PASAY CITY — A year after assuming office, Vice President Sara Duterte continues to make strides in her commitment to serve the Filipinos.

“To serve our people, to reach them, and bring about meaningful change in their lives is the foundation of our enduring unity,” Duterte said during the Office of the Vice President’s ‘Pasidungog’ 2023 at the Sofitel Manila here.

The Pasidungog is a celebration of collaboration, appreciation, and recognition of the partners who have played a pivotal role in supporting the operations of the OVP.

The event highlights their contributions and acknowledges their significant impact in expanding the scope and enriching the socioeconomic programs of the office.

Social Services

Since Duterte’s assumption of office, the OVP has already established nine satellite offices in Davao, Zamboanga, Cotabato, Tandag, Cebu, Bacolod, Tacloban, Isabela, Dagupan, and Cotabato to cascade down the projects of the central office in Mandaluyong such as the Medical and Burial Assistance Program.

Two Public Assistance Division (PAD) Extension Offices, in Lipa, Batangas and in Tondo, Manila, were also established to offer the same projects of the OVP.

Groundworks for establishing another satellite office in Region 5, have already started in hopes to serve the Bicolanos.

“Through the Satellite Offices and the PAD extension offices, we can immediately, effectively, and efficiently respond to the needs of our people for social services and other available government programs,” Duterte said.

“Filipinos in dire situations in Dagupan or Maguindanao, or Zamboanga do not need to go to the OVP Central Office in Mandaluyong to access medical assistance,” she added.

The Vice President said that for the Medical Assistance alone, a total of 22,970 Filipinos have already been served from June last year to April this year. The aid amounts to P236 Million.

Meanwhile, a total of 6,175 families have been served by the OVP for its Burial Assistance Program, amounting to P30,875,000, to provide relief to families without the financial capacity to bury their dead loved ones.

Special Projects

Acknowledging the importance of livelihood in sustaining a family’s day-to-day needs, the OVP is implementing the Mag Negosyo Ta ‘Day (MTD) project, which helps women and members of the LGBTQI+ by augmenting their daily income, making them economically empowered and independent.

The MTD was one of Duterte’s many flagship projects when she was still mayor of Davao City. The OVP has adopted the project for nationwide implementation.

The first beneficiary of MTD is the Makabagong Ina at Kababaihan tungo sa Asenso, Inc., or MIKA, a women’s group in San Pedro, Laguna that produces paper products from water lily pulp.

“Our vision is to see marginalized sectors and groups right in the middle of robust economic activities in our communities where the incidence of poverty is high — and to open opportunities for others to be financially literate and secure,” Duterte said.

The OVP also established the “Peak Hours Augmentation Bus Service (PHABS) - Libreng Sakay” program in Metro Manila in Luzon, in the cities of Cebu, Lapu-lapu, Mandaue and Bacolod in the Visayas, and Davao City in Mindanao.

Four buses were added in Metro Manila with the opening of a new route — the Quiapo-Commonwealth route to serve the continued public demand for transport services.

Disaster and Relief Operations

Duterte also shared the establishment of the OVP Disaster Operations Center (OVP-DOC).

She highlighted the different relief assistance given to victims of earthquakes, landslides, floods, typhoons, and fire incidence, including the operations in various communities affected by the Occidental Mindoro oil spill following the February 28 sinking of MT Princess Empress that affected the livelihood of residents in the fishing communities.

“We wanted to complement the efforts of LGUs and national government agencies involved in disaster response and ensure that people affected by disasters and calamities were given immediate relief assistance,” Duterte said.

On Children’s Welfare and Value of Education

Duterte, who is also Secretary of Education, recently launched the “PagbaBAGo: A Million Learners and Trees Campaign” which intends to provide students with one million bags containing school supplies and dental kits, plant one million trees for environmental sustainability, and promote family planning among parents.

“The underlying message that we want to instill in the hearts and minds of our learners is the value of education and its power to change lives for the better,” Duterte said.

“We want to raise the awareness of our learners about the importance of protecting the environment in the face of growing concerns over the impact of climate change on our communities,” she added.

During the May 27 launch, some 10,000 PagbaBAGo bags were distributed to schoolchildren through the satellite and extension offices on May 27.

Duterte also cited the PanSarap Program, a supplemental nutrition intervention program to address the incidence of malnutrition among schoolchildren.

She said 1,000 undernourished school learners from Nuro Central Elementary School in Upi, Maguindanao and 733 learners from Tamugan Elementary School in Davao City have already benefitted from the project.

Tha PanSarap feeding program wiil be conducted in 120 days, while monitoring the progress of children’s health.

She also shared the “You Can Be VP” project that aims to “inspire other young Filipinos to reach for the sky, and provide people in the government service and our partners — hope, and strength to do more for our children and their futures.”

Duterte was joined by “Trix,” a Grade 9 student from Dinalupihan, Bataan, during her first foreign official visit to Tokyo, Japan as the President’s Special Envoy to the State Funeral for former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on September 25 to 28 last year.

The Vice President ended her message with a call for continued unity and to empower more Filipinos, especially those whose lives have been chronically cornered by the violence of poverty.

“We are called to protect the gains of our efforts to alleviate our people from poverty — and we are challenged to continue working on sustainable and inclusive development,” Duterte said.

“This is us investing in our children by promoting their welfare and fundamental rights as humans and citizens of our country. This is us investing in the future,” she added.

OVP MEDIA