The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Tuesday, June 22 said that it was able to send a total of 55 families to their respective home provinces under the Philippine government’s "Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-Asa (BP2)" Program so far.

DSWD said that on June 3 and 4, the BP2 program sent off 13 eligible families on their way back to Leyte as part of its latest batch of beneficiaries. The latest number has brought this year’s total number of families sent off by the program to 55.

Meanwhile, the DSWD assured that it will continue to assist eligible returning families in their home provinces under the BP2 Program. Moreover, the agency said that it will continue to support the implementation of the BP2 Program by ensuring the provision of social protection programs that will facilitate balanced regional development.

“BP2 aims to balance and promote regional development by ensuring that relocated families from the National Capital Region (NCR) are given better livelihood opportunities and adequate social services when they return to their home provinces,” DSWD said.

“The returning families will be assisted to start anew in their province through the provision of different interventions or packages that will enable them to have enough resources to thrive during the transition period of their relocation under the BP2 program,” the agency added.

DSWD said that among the interventions that are being provided to beneficiaries include transportation and relocation assistance which ranges from P3,000 to P35,000; transitory family support package of P10,000 to P70,000 to cover for the family’s food and non-food essentials during the transition period; livelihood settlement grants, transitory shelter assistance, and psychosocial support for the family-beneficiaries, among others.

“The families will also be enjoined to participate in the community grants and projects that will be provided and implemented by the BP2 program in their respective communities and provinces to secure their inclusion in the development of their community and improve their access to various resources, services, and opportunities,” DWSD said.

Among these community interventions is the DSWD’s Kapit Bisig Laban Sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS).

“Through Kalahi-CIDSS, community members actively participate to identify and prioritize their community’s problems and allow them to design, implement, and manage solutions to their priority problems,” DSWD said.

This year, DSWD said that the BP2 program intends to send 2,000 families back to their respective home provinces.

Around 834 families are scheduled for send-off in the coming months, DSWD added.

Meanwhile, DSWD said that an additional 811 families have already been assessed as “eligible” by the DSWD BP2 team.

“The send-off schedules for these families are currently being processed by the BP2 program in coordination with the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the respective beneficiaries’ receiving LGUs,” DSWD added.