The Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF), the flagship program of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that brings government service and assistance directly to the people, has rolled out a total of P580 million to 111,000 beneficiaries in Zamboanga City during its two-day festival of services last weekend.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, one of the main proponents of the BPSF, said the Serbisyo Caravan in Zamboanga City marks the 16th installment of the revolutionary program of the Marcos administration that brings together 417 government services from 47 agencies under one roof, including cash aid payouts.
The local hosts for this BPSF were majority leader and Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe and Mayor John Dalipe. The event kicked off with an opening program at the Zamboanga City Coliseum May 10, where Romualdez represented Marcos as keynote speaker.
The Serbisyo Fair was complemented by a free “Pagkakaisa” concert at the KCC parking grounds.
The BPSF in Zamboanga City was the biggest, so far, in terms of attendance of members of the House of Representatives, as 85 lawmakers were at the event.
Zamboanga City is also the fifth Mindanao province to be visited by the Serbisyo Fair, next to Bukidnon, Agusan del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, and Davao de Oro.
The BPSF will be swinging by Tawi-Tawi and Davao del Norte within the next few weeks, bringing the total number of provinces in Mindanao where the service caravan has visited to seven.
Of the P580 million rolled out in Zamboanga City, P273 million was in the form of cash assistance, including a city-wide payout to 67,311 beneficiaries of the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations of the DSWD, worth P252 million.
A total of 355,000 kilos of rice were also distributed by Romualdez to qualified beneficiaries in Zamboanga City.
Other city-wide activities included scholarship programs of TESDA and CHED, and livelihood assistance for pre-identified eligible beneficiaries across Zamboanga City.
Coinciding with the BPSF was the launch of the Start-up, Incentives, Business Opportunity and Livelihood (SIBOL) program and the Integrated Scholarship and Incentives for the Youth (ISIP) program.
Both are initiatives of Romualdez that use the AICS program of the DSWD to provide aid to struggling small entrepreneurs and students, who need assistance with the costs of higher education learning.
A total of 3,000 SIBOL beneficiaries in Zamboanga City received P5,000 each from the AICS program, along with five kilograms of rice at the distribution held at the gymnasium of Claret School of Zamboanga City May 10, a press release from the Office of Romualdez said.
For the ISIP, 3,000 students were identified as beneficiaries and are given P2,000 each in financial assistance every six months through the DSWD AICS to cover tuition and other expenses. They all received five kilograms of rice each.
Identified student beneficiaries will be enrolled under CHED’s Tulong Dunong Program, where students can get scholarship assistance per semester amounting to P15,000, and priority slots under the Government Internship Program after graduation.
Unemployed parents or guardians may also be enrolled in the DOLE-TUPAD program. ||
