The Palace on Friday, December 1, led the official launching of the “Biyaya ng Pagbabago” Caravan 2017 to drum up support for the Duterte administration’s agenda of improving the lives of poor Filipinos.
The Office of the Cabinet Secretary (OCS), in partnership with 12 agencies under the Office of the President alongside Kilusang Pagbabago, initiated the “Biyaya ng Pagbabago Tungo sa Masagana at Matiwasay na Buhay Pilipino” (Biyaya ng Pagbabago) Program, which aims to provide better living conditions for Filipinos.
In line with this, the OCS led the debut of the “Biyaya ng Pagbabago” Caravan in Malacañang, which will take place on December 1-9 in selected areas throughout the country.
“We are gathered today for a national program on self-reliance and active citizenship,” Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said in a statement read by Assistant Secretary Kris Ablan.
“This movement weaves the different communities throughout the country, with the threads of capacity building and participatory governance,” he added.
The nationwide caravan will commence in Luzon, starting from Ifugao, all the way to Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Parañaque, Cavite, Batangas, Quezon, Marinduque, and Camarines Sur.
After which, selected participants will proceed to Northern Samar, Tacloban, Ormoc, and Cebu City in Visayas, and to Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon in Mindanao. The caravan will culminate in Davao City on December 9, where President Duterte will formally launch the “Biyaya ng Pagbabago” program at the Freedom Park.
OCS Assistant Secretary Jonas Soriano said the initiative is in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s call to create a better and more developed country for all Filipinos.
He said the caravan is expected to give the public sufficient information on the government’s pro-poor programs, and to enjoin other agencies and civil society groups to commit to the administration’s goal of alleviating poverty.
“This will serve as an information campaign to galvanize the people again to support a move to make people participate for change,” Soriano said.
The program particularly seeks to achieve three key objectives: for government services to become “more responsive, adequate, timely and effectively delivered to those that need it the most;” for citizens to be more proactive and communities more empowered in “participatory governance and in inclusive economic development;” and for a “whole of government,” sector and area-focused poverty alleviation strategy to be fully operationalized.
The venture is also in line with the administration’s promise to empower Filipino families and, subsequently, to meet the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022 target of reducing poverty from 21.6 percent to 14 percent by the end of the President’s term.
“Let’s help bring six million Filipinos sustainably out of poverty. Let’s improve the lives of the Filipino people. Kunin na natin ang biyaya, kunin na natin ang biyaya ng pagbabago,” Soriano stressed.
Participating agencies for the “Biyaya ng Pagbabago” include the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA); Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC); National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC); National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP); National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF); National Food Authority (NFA); National Youth Commission (NYC); Presidential Action Center (PACE); Philippine Commission on Women (PCW); Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA); Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP); and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
The PCOO for its part is tasked to manage the dissemination of information through the government’s various media facilities in print, radio, television, and the internet. ###PCO-Content
