1Pacman lauded for budget hike, more assistance from Pantawid Pamilya
MANILA, Philippines – Bohol townsfolk sought the continued provision of assistance to the needy under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and thanked the 1Pacman Party-list for the recent increase in budget to reach more needy families for 2025.
In a recent multi-sectoral outreach activity in Tagbilaran City, 1Pacman Party-list first nominee Milka Romero said she continued to receive grateful messages from groups which had benefited from the cash assistance program.
At the same time, she said, they sought out support for the continued funding of the program in the coming budget season.
Romero is chairman of 1Pacman Party-list in charge of its socio-civic and outreach programs carried out by her father, Rep. Mikee Romero, who was entrusted with three consecutive terms.
Rep. Romero was one of the principal authors of Republic Act 11310, the 4Ps Law, a landmark law that has immediate impact on poverty reduction.
Last year, as chairman of the House Committee on Poverty Alleviation, he successfully worked for the increase in 4Ps budget by P7.8 billion, widening its reach to needy families and enabling them to get out of the poverty cycle.
Over nine years, 1Pacman authored and co-sponsored some 144 laws including the high profile Eddie Garcia Law which protects workers in the entertainment and film industries, and the law forming the state-of-the-art Philippine Sports Training Center, now referred to as the National Academy of Sports.
The younger Romero is an active, multi-awarded socio-civic, business and sports leader, who has two professional sports teams under her care.
She co-owns with her sister Mandy the Capital1 Solar Spikers which plays in the Premier Volleyball League, and the newly-formed Capital1 Solar Strikers which is in the roster of women’s teams playing football under the PFF.
Bundled with education, health and nutrition, as well as jobs generation is 1Pacman’s solid advocacy for sports and youth development.
On the sidelines, she cheerily urged townsfolk attending 1Pacman gatherings in Tagbilaran City to remember who were among their first support groups as young people.
“Ang mga kalaro, kasama na rin ang mga ka-eskwela! (Playmates, as well as classmates!),” Romero said as she continued to narrate that team members for neighborhood games and barangay leagues usually become lifetime friends.
Romero, also a former women’s football national team player as well as co-captain for the Ateneo women’s football team, pointed out the value of having positive social interaction among the youth through sports, especially in these times when the young people spend so much time using their cellphones and computers.
“The proper development of sports programs all over the country is a big step toward having active citizens who are not just physically fit but also socially capable and mentally alert,” said Romero.
In Tagbilaran City, the younger Romer addressed multiple sectors – fishing communities and their families, senior citizens, women leaders, young professionals, as well as prison inmates and mapped out the lines intersecting nutrition and food security, education, and job opportunities, with those leading to sports growth and development.
“All these sectors have their particular needs, but the essentials of education, health including food and nutrition, access to livelihood cannot be overlooked,” said the young Romero.
She said these needs have to be addressed to bring the country closer to 1-Pacman’s target of enlivening the conduct of sports nationwide.
“Thus, we are also exerting more effort to reach more women to enable them to have a stronger voice for themselves and families’ benefit,” she said.
At the Tagbilaran City Jail, wedding ceremonies were conducted for women who are Persons Deprived of Liberty and their chosen spouses in a Kasalan ng Bayan program by Mayor Jane Yap.
Romero took up the role of “ninang” or godparent to the couples who decided to legalize their union.
Romero was also a special guest during rites and celebration of the Saulog Festival in honor of Tagbilaran City’s patron saint, St. Joseph the Worker, and in the 460th Blood Compact commemoration last March 16.
She visited Batasan Island in Tubigon town, accompanied by former Tagbilaran Mayor Baba Yap and former Tubigon Mayor Marlon Amita, and listened to the concerns of residents.
