BAGONG PILIPINAS CARAVAN
SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has assured Filipinos that all provinces will be visited by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr.’s Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF), the country’s biggest service caravan.
According to Romualdez, the purpose of this program is to serve millions of Filipino beneficiaries after the resounding success of its Grand Launch held simultaneously in four provinces last Saturday.
Romualdez, one of the principal organizers of the government service caravan, said that this aims to bring more than 60 government services closer to the people, expressed excitement over the idea of the BPSF visiting all 82 provinces given its huge success.
“Ipinakita rin naman na ang gobyerno po ng ating mahal na Presidenteng BBM ay nandito, very, very active, very much present. Iyan ang sinasabi ng ating Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair,” the House leader said.
“Iyan ang napakagandang balita, lahat po ng mga beneficiary ay natutuwa. At nagpapasalamat tayo sa lahat ng ahensya at departamento na tumulong dito sa atin sa Tolosa. Napaka-sucessful. Maski mga leader natin dito sa lalawigan led by Governor [Jericho] Icot Petilla, Vice Governor [Leonardo] Sandy Javier [Jr.], Cong. [Lolita] Javier, Cong. Jude Acidre, [former] Cong. Ching Veloso, at lahat ng municipal mayors, kumpleto isinama rin nila ang kanilang constituents,” he added.
“I am truly proud of what we have accomplished here, from our dry run in Biliran to our ambitious and simultaneous grand launch in four provinces. We could not have done this without the vision of our President,” he also said.
The Grand Launch of the BPSF in the town of Nabua in Camarines Sur was led by President Marcos himself and launched simultaneously in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Tolosa town in Leyte in Visayas, and in the Municipality of Monkayo, Davao de Oro in Mindanao.
It is expected to initially benefit 400,00 plus Filipinos seeking to avail more than 60 services offered by various government agencies with a fund of at least P1 billion.
The BPSF national secretariat comprises the Office of the President, the Office of the Speaker, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), and the House of Representatives.
From the originally two-day event, organizers decided to stretch some of the programs this week due to the influx of participants which has so far attracted a record high of 322,689 portal-registered Filipinos as of 10:30 Sunday morning.
During the August 26, 2023, BPSF dry-run in Biliran, more than 22,000 people benefitted from the government programs for the two-day event.
Registration is still ongoing as of Sunday and participants could balloon to 400,000 plus, organizers estimated.
In total as of Sunday morning, the numbers of beneficiaries in these areas are as follows: Laoag, Ilocos Norte (87,158); Nabua, Camarines Sur (103,647); Tolosa, Leyte (57,345); and Monkayo, Davao de Oro (74,539) or a total of 322,689. The 22,000 Biliran beneficiaries are not included in the data.
The beneficiaries in these provinces had easy access to government projects and programs in the areas of social services, health and medical support, livelihood, and educational assistance, services in regulatory functions, and other bureaucratic services aimed to capacitate and benefit them.
“All the hard work preparing for the Grand Launch paid off: the physical and mental exhaustion of the organizers and frontline government workers were rewarded with the satisfaction of helping their fellow citizens gain access to a lot of government services that are mostly beyond their reach,” Romualdez said.
“With this success, we now look forward to doing it nationwide. Our aim is to institutionalize the BPSF in the future that this will be part of the government mandate: if the people don’t have access to essential services, then the government will go to them,” the Leyte lawmaker continued.
Speaker Romualdez himself led the Grand Launch in Tolosa, Leyte, while House Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte 1st District rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Araneta Marcos ran point in Laoag, Ilocos Norte.
Special Assistant to the President Anton Lagdameo led the Monkayo, Davao de Oro launch.
Under social services, the Department of Health (DoH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD),
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), National Food Authority (NFA), Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) participated.
Under livelihood and educational services, the following agencies offered services: Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Technical Skills and Development Authority (TESDA), DENR, OCD, and FDA.
Under regulatory functions, the BPSF extended services from the following government agencies: Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine National Police (PNP), Land Transportation Office (LTO), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Bureau (LTFRB), Professional Regulations Commission (PRC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Other government services include those from the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Social Security System, PhilHealth, Pag-Ibig, Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).
For every province, there are some events specific to the location, and some government services will be offered solely to residents of an area.
Free Pasasalamat Concerts in four provinces were also held.
