The Office of the Vice President (OVP) has already processed over P63 million worth of medical and burial assistance since Vice President Sara Duterte assumed office on July 1, her spokesman said.
In a press conference, Vice Presidential Spokesman Reynold Munsayac said the OVP has processed P63,048,273.75 in medical and burial aid, as of August 19.
A total of P57,928,273.75 and P5,120,000.00 have been processed for medical aid and burial assistance, respectively, with a total of 4,955 recipients served in all seven OVP satellite offices and the OVP main office.
In addition, Munsayac said Duterte visited Limasawa Island in Southern Leyte on August 10 to lead the distribution of pagbaBAGo bags containing school supplies and hygiene kits to students and parents.
The pagbaBAGo bags, according to Munsayac, were among Duterte’s initiative projects when she was still mayor of Davao City.
“Sinusubukan po nating ipagpatuloy ngayon sa pamamagitan ng ating mga private partners (We're trying to continue this program today with the help of our private partners),” he said.
He added that the OVP is considering expanding the program when resources become available.
“Hangga’t meron po tayong resources para itulong at i-distribute lalo na doon sa mga area na kailangan na kailangan talaga ng school supplies at hygiene kits ay i-e-expand po natin ang operation ng program na ito (As long as we have the resources to distribute to areas that badly need them, we will expand the operation of this program),” Munsayac said.
Munsayac added that the Peak Hours Augmentation Bus Service (PHABS) - Libreng Sakay has already recorded a total of 17,458 passengers who have availed of the free service since it started on August 3.
He said the two buses intended for the National Capital Region (NCR) have the most number of people served to ply the EDSA carousel route.
“Tuloy-tuloy pa rin ho ito, at sinisigurado naming marami pang pasahero ang mapagsisilbihan nito sa mga susunod na linggo,” Munsayac said.