The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) have served a total of 153 family beneficiaries of the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) program in Caraga Region in 2021.
The 153 families were given transitory family support package, livelihood settlement grant, and transitory shelter assistance amounting to Php6,218,700.
Each of the family received transitory family support package ranging from Php25,000 to Php50,000, depending on the number of family members. Transitory family support package is a provision that will cover the food and non-food items needed while the family is in the transition phase.
Most of these families came from Metro Manila and opted to settle in Caraga Region for good. Most of them lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Below are the number of families served:
Agusan del Norte – 21
Agusan del Sur – 71
Surigao del Norte – 1
Surigao del Sur – 56
Province of Dinagat Islands – 4
“Dako akong pasalamat sa hinabang nga gikan sa goberno. Salamat gayud sa Ginoo nga gitagaan ko og solbad sa akong problema sa among pag-uli diri sa amoa tungod wala koy hanapbuhay (I am truly grateful to the assistance from the government. I thank God for giving me a solution to my problem since I have no means of living when I returned home),” said Wilejada Dapiasan, a BP2 beneficiary in Marihatag, Surigao del Sur.
The BP2 was institutionalized by virtue of Executive Order 114 series of 2020, anchored on a vision of achieving a balanced regional development and equitable distribution of wealth, resources, and opportunities through policies and programs that boost countryside development and inclusive growth, provide adequate social services, and promote full employment, industrialization and an improved quality of life in rural areas.
BP2 is also a strategy of the government that seeks to decongest the National Capital Region (NCR) and highly urbanized areas by allowing residents from these areas to go back to their provincial residence to start a new life.
The program is part of the long-term holistic program under the Ambisyon Natin 2040, envisioning a society wherein Filipinos live in a prosperous, predominantly middle-class society where no one is poor.
