Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso. Contributed photo
Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro – Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso on Monday said the national government must provide the people in far-flung areas of the country with more job opportunities and easy access to other minimum basic necessities in order to stop the decades-old insurgency.
“Yung insurgency, it boils down to hanapbuhay. Kung walang hanapbuhay yung tao, naitutulak siya a pader. Katulad sa isang highly-urbanized city, Manila for that matter, kapag gutom ang tao, ang tendency ay mamerhuwisyo ng kapwa niya,” the Aksyon Demokratiko presidential candidate told reporters in an ambush interview.
The Philippine communist insurgency is the longest-running armed rebellion in the world. It started with the re-establishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on December 26, 1968, and the founding of its military arm, the New People’s Army (NPA), on March 29, 1969.
Efforts to put an end to the communist rebellion through peace negotiations have been tried by different administrations after the fall of the Marcos regime in 1986 but all attempts to forge a just and lasting peace have failed so far.
“Tingin ko basta may hanapbuhay ang tao, may access to education, better health care, nobody in his right mind will go against the government. I think that’s the way to do it, to give opportunity sa ating mga kababayan, lalo na sa far-fliung areas, kasi yun ang madaling makumbinse,” said Moreno.
Providing for the minimum basic needs that include job opportunities, mass housing, and free health program are included in the Bilis Kilos 10-Point Agenda for Governance under an Isko Moreno presidency.
“What matters most to me, if given the chance, in the coming months is to create more business. With business, we can create more jobs. With jobs, mapapanatag ang buhay ng tao,” said Moreno.
If elected president, Moreno also vowed to cut taxes on oil and electricity by 50 percent and reinvigorate micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to provide more business opportunities.
The tax measures would attract more foreign investors, including independent power producers, bring in more jobs, and cut the cost of production in agriculture.
Moreno’s infrastructure program is also focused on building more public schools, more public hospitals, more public housing, and more job opportunities in the countryside.
“That’s why the best way to do it. Bigyan mo ng kapanatagan ang tao na makapag-hanapbuhay siya, may kuryente syang hindi panaka-naka, mura ang bilihin, nagtatanim sila kasi mura ang pagtatanim, yung high value crop luma-landing sa tamang kliyente, baka sa abroad pa, and I think nobody in his right mind will go the mountains and fight the government,” Moreno explained.
Moreno, his running mate Dr. Willie Ong and Aksyon Demokratiko senatorial slate Dr. Carl Balita, Samira Gutoc and Jopet Sison are in Oriental Mindoro as part of their “Listening Tour” that brought them to various provinces including Batangas, Tarlac, Pampanga, Nueva Vizcaya, Cebu, Bataan and Zambales.
Earlier, Moreno visited the Sto. Niño Cathedral in Barangay Suqui here in Calapan City. The 47-year-old mayor is a devotee of the Sto. Niño, which is also the patron of Tondo, Manila, where he was born and grew up.