LA TRINIDAD, Benguet– Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Yap disclosed that some P1 billion had been provided by concerned government agencies for the various social services that will benefit thousands of residents from the province’s 140 barangays next year.
Yap, who chairs the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, stated that P400 was included in the annual budget of the health department for the medical assistance to indigent patients (MAP) for people from the different parts of the province, or than P300 million was also provided by the labor department for the continuous implementation of the government’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay Para Sa Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program and another P300 million was sourced out from the social welfare department for the grant of additional benefits to people under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).
Previously, he claimed that Benguet had been getting minimal allocations from the social services programs of concerned government agencies for still unknown reasons that is why he was surprised to know from the people during his interactions with them that they were not fully aware of the existence of such programs where they could directly benefit from the same.
Congressman Yap underscored that the funds will be coursed through the concerned government agencies and will be directly release to the identified beneficiaries and recipients as what had been happening over the past several months that his office had been spearheading the numerous payouts in the different barangays and municipalities.
He emphasized that beneficiaries will no longer have to go to his office based in La Trinidad or the offices of the government agencies situated in Baguio City to get their financial assistance but they will be conveniently receiving their benefits from the payouts that will be scheduled in their barangays or in their municipal halls depending on the assessment that will be done by the officials responsible for the various social services programs.
According to him, he was able to prove to the people of Benguet that he will be delivering the aforesaid services to the barangays and municipalities and that such arrangement will continue as he does not want the people to be lining up in his office or the different government agencies to get their benefits due to the prevailing implementation of the strict community quarantine guidelines to cost the spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the province.
Congressman Yap asserted that he wants to make sure that the over 100,000 households in the province’s 140 barangays will be able to get financial assistance from at least one of the major social services programs of concerned government agencies for them to be able to feel that the government is always ready to extend to those who are qualified to be recipients of the said programs.
Yap appealed to the beneficiaries to use the benefits that they have received or will still get from the government for the basic needs of their families while awaiting the prevailing situation to normalize and for them to cope with the existing difficulties in life because of the absence of jobs, economic activities and sources of livelihood. By HENT