AKAP AID. About 1,905 minimum wage earners and near-poor residents from six towns and one city in Agusan del Norte each receive PHP3,000 in cash aid during a payout activity in Cabadbaran City on Wednesday (June 5, 2024). The cash aid was extended through the new Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. (Photo courtesy of Rep. Dale Corvera)
BUTUAN CITY – At least 1,905 beneficiaries from six towns and one city in Agusan del Norte each received PHP3,000 in cash aid on Wednesday through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP).
The payout was the second under the AKAP in the province, after the program’s launch on May 18.
This time, program recipients were the towns of Kitcharao, Jabonga, Santiago, Tubay, Magallanes, Remedios T. and Romualdez, and Cabadbaran City.
A security guard who asked to be identified only as Marlon of Cabadbaran City said it was his first time to receive DSWD-funded aid because other agency programs usually disqualify him as he receives minimum wage.
“At first, I could not believe the government had created an assistance program for minimum wage earners. I realized the information was true when I was included in the list and interviewed,” Marlon, 32, said.
Another beneficiary, Celia, 24, from Santiago town, said a friend who had received the AKAP assistance on May 18 told her to inquire at the local government unit about the program.
“I am a working mother and considered a minimum wage earner, but the crisis has also affected my family. The AKAP assistance I receive will sustain my family's needs, especially (my three) children,” she said.
The release of the AKAP funding was facilitated by Agusan del Norte 2nd District Rep. Dale Corvera, who joined the personnel of the DSWD in the Caraga Region during the payout activity.
“I thank President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., (House of Representatives) Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, and DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian for supporting us with the initial fund amounting to PHP9 million for the second district of Agusan del Norte to cover a targeted 3,000 recipients,” Corvera said.
On May 18, he said 500 recipients from the towns of Buenavista, Nasipit, and Carmen also received PHP3,000 each from the program.
A third batch of 550 AKAP beneficiaries has yet to be scheduled in the province. (PNA)
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