by Miriam G. Desacada
Tacloban City–Year 2024 is expected to face more price increases in basic commodities due to the harsh impact of the El Niño phenomenon on farm harvests, but Congress prepared for it by including an extra ayuda fund in the P5.7 trillion national budget, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr (PBBM) enacted on Dec. 22.
House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Representative Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan Jr. on Wednesday
issued this announcement to the local media to assure the public that Congress had prepared a buffer
fund to help vulnerable families cope with economic challenges in the days ahead.
Libanan, a native of Eastern Samar, is one of the members of the bicameral committee that finalized the
2024 General Appropriations Act before it was signed into law by PBBM.
“We are counting on the expanded cash aid and other forms of government support, such as food stamps,
to serve as a buffer and provide relief to disadvantaged households,” Libanan said in his statement.
“Along with the recent increases in the regional minimum wage rates, the subsidies (extra ayuda) will
help struggling families grapple with the upward pressure on consumer prices,” Libanan also said.
He said that the Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards in 16 regions have ordered increases ranging
from P30 to P50 in the daily minimum wage of workers employed in private establishments.
These pay adjustments are expected to benefit an estimated 3.82 million minimum-wage workers,
Libanan further said, but implied that the extra ayuda fund, in the form of new cash transfers and
other subsidy programs, will serve as buffer for the more difficult times ahead of the marginalized families.
It was learned that Speaker Martin Romualdez earlier said that the 2024 national budget includes a
P60-billion outlay for the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita (AKAP), which will provide a one-time P5,000
cash payment to each of the 12 million poor and low-income households.
The budget that PBBM enacted last week also includes another P30 billion for the Tulong Panghanapbuhay
sa Ating Disadvantaged or Displaced Workers (TUPAD), and P23 billion for the Assistance to Individuals
in Crisis Situation (AICS).
Libanan added that these subsidies are on top of the P112.8 billion earmarked to cover for the cash transfers
to 4.4 million households under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, or 4Ps.
Libanan cited his apprehension over the El Niño phenomenon, which the DOST said may be stronger this
year than in the past, and that about 65 provinces may experience “drought” by May 2024.
The DOST defines “drought” as three consecutive months of “way below-normal rainfall condition,” or
greater than 60 percent reduction from average rainfall. —Miriam G. Desacada