IN PURSUIT of the present government’s effort to achieve a more economically healthy society and help millions of Filipinos particularly those who belong to marginalized and vulnerable communities, the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF), regarded as the largest caravan, was launched nationwide with more than P1 billion fund.
There are only four areas that were chosen to host the service caravan: Ilocos Norte and Camarines Sur in Luzon, Leyte in Visayas, and Monkayo, Davao de Oro in Mindanao.
With this, the constituents of Davao de Oro benefited from more than 40 national government agencies on Saturday morning, September 23, 2023.
Based on the data provided by the local government unit (LGU) of Monkayo, around 60 government aid, financial services, health and medical-related assistance, and agricultural economic programs from various agencies in the country were distributed to the selected and qualified constituents of Davao de Oro.
The services include application for the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development national housing program, awarding of livelihood kits under the Pangkabuhayan sa Pagbangon at Ginhawa Program of the Department of Trade and Industry, passport applications and renewal by the Department of Foreign Affairs, and distribution of overseas Filipino workers’ reintegration benefits by the Department of Migrant Workers, among others.
In a press conference and media roundtable discussion dated September 22, 2023, the province’s First District Representative, Maricar Zamora, emphasized that while the implementation is open, there are services that can only cater to a limited number of beneficiaries.
She then cited medical outreach as one of the programs that specifically target those individuals who already underwent prior consultation from their local health unit.
“I would just like to emphasize that while this is open to all, but naa gyud tay services nga limited ang slots. For example, (the) medical outreach, we cannot just accommodate everbody coming. That is why we have pre-identified patients. For the past weeks, our health municipal unit, nagtuyok nami sa mga lain-laing barangay for case study (I would just like to emphasize that while this is open to all, we do have services with limited slots. For example, the medical outreach, we cannot just accommodate everyone coming that is why we have pre-identified patients. For the past weeks, together with our health municipal unit, we have been going around to different barangays for case studies),” she said.
She also said that Monkayo was chosen due to its geographical location.
“Monkayo was chosen for the launching because this is the farthest municipality in the province. Residents are far from the offices and can’t avail of various government services,” the official added.
In a 2022 report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), it shows that the poverty incidence among families in Davao de Oro was estimated at 17.7 percent or 18 out of 100 families were considered poor for the year 2021. The projection was lower than the 2018 estimate, which was 18.6%, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points.
Similarly, the estimated number of poor families in Davao de Oro for 2021 is estimated at 33,570 families.
Meanwhile, according to lawyer Chic Salamida, BPSF secretary, the initiative is not just exclusive to the residents of the area but rather, it is open to those who seek to avail of free and equal services from different agencies in the country.
“Ang Bagong Pilipinas is open to everyone. Not just here in Monkayo and Davao de Oro but definitely to everyone” (Ang Bagong Pilipinas is open to everyone. Not just here in Monkayo and Davao de Oro but definitely to everyone) the lawyer said.
The BPSF is an initiative under the present administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in collaboration with the members of the House of Representatives with the support from the national secretariat consisting of the Office of the President, the Office of the Speaker, and the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
As of writing, more than 300,000 portal-registered Filipinos had already participated and
Davao de Oro alone logged more than 40,000 registrations.
The pilot of the caravan is slated from September 23 to 24 this year and plans to visit all 82 provinces in the country in the next months. DEF