The government’s newly launched “Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa” (Back to the Province, New Hope) program has been suspended so that authorities can focus on helping repatriated Filipino migrant workers and stranded people return to their hometowns, National Housing Authority General Manager Marcelino Escalada said on Thursday. The operation is different from Balik Probinsya, a long-term program to help nonnatives of Metro Manila return to their provinces and stay there permanently. Whereas the Balik Probinsya [beneficiaries] have their own homes, whether rented or owned houses, in Metro Manila,” he said in the televised briefing. The Balik Probinsya program will resume when the number of stranded people is reduced, and this is likely to happen when the government relaxes quarantine restrictions and allows more flights, buses and other forms of public transportation to operate, he said. Balik Probinsya has so far sent 112 people home to Leyte province.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer June 11, 2020 21:45 UTC