Gov. Albert Garcia joins Sen. Ping Lacson, Senate Pres. Tito Sotto and senatoriable Dra. Minguita Padilla during their sortie at The Bunker. Photo by Ernie Esconde
BALANGA CITY — Presidentiable Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and his running mate, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto, visited this Bataan city as part of their campaign sortie on Palm Sunday.
Joining the campaign trail was senatorial bet Dra. Minguita Padilla,
They were first briefed by Gov. Albert Garcia about the Metro Bataan Development Authority that a bill about its national funding is being discussed in the Senate before paying respect to Bishop Ruperto Santos at the Saint Joseph Cathedral.
At The Bunker, seat of the provincial government, Lacson’s team was met and welcomed by 2nd District Rep. Jose Enrique Garcia III, Vice Gov. Cris Garcia and Mayors Charlie Pizarro of Pilar, Jopet Inton of Hermosa and Francis Garcia of Balanga City, other officials and supporters.
Lacson in a short program discussed about his platform on the Budget Reform Advocacy for Village Empowerment (BRAVE) with village representing local government units to benefit the lowest LGU, the barangay.
“Sa aming pag-scrutinize ng national budget, napag-alaman namin na napakalaki ng hindi nagagamit year in, year out, on the average of P328 billion per year from 2010 to 2020 but before that from 2004 or even 2001 mas malaki noon na parang nasa P450-B,” the presidential hopeful said.
“Noong nakita namin na malaki yong unutilized appropriation, napag-isip namin na bakit pinagkakaitan ang mga LGUs na ang budget ay nandiyan lang hindi nagagamit,” he said.
Lacson said there is a big disconnect between the needs and priorities of LGUs and the national budget that is not being closely attended to due to lack of concentration.
“Sa maayos na pagparte-parte, maraming matatapos na proyekto tulad ng infrastructure at livelihood na ang magiging resulta nito ay ang mga kailangan na labor requirement magkakaroon ng job opportunities,” the senator said.
“Ang mga nakapila sa Manila at naghihintay makahanap ng trabaho ay uuwi na dahil mayroon ng trabaho at mapapadali na ma-decongest ang Metro Manila dahil magkakaroon ng job opportunities at mas aasenso ang probinsya,” he added.
Lacson said that the national budget with effective local development plan will benefit not only the national government but more of the LGUs from the provincial government down to the municipal and city governments to the barangay all over the country.
Padilla said their group will fight corruption.
“Naniniwala kami na ang kurapsyon ang pinakamalaking problema ng bayan na siyang nagiging balakid at sagabal sa progress kasi kahit gaano kadaming magagandang mga plano, mga batas, mga proyekto kung hindi nawawala ang kurapsyon ay hindi din tayo aasenso, mawawalan tayo ng tunay na pag-asa,” she said.
“As a doctor ay tututukan ko ang kalusugan, kabataan pero ang pinaka-importante sa aming adbokasiya ay ang food security na kailangan ay may self-sufficient sa pagkain,” she added.
“May giyera sa Ukraine at may posibilidad na magkagiyera sa mundo at kawawa tayo kung wala tayong sariling pagkain. We have to take care of our farmers, we have to go on research and development para gumanda ang mga bigas, ang crop, pangingisda kasi we have to be self- sufficient then there is climate change. Lahat iyan ay nasa programa namin,” Padilla said.
Drugs
Sotto said that the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 that he principally authored has not been properly implemented.
“Nandoon lahat ng paraan kung papaano sasagupain ang problema ng illegal drugs at drug abuse na magkaiba. Ang isa ay illegal drugs na pwedeng labanan by supply reduction strategy pero ang drug abuse ang kailangan ay demand reduction strategy,” the Senate President said.
He said that Bataan is one of the provinces that has its own drug rehabilitation center and follow the law that he authored but others have not.
“Ang kailangan ay pagsunod sa four major concern na enforcement, prosecution, prevention at rehabilitation. Ang gobyerno sa kasalukuyan ay nag-concentrate sa enforcement at ang prosecution ay hindi masyadong maganda sapagka’t nasa 65% ang dismissed pero mas malala sa nakaraang administrasyon na 80%,” Sotto said.
“Kung ako ang magpapatupad niyan ay hindi ako kontento sa prevention and rehabilitation. Dapat ang mga mag-aaral sa Grade 5, 6 at 7 ay mayroong drug abuse resistance education program nationwide para pagtungtong ng 13 years old ay hindi na makakaisip dahil alam na nila na masama ang droga, masisira ang kanilang buhay at mawawasak ang buhay ng pamilya nila,” he said.
The Senate President said that proper implementation of the law is very important: “Ang problema ay hindi inaasikaso, hindi ini-implement ng dapat mag-implement kaya kami ang nagpresinta ni Senator Lacson na subukan kami at hindi mapapahiya kapag kami ang nagpatupad ng mga batas na ito.”
