But direct cash aid under AICS temporarily suspended
The Department of Social Welfare and Development has resumed the issuance of Guarantee Letters (GLs) for medical and burial assistance under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program starting January 5 (Monday) after being suspended temporarily for over a month.
“As we have committed, we immediately resumed the issuance of GLs on January 5 to ensure that we can continue giving medical and burial assistance to qualified beneficiaries, especially those affected by a crisis. We know the GL is a big help to ease the burden suffered by our vulnerable kababayan in a crisis situation,” DSWD Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said.
Dumlao, however, said the provision of direct cash aid under the AICS program was temporarily suspended starting January 5 pending the release of funds under the 2026 national budget.
“We are putting on hold the direct cash assistance while waiting for the guidelines from the Department of Budget and Management on how to use the funds from the 2026 GAA. But our services through our Guarantee Letters will continue without delay,” she said.
The issuance of GLs under the AICS program was temporarily halted on November 30, 2025 to allow the department to comply with liquidation and cash disbursement guidelines and reduce the risk of unpaid obligations at the end of the year.
More than 8.2 million Filipinos in crisis nationwide have received aid through the AICS program from January to November 2025, higher than the department’s target of 6.9 million clients.
Most of the beneficiaries were from Central Luzon with more than 800,000 individuals, followed by Cagayan Valley with 780,000 and Calabarzon with over 779,000.
The bicameral conference committee also approved a higher budget for the AICS program this year at P63.9 billion budget for the 2026 AICS program, higher than the proposed P26.9 billion under the National Expenditure Program.
The DSWD guarantee letter for the AICS program is separate from the GLs previously issued by politicians.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa yesterday said the implementation of the zero balance billing (ZBB) program in government hospitals has eliminated the need for patients to seek GLs from politicians.
Herbosa said ZBB was designed to remove political gatekeeping in access to medical care.
“There are no more guarantee letters because there is now zero balance billing. The reason we put up zero balance billing is so patients no longer have to go through politicians,” he said.
He said patients can now directly go to Department of Health hospitals and receive treatment without paying anything or seeking endorsements from elected officials.
Herbosa said Section 19 of the 2026 General Appropriations Act explicitly prohibits political involvement in the distribution of cash and financial medical assistance.
“This is what they call the ‘anti-epal’ provision,” the Health chief said.
Meanwhile, PhilHealth reminded eligible members that the annual P20,000 Guaranteed Medicines Access Program (GAMOT) benefit applies per calendar year.
“Any unused GAMOT benefit from the previous year will not be carried over to the current year,” PhilHealth said.
Members and dependents are encouraged to maximize the benefit within the year to help reduce out-of-pocket expenses for essential medicines.
PhilHealth also reminded its partner health care providers for calendar year 2026 that the deadline for the submission of applications for the accreditation renewal has been extended until Jan. 14.
