Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

‘TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 2505

Introduced by REP. RAMIL L. HERNANDEZ

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

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Social protection is defined as the set of policies and programs designed to
reduce poverty and vulnerability by, among others, diminishing people's exposure to
risks and enhancing their capacity to protect themselves against hazards and
interruption or loss of income (Asian Development Bank, 2003).

One of the major social safety nets of the national government is the Assistance
to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS), a program of the Department of Social Welfare
and Development Department (DSWD) aimed at providing integrated services to
individuals and families in crisis or difficult situations. It is further a social protection
strategy that grants immediate response to the effects of economic shocks and other
adverse circumstances such as calamities, illness, or death of a family member. The
program is geared to enable individuals, families, and communities to cope and recover
from difficult situations, and restore them to normalcy. In a span of five years, from
2017 to 2022, an average of almost 50 percent annual increase in the number of
beneficiaries is observed, through a corresponding increase also in funding
appropriations. In 2024 (January - November) alone, more than six million Filipinos
were assisted by the AICS program surpassing its annual target of around 4.2 million
beneficiaries (DSWD, January 2025).

On the other hand, the poverty incidence is registered at 15.5 percent,
translating to about 17.54 million Filipinos being poor in 2023 (Philippine Statistics
Authority, July 2024). While there is a decline from 2021 poverty incidence rates,
showing a return to pre-pandemic levels, the AICS program would prevent the near-
poor and the vulnerable from falling below the poverty threshold. This DSWD program
is a “stop-gap measure” or a social safety net complementing long-term poverty
reduction strategies by providing immediate relief, allowing beneficiaries to recover

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and, potentially, re-engage with economic opportunities.

‘Through the institutionalization of the Crisis Intervention Program, this bill also
seeks to reinforce the capacity of DSWD to implement the said program through the
creation of a Crisis Intervention Office (CIO). This entails the enhancement of the
organizational structure of CIO and its field office counterparts and also, the provision
of regular positions. Currently, 91.2 percent of the personnel implementing the AICS
program are under contracts of service while 5.46 percent are classified as job orders. A
meager 2.28 percent are permanent or regular employees. Moreover, an enterprise
information system shall also be designed to enable unified crossmatching of clients
nationwide.

With the need to strengthen and institutionalize the Crisis Intervention Program
as a key driver for social development and as a social control mechanism, the urgent
passage of thif bill is earnestly sought.

Approved,

RAMIL L. HERNANDEZ
2 District, Laguna

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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

‘TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

2505

Introduced by REP. RAMIL L. HERNANDEZ

AN ACT INSTITUTIONALIZING THE ASSISTANCE TO INDIVIDUALS IN CRISIS
SITUATIONS 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 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 Situations (AICS) Act.”

Section 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. To 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.

Section 3. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act:

(a) Assistive technology refers to “assistive products” whose primary purpose is
to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of persons with
disabilities, 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) 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 improve the
capability of qualified beneficiaries in addressing their needs;

(c) Cash relief assistance refers to an outright cash provided to individuals and
families that are currently in extremely difficult circumstances such as
victims of calamities/disasters, crimes, victims of violence against women

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and their children, trafficking and repatriated overseas Filipino workers and
other similar circumstances;

(a) 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;

(e) 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;

(0) Educational assistance refers to financial assistance extended to all 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;

(g) Financial assistance refers to monetary support in the form of outright cash,
electronic fund transfer, guarantee letter, coupon, check or voucher that has
monetary value, including funeral assistance, transportation as:
medical assistance, educational assistance, training assistance, food
assistance, cash relief assistance, and all other types of cash assistance that
may be provided under the Program;

(h) 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;

(i) Funeral assistance refers to assistance to help defray funeral and related
expenses such as transfer of cadaver, burial site, and other related expenses
incurred by the family of the deceased, with consideration to context,
cultural, and religious backgrounds;

(j) 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 institutions and to any similar private entity
that is willing to provide services;

(k) Material and other in-kind assistance refers to an assistance given to
individuals in crisis by providing them food and non-food items, non-

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financial, and the likes, and may also include other professional assistance
available in the DSWD, such as psycho-social support and legal consultation;

() 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 pay for hospitalization
expenses, other medical treatments or procedures, and which include
birthing procedure, as well as professional fees and consultation fees,
purchase of drugs, medicines, goods or other services prescribed by the
physician of a health facility for in- and out-patients;

(m) 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 the “National Integrated Cancer
Control Act” and persons with rare disease under Republic Act No. 10747,
otherwise known as the “Rare Diseases Act of the Philippines”;

(n) Target beneficiaries refer to individuals or families who are indigent,
financially incapacitated, stateless persons, repatriates, deportees, transients,
vulnerable, disadvantaged, or internally displaced persons or in crisis
situations based on the assessment of the social workers of the DSWD; and

(0) 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.

Section 4. Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS). - To effectively respond
to the individuals in crisis situation, 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.

Section 5. Types of Assistance. - The following are the types of assistance that the
target beneficiaries may receive under the Program based on the assessment and
recommendation of the social workers, authorized personnel, or any other personnel
authorized by the DSWD, duly approved by their authorized officials:

{a) Financial assistance - as defined in Section 3, paragraph (g);

(b) Material assistance - a service providing food and non-food items to clients
who need immediate material support, such as food packs or vouchers,
hygiene or sleeping kits and assistive devices and technologies, subject to its
availability;

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(c) Psychosocial support service - a service provided by trained or professional
psychosocial support workers to help meet the psychological, emotional, and
social needs of beneficiaries and their families. It is a set of interventions that
intends to positively improve a person's behavior to reduce the impact of
stress brought about by a crisis through behavioral modification
interventions;

(a) Referral service - a service provided when the requested support is not
within the range of services of the Program through coordination and/or
endorsement of the beneficiary's case within the DSWD’s available programs,
projects and services and to other agencies such as to the Department of
Education, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority, Department of Health (DOH), Public Attorney's
Office, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Philippine Amusement and
Gaming Corporation, local government units (LGUs) and other government
agencies, civil society organizations, and_international/non-government
organizations; and

(e) Such other services that the DSWD may deem appropriate.

In order to fully meet the medical needs of individuals in crisis situations,
particularly persons with disabilities or people with special needs. The DOH may
provide the initial costing per type of disability for the effective assessment of social
workers of the DSWD.

¢ documentation as provided for in the DSWD AICS Guidelines shall
ursements of funds. The DSWD may provide additional assistance or
discontinue existing ones as it may deem appropriate.

Section 6. Modes of Delivery of Services. - The DSWD shall adopt different modes in
order to deliver efficiently, expeditiously and effectively the financial or material
assistance, psychosocial support, and referral service to the clients and communities
needing assistance from the government such as the following:

(a) Service delivery within the Central or Field Offices;
(b) Setting up of an off-site or satellite venues; and
(c) Extension office of the DSWD for the Program.

Provided, That the DSWD shall procure and/or construct a secure office system,
information and communication technology equipment, and all necessary capital outlay
expenditures such as vehicles, and vaults, among others, needed to efficiently and
effectively implement the Program.

Provided, further, That the DSWD may also establish an automated system for

processing and releasing the requested assistance. For this purpose, the appropriations
needed for the payment of the necessary cash-out fees or other service fees charged by

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partner financial institutions shall form part of the DSWD annual budget under the
General Appropriations Act.

Section 7. Integrated Program Delivery System. - To improve the delivery of service
to the eligible beneficiaries under the Program, there shall be an established Integrated
Program Delivery System.

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 such as the Philippine
Statistics Authority, DOH-Malasakit Centers, and LGUs may share information from a
centralized database in order to identify the assistance given to the Program’s eligible
beneficiary, for purposes of assistance augmentation and to prevent a possible abuse of
the assistance given to those in crisis situations.

Section 8. Crisis Intervention Office/Division/Unit. - To ensure effective and efficient
delivery of services to the clients, there shall exist a Crisis Intervention Office (CIO) at
the Central Office, Crisis Intervention Divisions at the field offices, and Crisis
Intervention Units at the Social Welfare and Development satellite offices of the DSWD
that shall ensure that the Program, as enterprise information system, provided herein,
is properly implemented, monitored, and evaluated nationwide. 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.

Section 9. Personnel Complement. - The Secretary of the DSWD, in coordination with
the ClO Director at the Central Office and Regional Offices, shall determine the
additional positions required for the implementation of the program in accordance with
the revised compensation and position classification system subject to the evaluation
and approval of the Department of Budget and Management and in compliance with the
civil service laws, rules and regulations, and other pertinent laws.

Section 10. Program Monitoring and Evaluation. - The DSWD shall conduct
monitoring and evaluation to assess the responsiveness of the Program through the use
of applicable indicators, frameworks, models, and tools, including a client/stakeholder’s
feedback mechanism, among others, and the establishment of standard reporting
templates and procedures in consonance to applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

Section 11. Program Transparency and Reporting. - The DSWD shall annually
publish a full report of the Program covering the implementation of the previous fiscal
year and/or timely post and update periodically on the DSWD website a report of
financial disclosures and information about beneficiaries based on geographical area
and sectoral category subject to the provisions of Republic Act No. 10173, or the “Data
Privacy Act of 2012.”

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Section 12. Unlawful Acts. -
(a) It shall be unlawful for the officials or employees of LGUs, their agents,
representatives or relatives within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or
affinity to interfere, in any manner, in the implementation or delivery of AICS
services or funds to qualified beneficiaries;

(b) Likewise, it shall be unlawful for any individual or organization to commit the
following acts:

(i) 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;

(ii) 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;

(iti) 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.

Section 13. Penalties. -

(a) Any of the specified person who committed the unlawful act under Section 13 (a)
of this Act shall be punished by imprisonment of six (6) months. If the offender is
an official or employee of a LGU, the official or employee shall also be held
administratively liable;

(b) Any person, group or organization who commit the unlawful acts under Section
13 (b) of this Act shall be punished by:

() For the First Offense- one (1) year suspension from availing any
assistance from the DSWD; and

(ii) For the Second Offense ~ imprisonment of not less than one (1) year but
not more than six (6) years.

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 and shall be punished by imprisonment
of not less than six (6) years but not more than ten (10) years. This is without prejudice
to any action against the organization or corporation before appropriate government

agency.

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

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In all 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 was 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, the said person shall not be the most guilty.

A public official or personnel who commits, abets, or aids in the commission of
any of the Unlawful Acts provided herein shall be liable under the Revised Penal Code
and other existing penal laws. Administrative sanctions shall be imposed without
prejudice to prosecution in the proper courts.

Section 14. Cash Equivalents. - It shall be mandatory for any public or private entity
that provides services under this Program to accept the guarantee letter, coupon, check
or voucher issued by the DSWD as full or partial payment of the obligation of the
qualified beneficiary.

The DSWD must, within three (3) months from the date of acceptance, pay the
public or private entity of the amount appearing on the guarantee letter, coupon, or
voucher.

Section 15. 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. The four (4) other members from the
Senate and House of Representatives shall be composed of three (3) members from
each of the aforementioned committees, and one (1) from the minority.

For purposes of determining remedial legislation, the oversight committee shall,
within two (2) 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.

Section 16. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within six (6) months from the
effectivity of this Act, the Secretary of the DSWD shall, in consultation with the Secretary
of the DOH and the Commission on Audit, promulgate the necessary rules and
regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act.

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Section 17. Appropriations. - The amount necessary for the initial implementation of
this Act shall be charged against the current year’s appropriations of DSWD. Thereafter,
such amount necessary for the continued implementation of this Act shall be included in
the annual General Appropriations Act.

Section 18. 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.

Section 19. Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential 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.

Section 20. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication
in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,

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