LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Yap underscored that now is the time for local officials to show their utmost concern for their constituents by coming out in the open to extend whatever available assistance to the heavily impacted populace to allow them to cope with the serious negative effects of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Yap, who chairs the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, stated that instead of coming out with unnecessary comments on the assistance being provided by concerned government agencies to the screened recipients of aid from their programs, local officials and individuals who show their sympathy to the needs of the people through social media should instead come out in the open and help the members of the vulnerable sector to show their concern for them and not to await for the political season before trying to win the hearts of the people to vote for them.
“We are in a very peculiar situation where most of the people are longing for available assistance not only from the government but also the private sector that is why it is now the time for local officials and individuals who are concerned of the welfare of the people to show to them that they deserve to be in their respective positions,” Congressman Yap stressed.
The lawmaker stated that he committed to the people of Benguet that he will render genuine public service amidst the ongoing COVID pandemic because it is the present condition and the need of the people that maters to allow them to hurdle the challenges of the prevailing difficult times.
Congressman Yap had been closely working with the labor department, the social welfare and development department, the health department among others to access the available assistance from their respective programs that will be distributed to the identified beneficiaries from the province’s 140 barangays to help in mitigating the effects of the global pandemic to their employment and economic activities and for them to start somewhere and sustain the living condition of their families.
According to him, his recent visits to the remote villages of the province allowed him to appreciate the inherent beauty of the province and the potentials of growth and development in the said areas once the appropriate infrastructure shall have been put in place, thus, appropriate representations had already been done with the public works department to prioritize the implementation of road opening projects in some parts of the province for this year and the coming years to ensure that people will have better access to the urban centers to pave the way for improved economic activities in their places.
Congressman Yap emphasized that it is heartwarming to witness the joy on the faces of the people upon receiving the assistance from concerned government agencies through his initiative and that such gesture only depicts of their hope to be able to recover from the heavy impact inflicted by the pandemic to their established employment and economic activities so that they will be able to sustain uplifting the living condition of their families and contribute in the development of their communities. By HENT
