Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ___ 
Introduced by Rep. WOWO FORTES 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Every day, Filipinos continue to struggle with social issues such as poverty, unemployment, 
limited access to healthcare, and vulnerability to disasters that pose a challenge to their daily lives. 
Sudden crises, such as an unexpected illness, the loss of a family member, or an abrupt job 
termination, can further intensify such issues. For Filipinos who lack the financial capacity to meet 
the demands of these crises, such emergencies can push them deeper into despair without 
immediate intervention. 
In response to such situations, the Crisis Intervention Division under the Program 
Management Bureau of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) currently 
implements the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program. Serving as a social 
safety net to support the recovery of individuals and families who experience crisis situations, AICS 
provides financial, psychosocial, and other forms of assistance, mitigating these Filipinos’ 
adversities. By prioritizing the poor, marginalized, vulnerable, and disadvantaged individuals and 
families, the DSWD’s implementation of the AICS program fully embraces the 1987 Philippine 
Constitution’s mandate that, “the State  shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will 
ensure prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through 
policies that provide adequate social services.” (Article II, Section 9) 
Currently, the continued increase in beneficiaries of the AICS program necessitates 
additional manpower from the DSWD, ensuring the provision of timely and accessible services to 
its beneficiaries. However, most of the additional workforce are categorized under the Contract of 
Service status. Despite the risks involved in their line of work and the lack of security of tenure, it 
is commendable that they continue to provide frontline services to these individuals and families 
experiencing adversity.  
Therefore, this bill aims to address the need for the improved and sustained 
implementation of the AICS program through the creation of a dedicated separate office within the 
DSWD, which is proposed to be called the Crisis Intervention Office (CIO). Through more focused 
management and supervision, as well as nationalized systems and mechanisms, the 
institutionalization of the delivery of social services moves us closer to a more responsive, 
inclusive, and compassionate social welfare system that leaves no Filipinos behind.  
In view of the foregoing, the passage of this bill is earnestly sought. 
ATTY. WOWO FORTES 
          Representative 
Second District, Province of Sorsogon 
August 4, 2025
8:00 am
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Twentieth Congress of the 
Republic of the Philippines 
First Regular Session 
Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ___ 
Introduced by Rep. WOWO FORTES 
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 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 
Situations (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. 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. 
SEC. 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 and their children,
trafficking and repatriated overseas Filipino workers and other similar circumstances;
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d) 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 healthcare, 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; 
 
f) 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 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 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-financial, and the likes, and may 
also include other professional assistance available in the DSWD, such as psycho-
social support and legal consultation; 
 
l) 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, transients, vulnerable, disadvantaged, or 
internally displaced persons or in crisis situations based on the assessment of the 
social workers of the DSWD; and 
 
o) 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 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. 
 
SEC. 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;   
(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; 
(d) 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.  
 
Appropriate documentation as provided for in the DSWD AICS Guidelines shall support all 
disbursements of funds. The DSWD may provide additional assistance or discontinue existing 
ones as it may deem appropriate.   
 


SEC. 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 partner financial 
institutions shall form part of the DSWD annual budget under the General Appropriations Act.  
 
SEC. 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. 
 
SEC. 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.   
 
SEC. 9. Personnel Complement. -  The Secretary of the DSWD, in coordination  with the CIO 
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.   
 
SEC. 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.   
 


SEC. 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.” 
 
SEC. 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;  
(iii) 
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.  
 
SEC. 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:   
(i) 
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.   
 
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.   
 
SEC. 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.   
 
SEC. 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.  
 
SEC. 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.  
 
SEC. 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. 
 
SEC. 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. 
 
SEC. 19. Repealing Clause - All laws, presidential decrees or issuances, executive orders, 
letters of instruction, administrative orders, rules, and regulations or parts thereof contrary to 
or inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Act are amended, repealed, or modified 
accordingly. 
 
SEC. 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,