Over 200 Banago residents received medical, burial, and education assistance from the Department of Interior and the Local Government (DILG), through the agency’s ELCAC-Local Government Support Fund-Support to Barangay Development Program at the Banago Elementary School Gym on November 4.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and Banago Punong Barangay Ricky Mijares led the third batch of payout to the beneficiaries.
“Congratulations to Barangay Banago because you are the only one in 61 barangays all over Bacolod who will receive this. We give credit to PB Mijares and officials. They know that you are deserving of this,” Leonardia said.
The Mayor also urged the recipients to get inoculated and help educate their families about COVID-19 as their contribution to the City Government’s campaign against the pandemic.
The same message was echoed by Leonardia during the first payout at the Banago Elementary School I Gym last September 22. 111 residents received medical and burial assistance of the same program.
Familiaran on the other hand pointed that although the assistance is small, it will help them with their expenses.
“It’s good that our government is providing assistance. How I wish that it could be bigger. I hope it can help in your daily needs,” said the Vice Mayor.
“Our Mayor is always here for Barangay Banago,” said Mijares, adding that it was through the efforts of Mayor Leonardia that the DILG was able to extend the ELCAC worth P20,000,00.00 to the beneficiaries.
College students received P10,000, Senior High School beneficiaries got P6,000 and P3,000 were given to Junior High students as education assistance.
21-year-old Andrea Gatilago, who is one of the recipients of the P10,000 educational assistance, said that she is “one of the lucky persons to avail of this program.”
The third year TUP-Visayas student and Barangay scholar added that she will use the amount for their projects and online classes.
“I really like it because there are a lot of issues that “ang kwarta gina bulsa lng sa mga politika” but now we really feel the benefits of this program,” said Gatilago.
“It’s a great project especially for us College students because we have no budget for the laptop. This assistance helped us a lot because we can use this to buy laptop, cellphone, or load,” added Romelette Coquilla, a 20-year-old third year student of CHMSC-Talisay campus.
“We didn’t expect this but thru PB Ricky Mijares, we were able to avail this. This is really transparent and I think it’s a good idea so the people can also see this. This is really big; the burial and medical assistance is also a big help for us,” Coquilla stressed.
