LA TRINIDAD, Benguet– Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap disclosed that each of the province’s 140 barangays was able to be allotted 7 beneficiaries of the government’s educational assistance program and 15 recipients of the labor department’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay para sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program.
In a video message, Yap, who chairs the powerful House committee on appropriations, said that the identification of the beneficiaries of both educational assistance and TUPAD programs was done by his office in close coordination with the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Benguet chapter and the punong barangays because he wants to involve the local chief executives in the identification of the deserving recipients of the government programs and projects.
He pointed out that the educational assistance and TUPAD programs are just part of the various government programs and projects where the people of Benguet could benefit from and what is needed is for him to link the concerned government agencies where the programs are lodged with the provincial and municipal officials for the identification of qualified beneficiaries who can included in their list for approval by the heads of department.
Congressman Yap reported he is attending the ongoing budget deliberations to ensure that the concerns of Benguet in terms of getting the province’s share from the different programs and projects of concerned government agencies will be ventilated so that funds will be appropriated for the beneficiaries of such programs and high impact development projects that will be implemented in the future.
According to him, Benguet being an agriculture and ecotourism province should be provided with adequate funds to advance the state of agriculture and tourism so that more foreign and domestic visitors will be enticed to include the province in their itinerary of travel when going around the country once tourism activities will be allowed by the national and local inter-agency task forces on emerging infectious diseases.
Congressman Yap said he will continue to work for the interest of the people of the province who had been longing for genuine public service that is why aside from visiting the remote villages of Benguet to personally know what they need, he makes it a point to raise prevailing issues and concerns to the concerned government agencies for appropriate action.
He assured the people in the province’s remote areas that when there will be available time due to a slight break in the ongoing budget deliberation for the proposed P4.5 trillion national budget next year, he will visit them and dialogue with them for him to be aware of their plight in advancing the development of their communities that had already been left behind in the past.
The House of Representatives is expected to complete its plenary debates and approve the budget on or before October 16, 2020 so that the same will be immediately transmitted to the Senate for the passage of the same before the end of the year so that it could be signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte before year end. By HENT
