The Department of Social Welfare and Development on Friday refuted allegations by a Mindanao congressman that the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program was being used to secure signatures for the ongoing people’s initiative to amend the Constitution.

“Since its establishment, the DSWD and its social welfare programs, including AICS, have been protected against this kind of misuse with all agency personnel strictly adhering to existing rules and regulations in the conduct of payouts to our beneficiaries,” Asst. Secretary for Strategic Communications Romel Lopez said.

Lopez was referring to a statement issued Thursday (Jan, 25) by Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, a former House Speaker, that AICS is one of the government programs being used to secure the signatures of registered voters in his province.

"Dahil may pinamimigay na pera, pinakamaliit diyan P5,000 kasi yun naman talaga yung AICS... Eh siyempre yung tao willing pumirma dahil gutom yung tao, ang hirap ng buhay," Congressman Alvarez was quoted as saying during an interview.

“We at the DSWD vehemently refute such allegations in the light of the issues surrounding the people's initiative utilizing AICS and other government programs. Reports connecting AICS to the people's Initiative is an outright falsehood and a misrepresentations DSWD programs,” Lopez pointed out.

The DSWD spokesperson said: “Rest assured that the thousands of dedicated social workers and development workers of DSWD will continue to be apolitical and will continue dispensing all kinds of assistance within the bounds of existing guidelines and regulations.”

Last Tuesday (Jan. 23), an inquiry was conducted by the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs to look into reports of alleged pilferage by unscrupulous individuals of the agency’s cash aid in Davao de Oro and Davao del Norte provinces.

DSWD Undersecretary for Legislative Liaison and Coordination Group Fatima Aliah Dimaporo told the senators during the hearing that agency personnel have no involvement in the allegations that parts of the cash aid received by the beneficiaries were ‘forcibly taken’ from them by unidentified individuals.

“DSWD personnel have no involvement in requesting beneficiaries to return part of the financial assistance nor knowledge of beneficiaries being forced to return cash to third parties,” Undersecretary Dimaporo pointed out.

According to Usec. Dimaporo, the sole responsibility of the DSWD personnel during payout activities is the disbursement of financial assistance to qualified beneficiaries who meet the requirements.

The DSWD’s AICS program provides financial and material assistance to support the recovery of individuals and families from unexpected crisis such as illness or death of a family member, and other crisis situations.

Under AICS, financial assistance is the provision of monetary support in the form of outright cash and/or guarantee letter to augment the resources of the client whereas material assistance is the provision of non-food items.

AICS also provides integrated services such as immediate rescue/ and protection provision of direct financial and material assistance, augmentation during disaster and referrals for immediate medical, legal or psycho-social services.