Robredo’s Angat Buhay program helps more than 600,000 families

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Vice President Leni Robredo’s flagship Angat Buhay anti-poverty advocacy program has helped more than half a million families in many cities and towns across the Philippines, according to her office’s year-end report.

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) in a press statement on Monday, Jan 3, 2022 said that as of December 2021, they have provided help to 622,000 Filipino families in 223 cities and municipalities throughout the country.

Help was provided by 372 organizations with P520 million in funding secured mostly from donations, in 6 key advocacy areas, including food security and nutrition, universal healthcare, public education, rural development, housing and resettlement, and youth and women empowerment.

Also included in the OVP’s assistance are disaster relief and rehabilitation as well as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response efforts.

Since 2016, the OVP has provided P146.83 million in private sector donations and P86.25 million in relief assistance to those affected by calamities such as the Typhoon Nina in 2016, Taal Volcano explosion in early 2020, and the most recent Typhoon Odette, to name a few.

COVID-19 initiatives from the OVP include the Swab Cab which has helped test 9,757 people in communities with high transmission rates, the Vaccine Express which has helped local governments to speed up vaccination efforts through additional medical frontliners, and the Bayanihan E-Konsulta platform which has helped ease congestion in hospitals through telemedicine.

The OVP has also funded 35,656 extraction and detection kits to help determine those who are positive for COVID-19.

Economic projects under their COVID response include the Community Mart projects in Pasig and Quezon cities have helped 41 tricycle drivers and 248 vendors, the Sikap.Ph portal which eased job-seeking for displaced workers, and Community Learning Hubs for schoolchildren for better access to education amid the pandemic.

Up to P82.14 million have been mobilized by the OVP for health projects in 124 localities, including in San Remigio town in Cebu province, where they have provided a mental health facility, x-ray machines, and medicines in partnership with Solanaland Foundation and ANCOP Foundation USA.

They also addressed malnutrition with 44 projects worth P39.49 million, including in Lambunao town, where 800 children benefited from a feeding program conducted with the Negrense Volunteers for Change Foundation, Inc.

The OVP was also instrumental in the construction of 81 classrooms and five dormitories worth P122.96 million to help learners, including those who had difficulty traveling to their schools daily.

Marawi City and the Bicol Region benefited from Angat Buhay’s housing programs, with P15.4 million allocated for construction materials for the latter in the BAHAYanihan program for people living in danger zones, while private sector donations had enabled the construction of 72 transitory shelters for the survivors of the 2017 Marawi siege.

A total of P15.39 million worth of livelihood assistance had also been turned over to 156 fisherfolk, farmers, seamstresses, small businessmen, and riders in partnership with 33 accredited civil society organizations.

The OVP had also launched programs for women, including the #RespetoNaman campaign against gender-based violence, and the Babaenihan Talks addressing teenage pregnancies in poor communities.

In the statement, Robredo said that her vision for Angat Buhay mirrors that for her presidential bid in the May 9, 2022 elections.

“We have a vision, that when given the opportunity, this would be the Philippines we strive for, that those left behind are being helps, those who fall down are being carried up, and those who are blessed share their blessings to others,” the vice president said in a statement.

Her term as vice president is slated to end on June 30 of this year.