President Ferdinand Marcos yesterday said the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF) has brought essential services like healthcare and livelihood programs directly to communities nationwide.
“Different branches and agencies of the government are working together and united to more effectively and quickly address the needs of the people,” the President said in his address at the opening of the three-day BPSF Agency Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center.
He cited the many local government units that have been replicating the BPSF with their own ‘mini Serbisyo Fair’ to assist their constituents.
“From our province, Ilocos Norte, all the way to Tawi-Tawi, the BPSF has reached various provinces. The BPSF has served twenty-one provinces in just about a year since we started this less than a year ago. We have provided services worth more than twelve billion pesos and nearly five billion pesos in financial assistance to over two million beneficiaries,” the President said.
“We have delivered vaccines, [permits], birth [certificates], SSS registration, loan applications, PhilHealth registration including consultations, driver’s licenses, NBI clearance, passports, and many other services needed by the public who have difficulty accessing government offices, especially at the regional level. That’s why we thought—and I saw this work successfully in Ilocos Norte—that we should be the ones to go to them so that people won’t have a hard time. he added. And that is the concept of BPSF,” he pointed out.
The event also honored Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) beneficiaries who transitioned from aid recipients to entrepreneurs through the SIBOL Program, a project initiated by House Speaker Martin Romualdez and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
For his part, Romualdez thanked the President’s support, citing Mr. Marcos’ vision and dedication to lead the country to a brighter future’.
“I’d like to thank the President, our cabinet secretaries, our members from House of Representatives, our Senators, who supported this program through the budget process and of course, our department and agency heads, who are at the forefront of the Bagong Pilipinas (Summit Fair),” Romualdez said.
The Speaker had earlier pointed out the unity in purpose to bring government services closer to the people and the desire to serve the most vulnerable sectors in Philippine society as the two main driving factors that has made the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF) such a huge success.
The leader of the 308-strong House of Representatives lauded the national government agencies together with the organizers of the service caravan as the BPSF turns a year this month, with 21 successful visits to 17 of the country’s 18 regions.
“Your collective efforts have brought essential government services closer to the people, ensuring that millions of Filipinos receive the services they deserve and the much-needed assistance, especially in vulnerable sectors,” the Speaker said.
“The BPSF has made a meaningful impact on communities across the country, delivering direct services that have improved lives in tangible ways. The billions of pesos in aid provided through this program reflect the scale of its reach and the importance of making government services accessible to all,” he added.
Romualdez said he hopes that the Agency Summit, which will be attended by officials as high as undersecretaries, will be an opportunity to celebrate the hard work and collaboration that has made the BPSF a success.
“The coordination between and among agencies has allowed us to address the diverse needs of our people efficiently and swiftly. It also highlights the strength of our government when agencies work hand in hand for the common good,” he said.
“The success of the BPSF should inspire us to further improve and expand our services. By maintaining this level of collaboration and innovation, we can continue to uplift more lives and ensure that the government remains a proactive and reliable partner in the everyday challenges faced by our citizens,” Romualdez said.
House Deputy Secretary-General Sofonias Gabonada, one of the top officials of the BPSF, told reporters that one of the objectives of the summit is to pool together the minds of national government agencies in crafting a “Bagong Pilipinas Bill.”
“”We are proposing to Speaker (Romualdez) the ‘New Pilipinas Bill.’ There is the put-up of Bagong Pilipinas Service Centers, Bagong Pilipinas Tulong Centers,” he said.
“This includes the creation of a mechanism where these agencies talk to each other about the convergence of the program because there are programs that really need other agencies to make it maximized, so that the government’s resources can be fully utilized in implementing the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair,” Gabonada said.
Gabonada said a total of 1,500 officials and staff of 78 national government agencies areresponsible for the success of the BPSF that was held in 21 provinces in all of the country’s regions.
He said as of present, the BPSF has benefitted a total of 2.5 million families who collectively received a total of around P10 billion worth of government programs and financial aid in the one year that the service caravan has been operating.
“We want to expand and improve the distribution of BPSF in our remaining provinces. We’re expecting 82 provinces, we’ve been to 21 provinces. So this is an opportunity for the agencies to talk on a regional level because the regional directors, they are our working committee members,” Gabonada said.
The BPSF plans to go to Batangas next, and then the provinces of Cavite and Pangasinan.
