BPSF serves 50,000 people in Mindoro

A TOTAL of P1.2 billion worth of cash aid and services were given away in Oriental Mindoro during the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF) held in Calapan City over the weekend.

House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, said the service fair in the province was a result of the calls made by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to make government services more accessible to as many Filipinos as possible.

“This is the promise of President Bongbong Marcos. We will continue to go around to give help until we reach all corners of the Philippines. We will not stop even if we get criticized,” said Romualdez.

In the BPSF leg, 42 government agencies gave out 265 government services to 50,000 beneficiaries in the province worth P1.2 billion, including P278 million cash aid.

This cash aid included the P62 million payout of the 28,000 beneficiaries of the Assistance in Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) and the Department of Labor and Employment’s payout of 9,000 beneficiaries affected by the oil spill caused by the sinking of M/T Princess Empress.

Romualdez also said that the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) will distribute P145 million of agri-machineries to 52 farmers cooperatives and associations under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Mechanization Program created under the Rice Tariffication Law.

“We are adding more programs to the service fair to include help for our farmers cooperatives. These agri-machineries will help our farmers increase their yield,” Romualdez said.

He also led the launch of the Cash and Rice Distribution (Card) program in Oriental Mindoro, with 2,000 residents receiving P1,000 in cash aid and P1,000 to buy for a 25-kilogram sack of rice.

About 7,000 residents received a total of P23 million in scholarship, farm and livelihood assistance through the Integrated Scholarships and Incentives Program (ISIP) for the Youth, the Start-up, Investment, Business Opportunity and Livelihood (Sibol), and the Farmers Assistance for Recovery and Modernization (FARM).

“These programs are our answer to President Bongbong Marcos’s call to help our countrymen from all sectors. This is the presence of the ‘New Philippines’ of [President Marcos], that no Filipino will be left behind,” the lawmaker said.