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Republic of the Philippines

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 3
Quezon City pare 30 JUL
+ TIME
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‘TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 275 7

Introduced by Representative Julius Cesar “Jay” V. Vergara

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Department of Social Welfare and Development's Assistance to
Individuals in Crisis (DSWD-AICS) Program is part of the national government's
Protective services for the poor, marginalized, vulnerable, and disadvantaged
individuals. The AICS Program has been implemented by the DSWD for decades, as
Part of its technical assistance and resource augmentation support to the local
government units and other partners to provide relief to the following instances when
a crisis situation may arise in communities: (1) Deprivation of basic needs such as
food, water, clothing, medicine, shelter and sanitation and other health care needs; (2)
Lack of job opportunities; (3) Rising number of deported overseas Filipino workers
(OFWs) asa result of economic or political crisis in some parts of the world; (4) Sudden
death of an immediate family member; (5) Human-induced accidents resulting to
physical injuries; (6) Car accidents; (7) Patients suffering from severe and chronic
diseases and mental health conditions; (8) Family disintegration due to family and
marital problems that cause them to be dysfunctional; (9) Abandoned children who
later become out-of-school; (10) Battered wives and malnourished children; and (10)
Victims of fire incidents, especially during the peak fire season.

The institutionalization of the DSWD-AICS Program is consistent with Article
I, Section 9 of the Philippine Constitution which states that " the State shall promote
a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of



the nation and free the people from poverty through policies that provide adequate
social services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved
quality of life for all." The proposed law is aimed not only to improve the DSWD-AICS
Program but also to insulate government assistance from partisan politics. Time and
again, some politicians use government-funded programs to advance their own
political interest. This law seeks, among others, to penalize any person who will falsely
represent to the beneficiaries as to the source of funding for the program or interfere

with or disrupt the implementation of the program.
In view of the foregoing, the passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

“Teh

JULIUS CESAR “JAY” V. VERGARA
Third District of Nueva Ecija


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

-
House Bill No. 2757

Introduced by Representative Julius Cesar “Jay” V. Vergara

AN ACT
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE ASSISTANCE TO INDIVIDUALS IN CRISIS
SITUATION PROGRAM OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND
DEVELOPMENT, PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION OF
CERTAIN UNLAWFUL ACTS, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

Section 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the "Assistance to
Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) Act."

Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is the policy of the State to promote a just
and dynamic social order, alleviating the plight of the poor through policies that
provide adequate social services and raise the standard of living for the improved
quality of life for all. Towards this end, the State shall provide assistance through
projects, programs and services geared towards alleviating, poverty and improving
the quality of life of every Filipino, especially the marginalized sector, and
disadvantaged individuals and families.

Sec. 3. Definition of Terms. — As used in this Act:

a. Assistive Devices and Technologies refer to those whose primary purpose is to
maintain or improve an individual's functioning and independence to
facilitate participation and to enhance overall well-being and help prevent
impairments and secondary health conditions. These include wheelchairs,
prostheses, hearing aids, visual aids, and specialized computer software
and hardware, or any advancement in technologies that increase mobility,
hearing, vision, or communication capacities;

b. Burial assistance refers to assistance to help defray funeral and related
expenses such as transfer of cadaver, burial site, and other related expenses


g

incurred by the family of the deceased, with consideration to context,
cultural, and religious backgrounds;

Case Management refers to a process of assessing, planning, managing,
coordinating and advocating for services and other interventions used by
the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to enable the
qualified beneficiaries to improve their functioning by dealing with their
difficulties in addressing their needs;

Crisis situation refers to a condition of an individual in a stressful situation
that impairs psychosocial functioning or participation in socio-economic
activities, including access to education, work, and health care, that
requires series of interventions to prevent further exposure to
vulnerabilities, exploitation or abuse;

Disability support assistance refers to the monetary support to cover the
purchase of assistive products, technologies, provision of sign language
interpreter, personal assistant, maintenance medicines and hygiene needs,
life support equipment, and other needs of persons with disabilities;

Educational assistance refers to financial assistance extended to elementary,
high school, and college students to help defray school expenses and/or
cost of sending students/children to school such as school fees
augmentation, supplies, projects, allowance and other related expenses and
to eradicate barriers to quality education, including those barriers faced by
persons on account of their disabilities;

Financial assistance refers to monetary support in the form of outright cash,
guarantee letter, coupon, check or voucher that has monetary value,
including burial assistance, transportation assistance, medical assistance,
educational assistance, training assistance, food assistance, assistance for
other support services and other allied assistance or physical aid such as
food, clothing, and assistive devices and technologies;

Food assistance refers to assistance to those in need due to human induced
and natural calamities and those experiencing other forms of crisis or
displacement eviction, demolitions or requiring interventions for sector-
specific support which include hot meals, food or meal allowance, or the
cash equivalent of the required hot meals and/or food packs;

Guarantee letter refers to a document duly approved and issued by the
DSWD, which ensures the payment of the amount appearing on the
document, that the beneficiary presents to any public or government
owned or controlled hospitals or other entities and to any similar private
entity that is willing to provide services on credit and enter into partnership
agreement with DSWD;


j. Material and other assistance refers to an assistance given to individuals in
crisis by providing them non-food items, non-financial, and the likes, and
may also include other professional assistance available in the DSWD, such
as psycho-social support and legal consultation;

k. Medical assistance refers to out-of-pocket expense in the form of coupon,
stub, guarantee letter, promissory note or voucher that has monetary value,
given directly to recipients or beneficiaries to be used to pay for
hospitalization expenses, other medical treatments or procedures, as well
as professional fees and consultation fees, for the purchase of drugs,
medicines, goods or other services prescribed by the physician of a health
facility for in- and out-patients;

1. Persons with disabilities refer to those who have long-term physical, mental,
intellectual or sensory impairments that hinder their full and effective
participation in society on an equal basis with others, including cancer
patients and persons living with cancer and cancer survivors under
Republic Act No. 11215, otherwise known as "National Integrated Cancer
Control Act’ and persons with rare disease under Republic Act No. 10747,
otherwise known as "Rare Diseases Act of the Philippines;

m. Target Beneficiaries refer to individuals or families who are indigent,
vulnerable, disadvantaged, or internally displaced persons or in crisis
situation based on the assessment of the social workers of the DSWD; and

n. Transportation assistance refers to the monetary support to cover the actual
cost incurred on land, sea, and air travel, including travel insurance and
such other related expenses as facilitated by the social workers of the
DSWD.

Sec. 4. Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS), — To effectively
respond the needs of the crisis, each qualified target beneficiary shall receive financial,
medical, transportation, food, material assistance, and other assistance, to include
disability support services including other professional assistance available in the
DSWD, such as psychosocial support or intervention for dysfunctional families and
their children who need trauma care and management, and legal consultation, based
on the assessment of the social workers of the DSWD.

For purposes of this Act, the provision of medical assistance by the Department
of Health (DOH) and its health facilities shall be harmonized with that being provided
by the DSWD and other agencies. Towards this end, Republic Act No. 11463, also
known as the Malasakit Centers Act, shall have suppletory effect for purposes of
streamlining the grant of medical and financial assistance to eligible beneficiaries at
the Malasakit Centers, and to prevent duplication in providing medical assistance to
beneficiaries in crisis situation.


Sec. 5. Type, Kind and Amount of Financial Assistance. — The type, kind and
amount of assistance that the target beneficiaries may receive are based on the
assessment and recommendation of the social workers or authorized personnel of the
DSWD, duly approved by their authorized officials. The transportation assistance of
qualified target beneficiaries who come from geographically isolated and
disadvantaged areas shall be considered.

In order to fully meet the medical needs of individuals in crisis situation,
particularly persons with disabilities or people with special needs such as persons
with spinal cord injury who need catheter and urine bag that entail additional costs,
the DOH may provide the initial costing per type of disability for the effective
assessment of social workers of the DSWD.

Aside from the regular AICS referral for other services such as legal services,
psychosocial interventions, and admission to residential facilities or temporary
shelter, referral system for financial assistance augmentation may be utilized by the
DSWD.

Appropriate documentation as provided for in the DSWD AICS Guidelines
shall support all disbursements of funds.

A social case study report is required of those whose assistance is higher than
ten thousand Pesos (P10,000.00).

Sec. 6. Provision of Assistance Through Adoptive Means. ~The DSWD shall adopt
means in order to efficiently, expeditiously and effectively deliver the financial and
material assistance to the clients and communities needing assistance from the
government, such as establishment of a mobile command center at the DSWD Central
Office and in all regions, establishing an automated system of processing the request
for assistance as well as the releasing of the assistance to the beneficiaries, and building
a unified information system, payment for the necessary service fees or financial
charges for the delivery of assistance, and others.

Sec. 7. Case Management System. — There shall be established a case
management system to improve service delivery of the AICS to the qualified
beneficiaries.

In keeping with the principle of equitable access, and ensuring that access to
the AICS is maximized, a mechanism for real-time data sharing between the DSWD
and the LGUs shall be institutionalized, subject to the statutory limitations under the
Data Privacy Act of 2012. Under this mechanism, concerned agencies and LGUs may
share information from a centralized database in order to identify the assistance given
to a qualified beneficiary, for purposes of assistance augmentation and to prevent a
possible abuse of the assistance given to those in crisis situations.


Sec. 8. Crisis Intervention Program Management Office (CIPMO). — A Crisis
Intervention Program Management Office is created at the Central Office of the
Department of Social Welfare and Development. The office shall monitor and evaluate
the implementation of AICS Program and prepare the monitoring and evaluation
report for submission to the Secretary of the DSWD. The monitoring and evaluation
report must be available and accessible to any stakeholder at the national, regional,
and local levels.

Sec. 9. Additional Plantilla Positions. — The DSWD shall create the required
plantilla and staffing pattern necessary for the implementation of this Act, in
coordination with the Department of Budget and Management and the Civil Service
Commission.

Sec. 10. Personnel Complement. — The CIPMO Central Office, the Crisis
Intervention Sections, and the Social Welfare and Development Satellite Offices that
implement AICS programs shall be adequately staffed by licensed social workers and
support staff. The CIPMO program director at the Central Office and the regional
directors in the field offices shall appoint and assign the necessary personnel for the
effective implementation of the AICS program.

Sec. 11. Unlawful Acts and Penalties. —It shall be unlawful for any individual or
organization to:

a. Defraud the government by issuing or presenting falsified or misleading
documents, or using false pretenses or other fraudulent acts to acquire the
assistance provided under this Act;

b. Coerce, invite, encourage or assist persons to seek assistance from the
DSWD for purposes of acquiring from the beneficiary a portion of the
assistance, before or after the receipt of assistance;

¢. Mislead an individual or group to join, pay or cooperate with a group
falsely representing connection or affiliation with DSWD or falsely
promising priority in the processing of assistance;

d. Falsely represent to the beneficiaries through any means that the funding
for the AICS program emanates from sources other than the nationa!
government; and

e. Interfere with or disrupt the implementation or delivery of AICS services
or funds to the qualified beneficiaries.

Any person, group or organization who commits any of the foregoing unlawful
acts shall be punished by imprisonment of not less than one (1) year but not more than
six (6) years and a fine of not less than but not more than double the amount of the
assistance, at the discretion of the court. If the offender is an organization, the


president, manager, or any officer of the organization who participated in the
commission of the acts enumerated above or benefited therefrom, or both, shall be
held liable. If the offender is an official or employee of any local government unit, the
penalty shall include perpetual disqualification from public office.

Conspiracy to commit the foregoing unlawful acts shall be penalized by the
same penalty prescribed under this Section.

Inall circumstances, the government shall be authorized to prosecute or to file
cases on behalf of the private individual defrauded and damaged by the
aforementioned acts.

Any person who were coerced, invited, encouraged or misled while
committing the crimes above, or any person who has witnessed or has knowledge or
information on the commission of the crime and has testified or is testifying or about
to testify before any judicial or quasi-judicial body, or before any investigating
authority, may be admitted into the witness protection program, Provided that to
become a state witness for this crime, he/she shall not be the most guilty.

Sec. 12. Transparency and Public Service. — In the spirit of transparency and the
principle that government resources should be used only in the performance of official
functions and not for private gain or political purposes, the DSWD shall produce
inexpensive information materials which shall be adequate to inform the beneficiaries
that the AICS fund originates from the revenues of the national government headed
by the President. The said information materials shall contain, among others, the
statement "Pera ng Taong Bayan, Para sa Taong Bayan."

Sec. 13. Joint Congressional Oversight Committee. — A congressional oversight
committee is constituted to monitor, set the overall framework, and review the
implementation of this Act. The committee shall determine the inherent weaknesses
in the law and recommend necessary remedial legislation or executive measures

The oversight committee is composed of five (5) Senators and five (5)
Representatives to be appointed by the Senate President and the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, respectively, and co-chaired by the Chairpersons of the Committee
on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development of the Senate and the Committee on
Social Services of the House of Representatives.

For purposes of determining remedial legislation, the oversight committee
shall, within three (3) years after the effectivity of this Act, conduct a review which
shall include a systematic evaluation of the impact of this Act, accomplishments of the
program, and the performance of the implementing agencies.

Sec. 14. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — Within one hundred eighty (180)
days from the effectivity of this Act, the Secretary of the DSWD in consultation with


the Secretary of the DOH and the Commission on Audit (COA), shall promulgate the
necessary rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Sec. 15. Appropriations. — The amount necessary for the initial implementation
of this Act shall be charged against the current year’s appropriations of DSWD.
Thereafter, such sum as may be necessary for the continued implementation of this
Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act, including the
payment for the necessary service fees, financial charges, or administrative cost, and
capital outlay for the establishment of the necessary offices for the delivery of
assistance.

Sec. 16. Separability Clause. — If any provision or part of this Act is held invalid
or unconstitutional, the remaining parts or provisions not affected shall remain in full
force and effect.

Sec. 17. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees or issuances, executive orders,
letter of instructions, administrative orders, rules, and regulations or parts thereof
contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are amended, repealed, or
modified accordingly.

Sec. 18. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a national newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,