The Manila Times

NE city vows support for ‘Kuya Bong’

CELSO M. CAJUCOM

GAPAN City, Nueva Ecija: Top local officials of Nueva Ecija have pledged full support for Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, citing their “adopted son” for being a “reliable servant of the people” in the province.

Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali in his speech said of the senator, popularly called “Mr. Malasakit” here, “Kuya (Big Brother) Bong, even when he was not yet a senator, was already loved by the people of Nueva Ecija.”

The governor’s brother, Vice Gov. Anthony Umali, said Go “always remembered” the province in times of calamities.

During a visit to this town early this week, around 1,663 identified indigent beneficiaries of the fourth district received food and gift packs from the senator in a distribution activity.

The recipients were residents of the Gapan City and the neighboring municipalities of Cabiao and Peñaranda, who were given the assistance at the GP party-list headquarters in a gymnasium in Barangay Pambuan in the city on Monday, May 22, 2P23.

The event was initiated by Rep. Jose Gay Padiernos of the GP party-list.

The beneficiaries also received Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) from the GP party-list’s welfare program through the Department of Social welfare and Development.

The senator was assisted by Cabiao Mayor Ramil Rivera, Mayor Armie Alvarez of the Science City of Muñoz, Gapan City Mayor Emery Joy Pascual, Gapan City Vice Mayor Inocencio Bautista and city councilors in handing out the food and gift packages and the AICS.

Pascual thanked Go, saying, “We will support you for all the good you have been trying to do for us.”

The senator, apparently at a loss for words, only said, “Mahal na mahal ko po kayong lahat.”

Rivera, in an interview with The Manila Times, said Go being referred to as Mr. Malasakit stemmed from his pet project — a Malasakit Center in every province across the country.

The project, which aims to make hospitalization for especially poor Filipinos as painless on their pocket as much as possible, is a brainchild of “Kuya Bong.”

It has seen many provinces boasting of more than one Malasakit Center.

Regions

en-ph

2023-05-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281698324117878

The Manila Times