SCUTTLEBUTT

The shift of budget items from flood control to social subsidies will not end the allegations that the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has exploited the allocations for patronage.

Take, for instance, the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) that reported the highest allocations to Davao City as of September 2025.

According to a member of Congress who bumped into Nosy Tarsee, Davao City’s 2nd District received the highest AICS allocation of P763.57 million, followed by the 1st District at P693.50 million.

Apparently, the money was used to bankroll the campaigns of the political opponents of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who eventually won the Davao City mayoralty race. He has not taken his oath of office up to now, however, after he was turned over by the government to the International Criminal Court (ICC) last March.

According to Davao City Rep. Sid Ungab, there was no calamity in Davao City to warrant the sudden spike in AICS.

The subsidy was allegedly used by specific candidates for Davao City mayor, vice mayor, and the three congressional district seats to lure voters to their rallies, assemblies, and caucuses — and even reportedly to bankroll the hiring of poll watchers.

Ungab said this was a clear violation of the law. AICS allocations surged during election years, rising to P44.44 billion in 2025, a midterm election year, compared to P34.27 billion in 2024.

“Voters of Davao City are intelligent enough to discern the truth — the use of government resources to manipulate voters. The people of Davao City utterly rejected these machinations and overwhelmingly voted the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod of former president Rodrigo Duterte back into office,” Ungab indicated.

All Hugpong candidates won in almost all barangays of Davao City.

Ungab urged the Commission on Audit to investigate the misuse of the AICS.

The CoA must look into the procedures for the releases, the timing, and the individual verification of the beneficiaries to ensure that they actually received the cash amounts they signed for in the AICS distribution forms, according to Ungab.