LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Some thirty-six million pesos emergency assistance fund will be downloaded to the thirteen municipalities of the province which will be used for the emergency medical needs of patients from the said localities.
In a surprise visit to hundreds of strawberry farmers in front of the Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center Thursday, Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Repo. Eric Yap stated that each of the 13 municipalities will be receiving at least P2 million each in emergency assistance funds that will be handled by the various municipal social welfare and development officers to be used for the emergency needs of the people seeking assistance from his office and the concerned local governments.
Yap, who chairs the powerful House committee on appropriations, said that individuals from rural areas need not to visit his office in the capital town because the emergency assistance funds had already been made available in their respective municipalities so that they will not be wasting their time, effort and resources just to be able to travel to La Trinidad just to be given assistance.
He added that for those confined in the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH) wanting to avail of assistance from his office, there is already an established sub-office in the hospital that will cater to the requests for financial assistance to help in easing the processing of the needed help where the operation of the same is similar to the Malasakit Center while awaiting for the formal accreditation of the hospital’s Malasakit Center which is now being processed by the health department and other concerned agencies.
According to him, people should not be burdened when seeking for assistance from the concerned government agencies and the local government that is why he worked hard to ensure that the emergency assistance funds will be downloaded to the local governments for them to take charge of the emergency needs of their constituents and the establishment of a sub-office in the government hospital to attend to the needs of patients being confined for medication.
Congressman Yap encouraged people from remote villages who need help from his office to first visit the nearest municipal social welfare and development office to inquire on the requirements for them to be able to avail of the prescribed assistance so that their concerns will be immediately acted upon in the local level instead of referring to his congressional district office.
Aside from the P36 million that will be downloaded to the 13 municipalities probably before the end of the month, Congressman yap also initially worked out the allocation of funds from the labor department for at least 5,000 beneficiaries of the agency’s continuing Tulong Panghanapbuhay Sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program where there will be some 35 beneficiaries that will come from the province’s 140 barangays.
He assured the people of Benguet of his hard work and dedication in providing them with genuine public services like what he had been doing last year and that the same will continue until his term as caretaker congressman will end by June 2022. By HENT