Senate is promised that DSWD will keep BP2 going

SF | Senate is promised that DSWD will keep BP2 going | MANILA – Senate members were reassured on Wednesday that the government’s Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) program would continue. DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian made the promise.

Gatchalian defended their planned national budget for 2024 in the Senate. They said that as of August 31, the DSWD had already helped 2,426 of the 4,572 families they were supposed to help this year.

He said that DSWD had already spent PHP1 billion, which is 29% of the PHP3.5 billion fund set aside for the BP2 this year.

“This is a very good program that we inherited and we plan to keep, in fact use all the time,” Gatchalian stated.

To build on what the BP2 order did well, we’ve already asked for a new one. We want to expand BP2 to include other types of programs that can help families who are living on the streets. “We call them families out on the street,” he said.

It was Senator Christopher Lawrence Go who asked Gatchalian for an update on how the BP2 scheme was being put into action.

“Ito pong (This) Balik Probinsya Bagong Pag-asa is a socio-economic program of the Philippine government to reverse the migration of people to Metro Manila and other urban areas who are originally from rural areas of the country,” said Go.

“You promised us that the BP2 Program would go on even after the pandemic was over.” “But I’d like to know what’s new with this program,” he said.

Gatchalian told Go that the DSWD has sent 60 teams to go around Metro Manila and talk to families who are living on the streets.

“Hindi na po namin inaantay na sila ang lumapit sa amin kundi hinahanap na namin sila sa mga lansangan ng (We are not waiting for them to approach us, but we are the ones looking for them in the streets of) Metro Manila,”

The head of DSWD said that families who are living on the streets are being housed in the agency’s residential care centers. When they get back to their areas, they will be given a grant to help them make a living, and the local social and welfare development office will keep an eye on it.

The main reason why Executive Order No. 114 was signed by former President Rodrigo Duterte on May 6, 2020, was to deal with the problem of too many people in Metro Manila.

It is also helping informal settlers return to their home provinces by giving them chances like transportation, help with making a living, cash aid, and skills training programs, among other things.

The DSWD wants to spend PHP207.37 billion on its main projects next year, such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and the Food Stamp Program. (via PNA)