by Jefferson Antiporda (The Manila Times)
Lakas-Kampi CMD presidential candidate Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro has so much confidence in the youth of today, which would not only help pick the country’s next rightful leader but also the key in solving the issues of poverty and peace perennially hounding Mindanao. “[Mindanao] students will be leaders in their own right, leaders of industry and of their communities. They will be leading in various fields,” said Teodoro. “They will have the benefit of two things: open articulation and discussion of issues facing Mindanao now and on the ongoing years.”
With the youth as the future torchbearers of Mindanao, Teodoro emphasized the importance of improving the local education system, which is one plank of his platform of government.
“We hope to spread good education in Mindanao because literacy is a big problem here,” said the administration bet. “With good education, the youth will have had the benefit of experience of learning from past mistakes.”
He added that with good education, the youth in Mindanao would want to build up on the agricultural potentials of Mindanao, as well as the mineral, tourism and national government potentials of the said region.
Ever-growing support of the youth sector will also be the key to Teodoro’s victory in the upcoming May elections and this was felt during the recent survey conducted by an independent survey firm that placed the former defense chief to the No. 2 slot.
The Campaigns & Image Group, which conducted its latest survey in partnership with the Parish Pastoral
Council for Responsible Voting, noted that Teodoro’s campaign relies heavily on “a large network of volunteers . . . in colleges and universities that by far put him well-entrenched in the psyche of voters across the 18 to 28 and 29 to 39 age brackets.”
It also stated that Teodoro’s ratings took off from single-digit levels in December 2009 to 24 percent in March because of “the political machinery of the administration party and [his efforts of] touching base with local government politicians seeking re-election into various offices.”
The administration party bet’s ratings, according to the research firm, is expected to further surge when the campaign period for local bets kick off on March 27, which is the time when the ruling party’s machinery that reaches down to the grassroots would start to work full blast in his favor.
The poll was done three weeks after the start of the official campaign period for national posts in the May 10 elections.
Power crisis
Meanwhile, in order to cushion the impact of the El Niño particularly to the affected farmers, Teodoro proposed that displaced farmers should be employed by the government as “temps” in state-funded construction projects.
The administration party bet explained the government must lend a hand in order to keep those farming families affected by the El Niño phenomenon from starving.
“Aid can be rendered in the form of emergency employment in state-funded construction projects where they [farmers] can be utilized in the building of roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects,” he added.
He also pointed out that this early, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Department of Agriculture should conduct a tally to determine exactly on many farming families were affected by El Niño.
The figures gathered by the two government agencies would serve as the baseline for planning the relief efforts, Teodoro said.
Teodoro said that supporting agriculture by rationalizing the government’s agrarian reform program and putting up more efficient farm-to-market infrastructure will help ensure the country’s long term food security.
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