City of Koronadal – Around 107 applicants have qualified to be beneficiaries of the Balik Probinsya Bagong Pag-asa Program (BP2) and are expected to return to Region XII, in a report given during the 6th Special BP2 Committee XII Meeting on November 26, 2021. The BP2 Committee is headed by the Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security with NEDA as the Technical Secretariat.
Regional Manager Zenaida Cabiles of the National Housing Authority XII reported during the meeting that out of 2,576 enrollees, 107 were qualified as beneficiaries and signified to return to the following provinces/city: General Santos City (11); Cotabato Province (20); South Cotabato Province (36); Sarangani Province (25); and Sultan Kudarat Province (15). She also mentioned that NHA Central Office will transmit the list of beneficiaries to LGUs and dispatch operations shall commence once the enrollees are validated.
The Special BP2 Committee XII, meanwhile, gears up to package assistance programs of mandated agencies into a menu for easy reference of the beneficiaries. Among these are the program interventions of NHA, TESDA, DOLE, DSWD, DA, DTI, and OWWA.
Other matters discussed during the meeting were updates on the conduct of the Technical Working Group on Governance, responses of concerned agencies to Region XII issues raised to the National Social Development Committee, proposed consultation meeting with Local Chief Executives for the implementation of BP2, updates on the Short-term Intervention Cluster, sharing of BP2 success stories in BP2 pilot provinces, and OWWA’s programs for returning OFWs and BP2 enrollees.
The Special BP2 Committee XII is a committee under RDC XII mandated to facilitate the implementation of the Balik Probinsya Bagong Pag-asa Program of the government. This program aims to address the congestion in Metro Manila and ensure equitable distribution of wealth and opportunities by encouraging people to return to their home provinces and assist them in the transition through support and incentives on transportation, family, livelihood, housing, subsistence, and education. (Melissa Gabrielle H. Vargas, NEDA XII-DRD)