LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Benguet caretaker congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Yap was awarded as Honorary Congressman of the Year by the Sustainability Standards, Inc. Nation Builders and Mostly Awards held at the Okada Manila in Paranaque City last Saturday.
Yap, who is the chairman of the powerful House committee on appropriations, was among the public servants who were awarded for their aggressive promotion of the integration and the principles of smarter, sustainable and greener community.
Even as a neophyte lawmaker having started his political career only in 2019, Yap was recognized by the award-giving body for his effective leadership in the House of Representatives having been the chairperson of the House committee on games and amusements before being chairing the powerful House committee on appropriations.
In 2019, the lawmaker was elected as the top nominee of the ACT-CIS Party-list group which garnered 2,651,987 votes, earning the maximum of 3 congressional seats with the historic highest number of votes of a party-list group.
On January 20, 2020, Congressman Yap was subsequently appointed as the legislative caretaker of Benguet to serve the unexpired term of the late Rep. Nestor B. Fongwan, Sr. who succumbed to a lingering illness on December 18, 2019.
In his acceptance message, Yap acknowledged the important role of the people of the province as the driving force to push for the inclusive development of the province.
“From the beginning, our goal was to bring the services closer to our kailyans, no matter where they are, no matter how remote their community is. For the past two years, we can proudly say that we have consistently delivered on our commitment,” the solon said.
He added that his aspiration is for each community to be provided with enabling mechanisms that will capacitate them to be sustainable. By the end of his message, Yap also raised the conditions of the farmers in Benguet who are currently experiencing further profit loss due to the oil price hike.
“As we are here to promote and celebrate sustainability, let us not forget those who have been the backbone of our economy. I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to raise awareness on the plight of our farmers who are now being severely affected by the rising fuel prices,” the solon expressed.
“Yung dating mahirap na kalagayan na nila dahil sa maraming problema sa sektor ng agrikultura, mas lalong humihirap pa. Lugi na ang bentahan ng gulay, minsan tinatapon pa dahil hindi na naibebenta. If you can extend a little help to our kailyans, let us work together,” he added.
Recently, Yap also called for an expanded fuel subsidy program to provinces to target relief to the agricultural sector which had been one of the heavily impacted sectors because of the serious negative impact of the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that had been affecting the countries over the past 2 years.