Senator Migz Zubiri leads Bukidnon Anti-Poverty Summit 2019

Senator Migz Zubiri gives the opening speech at the Bukidnon Anti-Poverty Summit 2019 in  Bukidnon, November 8, 2019.

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri led the Bukidnon Anti-Poverty Summit (BAPS) 2019 in Valencia, Bukidnon, on Friday, November 8, 2019. This is the third time the senator has convened key government agencies, local government units, and stakeholders for this event, which he inaugurated in 2016 as a response to Bukidnon’s poverty rates at the time.

In the Philippine Statistics Agency’s 2015 Poverty Incidence Survey, Bukidnon had a poverty incidence rate of 54.1 percent, making it the third poorest province in the nation. By 2018, two years after the first BAPS was held, that statistic has dropped to 32.1 percent—marking a massive jump from third to nineteenth in the list of provinces with highest poverty incidence.

“BAPS is an avenue for concerned agencies to come together and formulate convergence strategies that will lessen, if not end, poverty in the province,” Migz Zubiri said, explaining the rationale behind the summit. “This is a venue where we can set aside politics and strengthen linkages among our LGUs, our national government agencies, and the private sector as we all work toward helping the people of Bukidnon.”

At the summit along with Migz Zubiri were Sec. Rolando Bautista of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Sec. Emmanuel Piñol of the Mindanao Development Authority, Gov. Jose Ma. Zubiri, Rep. Ma. Lourdes Acosta-Alba, Rep. Jonathan Flores, Rep. Manuel Zubiri, Rep. Neil Roque, and LGU officials from across the province. Representatives from IP communities, the religious sector, and NGOs were also in attendance.

Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri and Bukidnon Governor Joe Zubiri hosted the second Bukidnon Anti-Poverty Summit which was keynoted by Sec. Rolando Bautista of DSWD, with guest speaker Sec. Emmanuel Piñol of MinDA, and attended by all the Congressmen of Bukidnon, Rep. Ma. Lourdes Acosta-Alba, Rep. Jonathan Flores, Rep. Manuel Zubiri, Rep. Neil Roque, with mayors, vice mayors, board members and other LGU officials of Bukidnon on 8 November 2019. The summit, which was launched in 2016, convenes key government agencies, local government units, and stakeholders to form linkages and convergence strategies that will eradicate poverty incidence in the province.

Gathering about five hundred attendees, the summit had speakers from key government agencies, state-funded institutions, and representatives from the private sector giving an update on their poverty alleviation programs and plans for the province. Concurrent with the program proper of the summit, a meeting was also held between representatives from the Commission of Higher Education (CHED), Bukidnon State University (BukSU), and Bukidnon’s local government in order for them to discuss challenges and solutions in getting CHED accreditation for BukSU Satellite Campuses across the province.

“Education is the key, and I want to make education more accessible to our people,” Migz Zubiri emphasized. Since BAPS 2016, he has spearheaded the establishment of sixteen (16) BukSU Satellite Campuses and seventeen (17) Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Training Centers, plus one special Tribal Training Center. This makes Bukidnon the first “tech-voc province” in the nation, having an LGU-run TESDA Training Center in each of its two cities and twenty municipalities.

Migz Zubiri has also initiated programs in the health sector, including the Northern Mindanao Wellness and Reintegration Center (NMWRC) which was funded through the donation of the Friends of the Philippines Foundation, and is the largest rehabilitation facility of its kind in the region, with a capacity for up to eight hundred (800) patients. He has also seen to the procurement of top-shelf ultrasound and dialysis machines for the Bukidnon Provincial Medical Center, to complement the state-of-the-art facilities that the public hospital has come to be known for.

Plans for the Bukidnon Airport were also unveiled at the summit, receiving an enthusiastic response from the attendees. Located in the municipality of Don Carlos, the airport is set to have a 2.65-kilometer runway which can handle Airbus 320 and 330, and even Boeing 727 and 737 planes. Migz Zubiri shared an image of the airport terminal design, which will resemble a pineapple, one of the major agricultural products of Bukidnon. Once the airport is completed, Migz Zubiri is expecting a huge boost in Bukidnon’s tourism economy.

“There is so much potential for our beloved Bukidnon to become an economic powerhouse in the country. Being the third largest province in terms of land area, and being endowed with natural resources, Bukidnon has the potential to become one of the richest provinces in the country.”