Pozorrubio- – -Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. led the distribution of P1,000 amelioration pay for each of the 852 Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) and 120 Day Care Workers (DCWs) from the towns of Pozorrubio, Sison, Laoac, and Binalonan held on December 14 at the Pozorrubio Community Hospital.

The Governor, who was joined by Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Z. Calimlim, Jr., Board Member and Liga ng mga Barangay President Amado “Pogi” I. Espino III and Board Member Danny Uy, hailed the BHWs and the DCWs for their sacrifices and hardships which he said, are worthy of emulation,

Calling the workers as “frontline service providers,” Gov. Espino said the amelioration pay, which used to be in the amount of P500 and was doubled this year, is still not enough to compensate the services rendered by the BHWs and DCWs in their community.

He further noted that the financial grant is just a small way of showing how grateful the provincial government is, considering how much sacrifice each worker renders in the name of community service.

Furthermore, Gov. Espino appealed to all BHWs and DCWs to shy away from politics and to stay focused on helping the people in their community.

Having said this, the Governor poured his sentiments that while the provincial government is doing its best to serve the people of Pangasinan, a certain group continues to destroy the momentum by mixing politics.

“Votes are sacred,” the governor said as he stressed that it should only be given to rightful candidates whose objective is to serve the greater majority specifically the less privileged sector.

Meanwhile, Vice Governor Calimlim thanked the BHWs and DCWs for working hand-in-hand with the provincial government.

It is the goal of the present administration, he said, to provide the needed services to all far-flung areas of the province as he further cited that the objective is being realized through the help of the BHWs and DCWs.

Board Member Pogi, on the other hand, said that the provincial government will continuously provide the best services to the people with the help of all frontline community workers.

The provincial government scheduled the distribution of amelioration pay of the workers all over Pangasinan from December 8 to 16.

As of December 14, some 4,191 barangay workers have already received their amelioration pay.

Pangasinan has more than 13,000 BHWs and DCWs. (Ruby R. Bernardino)