MANILA, Philippines - Despite a big cut in its budget for social services in 2014, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) was able to give assistance to thousands of indigent patients and victims of natural calamities last year.
The OVP said yesterday a total of 66,951 patients were served medical missions across 21 provinces and a total of 133,346 relief packages were distributed to families affected by natural disasters.
The OVP’s 2014 year-end report showed that 6,044 indigent Filipinos received medical assistance, including dialysis, hospital bills, chemotherapy sessions, medicine, surgery and other procedures, implants and hearing aids.
The relief goods were distributed to families affected by fires, flash floods and abnormal activities of Mayon Volcano in Albay.
The OVP also extended educational support to 9,700 students in public elementary schools nationwide in 2014.
Most of the beneficiaries were indigenous people who received bags, notebooks, pencils and other school supplies.
The OVP also held simultaneous free medical and dental checkups for families displaced by last year’s siege of Zamboanga City. The OVP was able to serve 594 beneficiaries in Barangay Alicia, 596 in Buug, 664 in Diplahan, 900 in Imelda, 715 in Kabasalan, 447 in Mabuhay, 716 in Malangas, 417 in Naga, 661 in Olutanga, 267 in Payao and 379 in Talusan.
Vice President Jejomar Binay said the OVP continued to deliver basic services to needy Filipinos, although the removal of the social services fund had reduced its budget.
“Even if the agency’s budget was cut, we still strived to find ways to help and serve our countrymen,” he said in Filipino.
Binay has decided to forgo the P200-million social services fund in his budget, which some lawmakers have described as his pork barrel.