‘Biyaya’ brings gov’t benefits to grassroots

The ‘Biyaya ng Pagbabago’ rollouts valued at several millions of pesos benefitting the grassroots in the Visayas is making the administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte closer to the grassroots.

The Tacloban rollout last week included the distribution of housing awards. It was the fourth in the Visayas under the ‘Biyaya ng Pagbabago. It began in Cebu City followed by Talibon in Bohol and Iloilo City,’ said Doris Isubal-Mongaya, Visayas convenor of the Kilusang Pagbabago (KP).

The Biyaya ng Pagbabago is the anti-poverty program carried out under the auspices of the Office of the Cabinet Secretary headed by Sec. Leoncio Evasco Jr. and Office for Participatory Governance (OPG) headed by Usec Penpen Libres.

“Crucial to this grassroots program is the participation of the proDuterte movement Kilusang Pagbabago (KP) that empowers grassroot groups to claim projects and programs of government agencies for their own benefit,” Mongaya said.

“You will notice, we are not just pushing for job creation. We are for spawning entrepreneurship down to the poorest sectors,” she added.

The rollouts at the Eastern Visayas State University in Tacloban last June 23, 2018 included the awarding of a peanut butter processing facility worth P200,000 to a farmers group and an eco-septic technology worth P200,000 to the Rural Health Unit of Hilongos by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), said Usec Libres who led the Tacloban rollout.

In addition, the Biyaya package consisted of 48 checks of P3,000 each for the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) beneficiaries, 20 pedicabs, and 61 checks at P2,500 each for beneficiaries of the Government Internment Program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), meanwhile, awarded 100 certificates of land ownership awards under the government’s agrarian reform program. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BRAF) gave out 10 fiberglass boats. The Tacloban City Hall distributed 399 certificate of housing awards. The National Housing Authority (NHA) gave out 50 certificate of housing awards. The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) awarded 25 checks while the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) gave checks for three lending programs.

In the Bohol rollout, the PCA distributed seedlings under the Coconut Seedling Dispersal Program. BFAR awarded 500 tilapia fries to 40 beneficiaries as well as 11 fish nets and floaters. TESDA or the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority gave 1,500 scholarships.

At the Ilo-ilo rollout, TESDA distributed 6,500 technicalvocational scholarships to equip those interested from grassroots communities.

The program is a partnership with 12 government agencies. Job generation and the opportunities created in the program are part of the parameters by which KP is being measured.