By J. Jala | 10:19 PM May 09, 2020
Bohol 3rd District Representative Alexie Besas- Tutor filed on Thursday a House bill complementing Executive Order 114 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte institutionalizing the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pagasa Program, which aims to decongest Metro Manila and promote more robust regional development.
In a statement, Tutor said she had filed House Bill 6674 to “directly respond to the urgent need for a Balik Probinsya program for the urban poor, especially those in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.”
“HB 6674 goes into the details of methodically identifying beneficiaries by the Philippine Statistics Authority, registering the urban poor for basic government services, and laying out the broad strokes of creating the public housing communities for the beneficiaries,” she said.
“This bill draws lessons from the first National Migration Survey done in 2018 and the results of which were released last January. This bill is also follow-up legislation to the charter of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development,” she added.
She said the executive order will also boost the chances of the bill to becoming a law as soon as possible.
According to Tutor, the bill addresses the main reasons for the rural-to-urban migration that has “spawned thousands of informal settler neighborhoods and more so in the country’s three main metropolises.”
“The bill lays down the mandate to have ready employment for the beneficiaries, public housing, and the essential components of a functioning, thriving community. Jobs, education, electricity, water, and health services are mandated,” she also said.
According to the lawmaker, for the economic sustainability of the public housing communities, the bill also includes mandates for ecozones and tourism enterprise zones as components of the commercial areas of the communities.
The Balik Probinsya program is a “medium-term solution” to the urban congestion and population density of Manila, Cebu, and Davao, she noted.
She said she is hoping that by 2022, the first Balik Probinsya public housing communities would have its first batches of residents settled in.
The Senate on Monday adopted a resolution sponsored by Duterte’s long-time aide-turned-Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, urging the executive department to formulate and implement a “Balik Probinsya” program.
Go reintroduced the program in a bid to decongest Metro Manila, which he said was a “long-term solution” to current problems that have affected the country’s ability to address the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Local government officials, however, raised concerns over the implementation of the program, saying it will not be easy amid the health crisis. Several of them stressed that providing jobs and housing will be key to enticing the public in returning to the provinces.
To recall, a Balik Probinsya program – under the National Convergence Initiatives for Sustainable Rural Development – was also implemented during the administration of former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to support urban poor and provide more opportunities to uplift their standards of living. with a report from Inquirer
