In line with the tandem’s vow to shift focus from the National Capital Region (NCR) to the provinces, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said that the completion of the Mindanao Railway System will be one of their government’s priorities should they be elected in the 2016 elections.
In a statement on Monday, Cayetano said the completion of the Mindanao Railway System would “make it easier to transfer food commodities from Mindanaoan agricultural areas to places like Cagayan de Oro.”
The senator said that if the national government could fund the construction of the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3), which costs P50-billion worth of taxpayer’s money, it could also do the same for “Mindanao’s long cherished dream of a railway system.”
“Sa pamamagitan ng plataporma naming ito ni Mayor Duterte, haharapin natin ang hamon ng pagbabago, at sisiguruhin na ang bawat mamamayan ay makikinabang sa gobyernong may matapang na solusyon at mabilis na aksyon,” Cayetano said.
(Through our platform, we will face the challenge of change and we will ensure that every citizen will benefit from a government that has a tough resolve and swift action.)
READ: Mindanao railway Duterte priority, says Alan Cayetano
Duterte and Cayetano were in Cagayan de Oro on Sunday, January 10, as part of their nationwide tour dubbed as “”Hamon ng Pagbabago.”
The tandem’s nationwide tour covers major cities, provinces and different sectors across the Philippines.
During their tours, the tandem presents their platform in the form of town hall meetings.
Duterte and Cayetano are running under the platform of phasing out contractualization, doubling the salaries of public school teachers, expanding scholarship grants and providing a living wage to workers, among others.
24/7 war against crime, corruption and drugs
Aside from the Mindanao Railway System, Duterte and Cayetano vowed “to wage war against crime and corruption, especially on illegal drugs, realize an inclusive economy through regional development and attain equality under the law.”
READ: Duterte and I will halve crime rate, vows Cayetano
“In our first year in government, we will mobilize the combined elements of the police and military and declare an all-out war against crime and illegal drugs. This will happen alongside our campaign to cleanse the government of corrupt officials through the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill, lifting the bank secrecy for public officials, and real-time video and audio surveillance for frontline public officials,” Duterte said.
“I will not allow criminals and the corrupt to further abuse and oppress our people,” he added.
Addressing power crisis
Cayetano promised to end the government’s “NCR-centric” approach to economic development.
He said this would be done by “decentralizing power and resources to the regions, which he said is aligned with Mayor Duterte’s push for federalism.”
The senator also called on “the transfer of the Department of Energy (DOE) to Mindanao in order for the government to act decisively on the power crisis plaguing the region.”
Other national departments should also be transferred to the regions, he said.
“The power crisis in Cagayan de Oro remains one of the province’s problems. In fact, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed Mindanao under ‘yellow alert’ status after a series of bombings toppled transmission towers cutting off electricity generated from the Agus 1 and 2 hydro plants from the Mindanao grid,” Cayetano said.
But despite this, he said the DOE has not acted “decisively on the bombings of transmission towers despite the NGCP’s warning that the Mindanao grid could collapse if bombing incidents continue.
“Clearly, what is needed is political will to protect our public utility facilities. This is what Mayor Duterte and I will bring to solve this pestering issue,” he said. CDG
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