Romualdez: P700-M aid, services given to 60,000 Samar residents in BPSF

LEGAZPI, Albay — P700-million worth of cash aid and services have been provided for 60,000 beneficiaries in Samar province during this edition of the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF), House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said.

Romualdez on Friday said that the BPSF held at the Northwest Samar State University in Calbayog City is important because it provides much-needed assistance to Filipinos across the country.

“This is proof of our continuous response to the desire of our President [Ferdinand] Marcos [Jr.] to bring the service closer to the people.  This is not just a program.  This is a symbol of a whole-hearted service to the people and the unity of the government and the Filipinos,” Romualdez said in a mix of Filipino and English.

“This event represented our commitment to bringing concrete, tangible solutions to the everyday challenges faced by our constituents.  Through this program, we have brought hope and help to each Filipino family,” he added in a mix of Filipino and English.

According to Romualdez, 62 national government agencies were present in the Samar BPSF, with 255 services offered.  This includes at least P400 million in cash grants, given to pre-identified beneficiaries across the province, through the payouts conducted by the the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The DSWD and the DOLE payouts amount to P300 million, and was given to over 20,000 individuals.

There were also scholarship grants given by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

The BPSF also featured the distribution of in-kind aid worth P316 million, including 110,000 kilograms of rice, plus social services, health programs, agricultural aid and regulatory services.

Romualdez meanwhile thanked the local hosts of the event, as their efforts ensured “the seamless delivery of services and maximized the event’s impact on the province.”

“The success of this program is proof that if the people and the state are united, we can attain anything,” he said in Filipino.

The Samar BPSF was hosted by Governor Sharee Ann Tan, Samar 1st District Representative Stephen James Tan and Samar 2nd District Representative Reynolds Michael Tan, in collaboration with the Calbayog City local government unit.

This latest edition of the fair came on the heels of the Bicol Region BPSF, dubbed as the Tabang Bicol-Tindog Oragon, which was meant to assist residents in Catanduanes, Albay, and Camarines Sur who were affected by the successive typhoons.

At least 170,000 residents of Bicol Region got cash and in-kind aid, which was estimated to be worth P850 million.

READ: Typhoon trio aftermath: 600,000 displaced, P500M in damage 

Provinces on the eastern part of Luzon and Visayas were hard-hit by at least five successive tropical cyclones, starting from late October up to the third week of November.  According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the three most-recent tropical cyclones — Nika (international name: Toraji), Ofel (Usagi) and Pepito (Man-yi) — displaced more than 600,000 people across the country.

Damage was estimated to be P500 million.