By Johnny C. Nunes
LEGAZPI CITY, Aug. 8 (PNA) — Albay Gov. Joy Salceda has dropped his political plans in 2016 to work “full time” for the national campaign of administration Presidential candidate Interior and Local Government Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, the Liberal Party standard bearer.
Salceda, whose term ends next year, said Roxas tapped him personally and he had accepted the invitation to work on the Presidential campaign and help see “Mar through victory”. The governor was supposed to run for Albay second congressional seat, a fight he will handily win.
The governor said he favored Roxas over all other wannabes because he believes “Mar has the intellectual handle to stir the country to a socially expansive economy, broaden the middle class and empower the lower income classes, which is a primordial challenge to the next President.”
Before he served as Albay governor, Salceda was congressman for three terms representing his province’s third district. He said another shot at the congressional seat, this time, seems to be a limited task for him.
Salceda is a multi-awarded politician in local government administration, most specially in the field of disaster risk reduction, which is deemed a foremost requirement of the next administration.
Under RA10121, DILG is the lead agency for disaster preparedness, with the Department of Social Welfare and Development as relief assistance response and the National Economic Development Authority (NED) as lead agency for rehabilitation.
Albay’s outstanding DRR program has reaped three consecutive “best province” recognition from 2009 to 2011 under the Gawad Kalasag Awards, and a Hall of Fame niche in the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
“Well, for me, it is better than yielding to suggestions to run for a national office. It’s a vicarious way of almost running nationally,” Salceda said when asked, adding that a Roxas’ victory is certain, given LP’s strong and well organized machinery and its present commitment to clean government.
Salceda said the primordial challenge for the next presidency remains making the economy more socially expansive, by creating a robust and broad middle class, and reduce the vulnerable poor from 11.4 million diasadvataged families at present (4.2 million poor + 7.2 million near-poor), down to 5.7 million.
Salceda said Roxas also stood for clean government, which is crucial in attaining vital economic changes.
“Roxas commitment to clean government has been tested by a rent-seeking political economy and he has clearly and consistently demonstrated this commitment since he entered public service in 1994 when he replaced his brother,” Salceda said.
A known economist who worked as adviser to past Philippine presidents, Salceda said he believed that presently, only Roxas had the experience — with 22 years in national policy domain, certainly the most directly exposed amongst the presidential aspirants — and the intellectual handle and political skills to stir the economy towards the desired direction.
The next President “should work hard to lift the Philippines from its 127th rank in GDP per capita to — at least — rank 99th; and from rank 113 in Human Development Index to rank 90; that way the country becomes more competitive,” Salceda said. (PNA)