Cong. Tet’s legacy really works!

“You may have left us, but your legacy has immortalized you in the heart of every Bataeño”. This is the closing statement this writer used in her article, in paying tribute to the late “Cong. Tet”, when he passed away June 13 last year.

Entering its 12^th year of implementation, the late Cong. Tet initiated the Tulong Mula sa Pamahalaan program in 2005 wherein gift packs containing rice, canned goods, and other food items were distributed to the less privileged sectors of the society. The distribution coincides during the holiday season.

In 2015, the gift packs leveled up to noche buena packages placed in green eco-bags. Last December, much to the delight of the recipients, the presentable green ecobag was replaced by a reusable and more presentable transparent plastic canister, still containing food items for noche buena.

Spearheaded by the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO), distribution starts as early as November and will end by February. In her desire to maximize the resources of the government, as well as to ensure efficiency and transparency, Mrs. Marilyn Tigas, PSWDO head devised a system. Recipients, identified way ahead of time by the barangay leaders with the help of her staff and day care workers, are given stubs which they surrender in exchange for the gift packs.

Following this scheme, “naiiwasan ang doble-doble, walang nauubusan at talagang ang target recipient ang nakakatanggap”, remarked one of the recipients during the distribution among teachers held at the People’s Center.

Tigas added that for this year, the provincial government earmarked 57M pesos for this program, benefitting not less than 120,000 people from almost all sectors of the society such as the fisherfolks, farmers, vendors, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, Kabalikat members, barangay officials, public school teachers, retired teachers, municipal government employees, solo parents, 4Ps beneficiaries, tricycle drivers (Balanga City), provincial government employees, evangelical church workers, and employees of the Bataan General Hospital.

Since the distribution coincides with the holiday season, Mrs. Tigas suggested to Governor Abet Garcia that the families of the inmates at the Bataan District Jail be included as well as the patients at the Bataan General Hospital, which the good governor readily approved.

Yesterday, January 25, no less than Mrs. Vicky Garcia, the widow of the proponent of this laudable program personally handed the gift packs to the families of the 589 patients confined at the BGH.

Indeed, Cong. Tet may have left us, but his legacy really works!