BP2 opens door for couple; returns home to Albay

MANILA – The prevailing challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic prompted a couple to return home to their province, after six years of trying their luck in Metro Manila.

Couple Elisa Barado, 36, and Lourd Anthony Ungayo, 42, once again proved the common saying that if “one door closes, another opens”.

The couple, along with their four kids were among the latest beneficiaries of the government’s “Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-Asa (BP2)” Program, who had an opportunity to go back home to their province for a fresh start.

Barado said they left their home in the mountain area of Albay province to find a better chance in Metro Manila. The couple sends their children to Metro schools, hoping that they could get a better education. They ended up residing in a densely populated community in Quezon City.

The couple had a fresh coconut (buko) business on a buy and sell entrepreneurship method, which made good at the start.

Barado, who took on other jobs in several establishments, said their shared income was actually enough to pay for their house rental fees, utilities, school fees of their children, and daily expenses for food, not until the pandemic struck.

“Medyo okay naman po. Parehas naman kami nagtatrabaho. Yun nga lang noong nagkapandemya, sabay kami nawalan ng trabaho. Sabi ko sobrang hirap nito, bumalik na lang tayo ng probinsya (It’s quite okay. We both have work. But when the pandemic hit, we both lost our jobs. I said ‘this is so hard, let’s go back to the province’),” Barado said.

Hardly hit by the health crisis, he said their family decided to avail of the BP2.

Once home in Albay, they want to stay there for good. Unlike in Manila, Elisa said they have their own house in the province, hence, won’t have to pay for rent anymore.

She added that they won’t have to worry about their daily food expenses because they can do vegetable crop gardening in the wide backyard.

“Kumbaga wala na po masyadong gastusin, libre na lahat doon kahit pagkain hindi, katulad dito kada galaw mo may bayad (It seems like you don’t have to spend too much in the province, everything is free there, unlike here you have to pay for everything),” she said.

She added: “Dito hindi ka naman makapagtanim dahil puro bahay ang nakikita mo, dikit-dikit at masikip pa (You can’t do gardening here because all you can see are houses that are close together and crowded too).”

Ungayo said once they get home, he will immediately start up his own coconut farm and will continue his “buko” business, while her wife wants to start a piggery business.

Barado said the BP2 program is, so far, one of the most beneficial government programs in the country.  She said it offers better opportunities for people like them, in their hometown “that they can call their own.”

“Ang laki po ng pasasalamat namin dahil sa programa at pati na rin sa ibang pang tulong na matatanggap namin (We are very grateful for the program including the other assistance that we will receiving),” she said.

Some seven families composed of 31 individuals departed at the BP2 Depot on Agham Road in Quezon City on Tuesday night.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 114 on May 6, 2020, institutionalizing the BP2 Program that aims to address Metro Manila’s congested areas by encouraging people, especially informal settlers, to return to their home provinces.