Vice President Jejomar Binay plans to split the transportation and communications and environment and natural resources departments into multiple agencies if he becomes president. FILE PHOTO
Vice President Jejomar Binay on Friday said he would create separate departments for transportation, information and communications, environment, natural resources, and housing and urban planning should he win the presidency in the May elections.
Binay made the statement in his keynote speech before the ninth National Biennial Convention of the Chinese Filipino Business Club Inc. at Manila Hotel.
Binay said a transportation department would tackle the traffic situation, while a separate information and communications agency would resolve the slow Internet access in the country.
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There would be a department for the environment, said the Vice President, and a separate office for the natural resources which would help mitigate the costs of damage brought about by extreme weather patterns due to climate change.
“’Yung Department of Environment and Natural Resources, bibiyakin ko po ‘yun. Problema na po ang environment kaya kailangan magkaroon na ng isang departamento. May problema rin ng climate change, paano mami-mitigate ang disaster (I will split the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. We have a problem in our environment, which requires a separate department. We also have to look into ways on how to mitigate disasters caused by climate change),” Binay said.
READ: Agenda of the next president: Climate change
He said he would transfer the role over natural resources from the Department of Agriculture to the separate Department on Natural Resources.
“Pinatitignan ko kung dun sa bahagi ng Department of Agriculture (DA) … Ang laki laki ng DA eh. Yung bahagi ng natural resources, ibibigay narin dun sa Department of Natural Resources (I am looking at the part of the Department of Agriculture that deals with natural resources, and transfer this to the separate Department of Natural Resources. The Department of Agriculture is already huge as it is),” Binay said in an ambush interview.
Binay also said he would create a new Department of Housing and Urban Development, saying the construction of houses would boost the economy.
“Nakakatulong sa ekonomiya ang housing. Sa bawat ginagawang bahay, bibili ng materyales. Makakatulong sa ekonomiya (Housing boosts the economy. For every house you make, you buy materials. This will help the economy),” said Binay, who was the housing czar of the Aquino administration before resigning from the Cabinet.
Binay said this new department for housing would come from the merger of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. IDL/RC