Roxas: Tapat na pamumuno ang titiyak sa asenso ng kanayunan
Good governance means more jobs in the countryside
Liberal Party vice-presidential candidate and consistent race frontrunner Senator Mar Roxas today said he and Liberal standard-bearer Senator Noynoy Aquino are committed to improving the rural economy and providing more livelihood opportunities there.
This, as he said that a clean and honest government makes sure that economic growth translates to jobs and incomes of Filipinos, not only in the urban areas but especially in the countryside, where more than 60% poor Filipinos are.
“Tapat at tuwid na pamumuno ang titiyak sa pag-ahon at pag-asenso ng mga Pilipino sa kanayunan. Ito ang titiyak na ang kabuhayan at ang pag-asa ay nasa sarili nating bansa (A clean and honest government will ensure the prosperity of Filipinos in the countryside. Only this could ensure that a decent living),” he said.
“If government is clean, then the farmers will receive unadulterated support to increase their yield. If government is honest, then quality basic infrastructure will be built sans cuts by unscrupulous officials. If government is trustworthy, then local and foreign investors will be enticed to set shop and create jobs here,” he said.
In attaining this, he said, the Aquino-Roxas administration will embark on a corruption-free and transparent program to improve infrastructure in rural areas such as major roads and bridges, ports and farm-to-market roads, and power systems to lessen the costs of doing business and transporting goods.
Roxas also said the Aquino-Roxas government will invest in an Agriculture Renaissance program that secures both food security and the improved harvest and incomes of farmers. “Those who benefit from the public coffers are Thai and Vietnamese farmers due to our dependence on rice imports; and the likes of Joc-Joc Bolante who steal the funds supposedly for Filipino farmers,” he lamented.
“We should provide ample irrigation facilities and other infrastructure, invest more in research and development and in making sure that this is connected to on-farm realities through robust extension services, and reform our institutions and market structures that are biased against farmers,” he stressed.
The former Secretary of trade also said the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) should be prioritized as a key job creation strategy in the rural areas. MSMEs at present provide 70% of jobs.
“For small businesses to grow, affordable credit should be accessible to them, the price of energy and transportation should be lowered, and most especially, officials who harass them for bribes should be punished,” the author of the Magna Carta for MSMEs (Republic Act No. 9501) said.
He also said that the local government-based Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) should be strengthened in order to provide more access to opportunities for jobhunters in the countryside. Roxas authored the PESO law (RA 8759).
