Coordination meeting of government agency representatives on May 13 to prepare for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s visit to Cagayan de Oro on May 16, 2024 for the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair. Photo Supplied
MindanaoToday.com | CdeO folk await boons during President’s visit
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is set to show a semblance of realizing his campaign promise two years ago, that under his watch nobody would be left behind, when he visits this city on Thursday and Friday, May 16 and 17, to oversee government’s services and assistance delivered to the marginalized sector and individuals in crisis situations.
Though classified as highly-urbanized, poverty incidence in this city was at 6.8% based on Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimates in 2021, or roughly seven out of 10 residents need to be alleviated from poverty threshold.
Under the aegis of Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF) project, the President had been in 16 other areas across the country, bringing the entire national government machinery to communities to project that inclusiveness has been encapsulated in his administration’s centerpiece program. Agencies of government, about 50 of these have more than 400 programs and services that can be availed of.
Arrival honors and program for the President’s Visit will be held at the Aquilino Pimentel Jr. International Convention Center, Barangay Indahag on Thursday afternoon, May 16. The two-day BPSF at the gymnasium of the University of Science and Technology in Southern Philippines along Claro M. Recto Avenue, in Barangay Lapasan will formally open morning of the same day.
The President’s party includes Secretary Anton Lagdameo Jr., Special Assistant to the President; Secretary Rexlon Gatchalian, Department of Social Welfare and Development; Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr, Department of the Interior and Local Government; Secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel Jr., Department of Agriculture; and Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil, Presidential Communications Office, according to the Philippine Information Agency in Northern Mindanao yesterday, May 14.
House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, first district representative of Leyte, is also with the President’s party.
Congressman Lordan Suan, the city’s first congressional district representative and lead convenor of the BPSF Cagayan de Oro, said at least 10,000 individuals from this city are to benefit from the Presidential Assistance to Farmers, Fisherfolk, and Families (PAFFF) which is a component of the BPSF.
Suan’s social media posts of the preparatory coordination meetings elicited reactions from his followers, among them were Joseph Nuevas of Barangay Camaman-an, Regine Ranario of Barangay Patag, and Anicka Paborada of Barangay Balulang.
Nuevas, a 54-year-old visually-impaired widow and a father of two children who are still in school, wished his name would be included among the beneficiaries of a livelihood assistance. He said he is willing to work despite his blurred vision.
Ranario, who has a year-old child who had surgical operation for hydrocephalous, said she really need financial and medical assistance for her son and for her 66-year-old mother who has been bedridden due to diabetes.
For Paborada who works in a store inside Limketkai Center said making both ends meet for her meager salary has always been a challenge, and becoming one of the BPSF beneficiaries would be a big help. However, she said she’ll be happier if those in dire need would get the assistance.
The PAFFF incorporates existing livelihood and anti-poverty programs of several government agencies such as the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Also included are DOLE’s Integrated Livelihood Program (ILP), and the Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (LEEP) as well as Department of Agriculture’s cash-for-work programs for farmers and fisherfolk, aside from rice subsidies, farming inputs, and irrigation systems.
Bagong Pilipinas (BP), conceptualized as President Marcos Jr. administration’s brand of governance and leadership, was launched at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila on January 28, this year. (MT)
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