Over 100 indigent residents of Barangay Hacienda here received relief assistance and services during the Duterte Legacy Barangayanihan Caravan on Thursday.

In an interview, Pangasinan Police Provincial Office information officer Maj. Arturo Melchor Jr. said different national government agencies and the local government unit came together to bring the frontline services of the government to the barangay.

“We wanted to send a message that despite the pandemic, the government is here for the people,” he said.

The local police catered to the issuance of police clearance and distributed food packs to the beneficiaries.

A sitio in the barangay with over 100 indigenous people was a recipient of the Ilocos Police Regional Office’s Patubig sa Barangay project that provided a deep well in the area while a farmers’ group received a water pump, Melchor said.

He added the other national government agencies such as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority provided free scholarship grants, free haircuts, among others.

The Department of Public Works and Highways also distributed rice and the Department of Agriculture gave seeds and seedlings to the beneficiaries.

The Philippine Statistics Authority conducted a Step 2 registration for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) in the barangay.

The municipality of Bugallon and the Department of Social Welfare and Development provided food packs.

Other agencies involved were the Department of Health, the Department of Interior and Local Government, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the Philippine Information Agency and the Presidential Communications Operations Office.

Raquel Calicdan, one of the beneficiaries, thanked the government agencies for the provisions of goods and services they have received.

Calicdan said it is a huge help since her husband has been suffering from stroke for almost four years now.

“I only sell native rice cakes to earn for our living. I am part of the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program as well. I will plant the seeds and seedlings so we could have something to eat when they have already grown,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Priscilla Espino said they are thankful for this program as well as the many infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration under the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.

“Some of our villages here got easily flooded come heavy rains and typhoons. But because of the infrastructure projects under ‘Build, Build, Build’ such flood mitigation projects especially at the Agno River system, we have not been experiencing flooding in some areas for almost two years now,” she said.

The Duterte Legacy Barangayanihan Caravan was simultaneously held in the different barangays in Bugallon town on Thursday. (PNA)