DSWD's Balik Probinsiya Balik-Pag-asa

program brings Boholanos back home

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Nov 5 (PIA) –So how do we encourage people living in the slums of the country’s urban centers especially in Metro Manila from staying in their deplorable living conditions and return to their provinces where life could be better and the chances of survival runs high?

Balik Probinsya Balik-Pag-asa (BPBP) Program, says Department of Social Welfare and Development focal person Patrick Lanutan, during the recent Kapihan sa PIA.

In the forum, Lanutan explained that BPBP forms part of the government’s strategy to bring more equitable development to all regions, assure better lives in the rural communities and improve the initiatives towards attaining strong and prosperous communities.

He said the Program aims to support families of informal settles who are severely affected by the pandemic and who desire to return to their provinces on permanent relocation and start life anew.

In the medium and long terms, the program aims to widen the economic activities of the different regions outside of Metro Manila and the National Capital Region and other population centers through progressive and interconnected strong independent economies.

The program also aims to influence over-all development through the access of different government and social services and opportunities for improving the economy to create a more diverse economic growth which creates a balanced distribution of income and resources.

For this, the DSWD is helping send home Boholano families in Manila who have applied for the government homing program, some Boholano families now are on their way home.

BPBP Program aims to provide hope for a better future to Filipinos through bringing them home to their provinces, motivate them through a package of re-starter assistance and in turn make them thrive in their new homes while spurring countryside development, he said.

Also aimed at decongesting urban centers, solving slum dwellings by providing better options for unsecured informal settlers, BP BP program does this by encouraging informal settlers to return to their home provinces by hand-holding them as they start their lives anew.

Lanutan said the program basically helps these families get home through transportation fares and incentives that include housing assistance, food, livelihood, subsistence and education, through the convergence of assistance from the government agencies.

And while they are starting off, the government, after evaluation on the resetting family’s needs, may give subsistence assistance for each member of the family for the first three months, or until they have adapted to their new environment and start to find work, Lanutan said.

A package of help awaits them, from government agencies who will have their hands in ensuring the continuous improvement of economies and quality of life in the provinces with the program’s long term plans on various investments in infrastructure, agriculture, business, transportation and access to a responsive healthcare system.

Families may apply for the BPBP Program online via www.balikprobinsya.ph or personally through barangay officials, who will initiate with the DSWD in evaluating the applications. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

The DSWD is among the lead agencies implementing the BPBP program and would be engaging plenty of their workers to help out families process their permanently settling back in their provinces, says Patrick Lanutan, BPBP focal at DSWD7. (rahc/PIA-7/Bhol)