A total of 25 families are scheduled to go home and settle permanently in the Ilocos Region within the year through the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) program of the national government.
In a virtual program by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Ilocos Region on Friday, BP2 focal person Reysa Pilotin said six of the family beneficiaries will return to Pangasinan, four to Ilocos Norte, eight to Ilocos Sur, and seven to La Union.
“They are just waiting for the dispatch schedule (from the National Capital Region) to be able to return to their home provinces,” she said.
Pilotin said the beneficiaries will receive transportation assistance, support packages of food and non-food items for three months depending on their needs to be assessed by social workers, transitory assistance, emergency assistance, housing, and livelihood settlement grant.
“While waiting if they would qualify for the housing units of the National Housing Authority (NHA), they will be provided with transitory assistance either in the form of rent payment or for the renovation of their houses,” she said.
She added that the emergency assistance would cover medical needs in case they get infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) while waiting for their dispatch schedules.
She said each family will also receive not more than PHP50,000 as a livelihood settlement grant.
A tripartite memorandum of agreement was signed by the DSWD, local government unit (LGU) of destination, and beneficiaries.
“We are in coordination with the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office of the LGU to monitor the beneficiaries. If in the future they would violate the agreement, they will no longer be part of any program,” she said.
The DSWD is still consolidating data on the number of families who have returned to different localities on their own.
Pilotin said they will receive the same benefits under the BP2 program.
As of Friday’s data, 87 families have resettled in the region.
Apart from the packages, the consolidated number of family beneficiaries in a locality will be given a community grant worth PHP7.5 million that will be utilized for infrastructure projects relevant for disaster response such as Covid-19.
Pilotin urged other families or individuals to avail of the BP2 program by applying online or at kiosks located at the NHA and DSWD central offices.
NHA heads the national secretariat of BP2.
Among the reasons cited by those who availed of the BP2 are loss of a job or other sources of income, unsafe current dwelling places, exposure to health and safety risks, and other environmental hazards.
The BP2 is a program of the national government that addresses congestion in Metro Manila by encouraging dwellers here, especially informal settlers, to return to their home provinces and assist them during the entire process.
Source: Philippines News Agency