Marcos skips nuke talk in Bataan

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

CITY OF BALANGA — Presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr. skipped talk about nuclear power in the province which hosts the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), a $2.3-billion facility that was mothballed in 1986 after the ouster of his father, the deceased former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Marcos did not even mention the BNPP when he went on stage at the Bataan People’s Center, even if he had said in earlier sorties that the plant would help cut the country’s electricity rates which are the most expensive in Asia.

Bataan Gov. Albert Garcia does not support Marcos’ rehabilitation of the BNPP and favors its conversion into a data storage facility. The governor is a son of deceased former Gov. Enrique Garcia, who fought to keep the Limay oil refinery, the largest in the country, in the province.

Nonetheless, the governor, along with Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman, joined Marcos on stage and declared that the province, which has over half a million voters, is for the tandem of Marcos and Duterte.

“Bataan is both Marcos and Duterte country,” Roman said. “We don’t need to depend on speculation or surveys. This was proven during the previous election.”

President Rodrigo Duterte and Marcos won in the province in the 2016 elections. Marcos had a lead of about 100,000 over Leni Robredo, who went on to win the vice presidential race.

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