll their campaigns.

Akap, flagged by the Commission on Audit as a redundant program that overlapped with AICS, has been scrapped under the proposed 2026 appropriations, but AICS and Tupad are apparently still seen as doing a good job at selling politicians to their constituents as generous, benevolent dispensers of assistance, and so part of the planned DPWH budget for 2026 will now be repurposed as ayuda under such programs.

Perhaps the thinking is that ordinary Filipinos would simmer down from their indignation once they’re once again handed cold hard cash as a form of consolation, no matter how measly the amount or token the assistance is.

See Also

Waiting for comeuppance

The public should not be fooled. Why were the funds reassigned not for additional classrooms, or better transport, or more health services, but for outright cash assistance?

Because there is potential corruption, too, in the ayuda programs, first of all because these dole outs function as the latest incarnation of the lawmakers’ infamous pork barrel, kept alive, and distributed as largesse to buy mass loyalty and support.

Clear-cut rules

Unlike the 4Ps or conditional cash transfer program, which has clear-cut rules for disbursement and trackable beneficiaries, but which suffered a cut of P50 billion in the 2025 budget, AICS and Tupad are more vulnerable to graft and political exploitation, with no clear guardrails for ensuring accuracy and transparency in their recipients, according to the Ateneo School of Government study.

Hence the importance of the public remaining vigilant over the ayuda programs as well, now that the lid has been pried open on the staggering plunder being done in government offices while public funds are realigned every which way and every so often by unscrupulous parties.

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, for one, has vowed to scrutinize the sudden budget realignment to “ayuda.” That unforgiving, eagle-eyed zeal should henceforth be the norm for every single government expense proposed in the name of a weary, perennially swindled people.