Wannabe-president former DND chief and national security adviser Norberto Gonzales. Contributed photo
BALANGA CITY — Presidential aspirant Norberto B. Gonzales who hails from a fishing village in this city on Monday spelled out his main purpose for seeking the highest elective post in the country.
“I am running for president primarily because I love my country,” Gonzales, former national security adviser and secretary of the Department of National Defense answered without hesitation when asked why he joined the race.
With his great love for his country, he said, he wanted to steer the nation towards a “First World Philippines” with a kind of governance that will instill dignity for all and compassion to the disadvantaged.
He wanted the political system changed for he was saddened by the present system that he said does not respond to the needs of the nation.
“I would like to introduce political reform by examining our Constitution and introducing new measures in the hope of delivering a framework that can better address our problems,” Gonzales said.
He would like to give voters an alternative to traditional candidates that he said whose campaigns center on personality politics and spending.
“I would like to deliver a campaign based on platforms. I believe the Filipino voter deserves a serious campaign that does not look down on his capability to discern the right course of action,” the former DND chief said.
Gonzales and his family have built a beautiful religious shrine at the foot of Mount Natib in Barangay Tala in Orani, Bataan known as Santuario Diocesano Dela Sagrada Familia.
In a ravine, some 30 meters deep from the surface of the concrete road, is the grotto of the Virgen Milagrosa Del Rosario de Orani, the miraculous patron saint of the town.
Gonzales and family are donating the shrine to the Diocese of Balanga headed by Bishop Ruperto Santos.
He said he and his family searched for various areas in the country where to build a shrine, only to find the right place right in his home province. Gonzales is from Puerto Rivas, the village in Balanga City known for dried fish (tuyo).
