FRESH START. A BP2 staff member pushes a cart with luggage to be loaded on a bus that would take families who availed of the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-Asa Program to their respective provinces and start life anew at BP2 Depot, Quezon Avenue corner Agham Road, Quezon City on May 28, 2021. The beneficiaries took a Covid-19 swab test which turned out negative before their departure to their provinces. (PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler) MANILA - The government's Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-Asa (BP2) program will ensure that provinces "are ready and become better places" for the new businesses and other economic ventures pushed by investors, Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go said Wednesday. Go, the proponent of the BP2, called on qualified Filipinos to avail of the initiative so that they can also contribute to the government's goal of "decongestion of highly urbanized cities and boosting countryside development." "Isa talaga sa mga lay
Sen. Bong Go has called on qualified Filipinos to avail themselves of the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa program to help uplift their lives while contributing to the decongestion of highly urbanized cities and boosting countryside development.
Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa program (PNA file photo by Robert Alfiler) CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - The Department of Social Welfare and Development Region-Northern Mindanao (DSWD-10) has received 515 families under the "Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa" (BP2) program during the first half of the year. Rosemarie Conde, DSWD-10 Assistant Director for Operations said during the Cabinet Officers for Regional Development and Security Region 10 (CORDS-10) webcast Saturday night that the most recent dispatch on May 31 was composed of 10 families. The families were given a PHP50,000 livelihood settlement grant. BP2 families also get transitory shelter or rental subsidies while waiting for the assessment of their permanent housing assistance. On May 6, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order 114 which institutionalized BP2, with the primary goal of ensuring balanced regional development and equitable distribution of wealth, resources, and opportunities in the countryside.
CEBU CITY - The 41 individuals who arrived in Cebu and Bohol from Metro Manila after availing of the "Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa" Program (BP2P) are now undergoing reintegration in their respective communities, a social welfare official said on Wednesday. Rebecca Geamala, DSWD-7 regional director, said these individuals availed of the program that aims to decongest urban poor communities by sending families back to their home provinces. They arrived in Cebu and Bohol on Tuesday last week, she said. She said after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, vulnerable families are still not able to cope with the ill effects of the public health crisis, worsening their situations with loss of income, unstable livelihood opportunities, and risk of getting infected. "The returned families are part of the second batch of returnees from last year's dispatch from Manila," Geamala said. She said the reintegration program has been hatched through a partnership of the DSWD-7
HOPEFUL. Angelie Montibano, a beneficiary of the "Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa" program shares her struggles and dreams with the Philippine News Agency at the BP2 depot, Quezon City on June 2, 2022. She is now home in Negros Oriental with her 13-year-old daughter. (PNA photo by Lade Kabagani) MANILA - Angelie Montibano was in her early 20s and out of college when she left Negros Oriental province with dreams of a successful life in the Big City. She luckily found employment at once as a timekeeper in a construction company. Later on, she got pregnant and raised her daughter, Samantha, alone. She had a job and knewthey would be just fine. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic came out of nowhere and reality struck Montibano hard. First, she was laid off from work. "Kapag babae ka, ikaw ang unang aalisin kasi construction site 'yun. Tingin nila, trabahong panlalaki lang 'yun (If you are a woman, you will have to go first because it's a construction site. They