House Speaker Martin Romualdez addresses the crowd in Tawi-Tawi (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi--The House of Representatives pulled all the stops for the conduct of the first ever Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), particularly in this province.

For one thing, the BPSF here Thursday, May 23 was attended by at least 95 House members, the highest ever recorded in the ongoing service caravan.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a key organizer of the two-day event, highlighted the presence of President Marcos. The Chief Executive, busy as he is, doesn't get to attend every BPSF.

“Natutuwa kami at naabot ng pamahalaan ni Pangulong Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. ang lalawigan ng Tawi-Tawi dito sa BARMM. Wala pong mahirap puntahan kung tayo ay nagkakaisa, maging Mindanao man ito o isla sa BARMM,” said Romualdez, leader of the 300-plus strong House of Representatives.

(We're happy that the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. has reached the province of Tawi-Tawi here in BARMM. Nothing is hard to reach if we are united, be it Mindanao or an island in BARMM.)

“Mahal po ng ating Pangulo ang Mindanao, kaya naman sunod-sunod ang pagpunta ng BPSF dito. Pang-pito na ito sa mga lugar na napuntahan natin sa Mindanao, at meron pa tayong nakalinya sa Davao del Norte sa mga susunod na araw,” Romualdez added.

(Our President loves Mindanao, that's why the BPSF has made sucessive visits here. This is the seventh province that we've visited in Mindanao, and we have another event lined up for Davao del Norte in the coming days.)

Romualdez, arguably Marcos' top ally in the legislature, led the BPSF opening at the Department of Education (DepEd) Culture and Sports Complex in this municipality.

It served as the seventh such event in the whole of Mindanao and the 18th installment of the all-encompassing service caravan overall in the country.

On top of this show of force by Marcos and the congressmen is of course the showcase of government aid and benefits that the BPSF is known for.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

For the two-day event, a total of 135,000 beneficiaries in Tawi-Tawi will have received a combined P700 million in government services and financial aid. There are 40 participating national government agencies.

Of the P700 million worth of benefits, P319 million is in the form of cash payouts through the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (,AICS).

Other city-wide activities include various scholarship programs of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), These covered livelihood assistance for various sectors of pre-identified eligible clients across the province.

On Thursday afternoon, Romualdez, also known as “Mr. Rice", was also scheduled to distribute a total of 222,100 kilograms of rice to identified BPSF beneficiaries.