BAKUN, Benguet – The time-honored Cordillera value of ‘binnadang’ or caring for the needy in times of crisis like this pandemic that required the whole of Luzon to undergo enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) continues to be practiced by kind-hearted villagers in the many barangays of the municipality when many residents, who are aware of their status in the community, requested that government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) in the amount of P5,500 for two months will be given to their more needy relatives or co-villagers.
Mayor Bill Raymundo said that in barangay Gambang alone, 35 identified SAP beneficiaries, upon learning they were identified as SAP recipients, went to the authorities and instead of receiving the prescribed cash assistance, recommended that the same be given to their relatives or co-villagers who really need the financial assistance to cope with the impact of the ECQ to their livelihoods.
Raymundo clarified that these earlier identified recipients of the SAP assistance from Gambang and other barangays did not actually receive the amount, but during the meetings that were called for the purpose of validating the list of recipients, a number of them honestly informed the representatives of concerned government agencies and the municipal government that they are not qualified to receive the assistance but instead recommended their relatives or co-villagers as beneficiaries pursuant to the purpose of the program.
The municipal chief executive reported these SAP beneficiaries informed them they still have sources of income such as their regular pension from the Social Security System (SSS) and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the remittance of their children who are working abroad, their income derived from farming activities, among others, that could sustain them even with the ECQ, thus, they are not supposed to be qualified recipients, so they referred their more needy relatives and co-villagers.
He commended the decision of the kind-hearted villagers in not accepting their inclusion to the list of the SAP beneficiaries because their voluntary act of recommending their relatives or co-villagers who are really in need of help actually contributed in the efforts of the municipal government and the social welfare department in locating the real beneficiaries of the government’s assistance program.
By Hent
