Baguio City, Benguet
13 March 2016

President Benigno S. Aquino III highlighted Baguio’s development in terms of infrastructure, tourism, livelihood programs, and agriculture as he faced several local leaders and the community in the city.

Among the priority projects that President Aquino mentioned were the Php 12.08 billion worth of public works in Baguio like bridges and roads from 2011 up to the present year. These include the Gurel-Bokod-Kabayan-Buguias-Abatan Road, the Baguio Circumferential Road-Eastern Link, the Ballay-Tabio-Tonoman-Bulalacao-Tawangan-Lusod Road, and the Ambangeg Junction National Road.

Likewise, 200 farm-to-market roads were completed in a span of five years, which improved the city’s accessibility to markets and boosted tourism.
In addition, improvements in Benguet province’s agricultural sector increased dramatically over the course of the present administration. The President said that through its flagship project called the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center in La Trinidad, over 20,000 farmers are benefitting from it because it serves as the center of commerce for their products.
President Aquino also reported the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps. This year, 4.4 million households have benefitted from it, compared to the 800,000 beneficiaries on 2010. In Baguio alone, over 15,000 people received assistance from the 4Ps project.
Additionally, the IT-BPM industry in Baguio soared through the Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). In a study conducted by TESDA in Baguio, over 25,000 scholars finished TWSP, where 71.9 percent of its graduates landed a job instantly.

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