Presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (File photo)
MANILA – Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos recently vowed to lead the economy to a much-better position than where it was prior to the pandemic after he was elected in the scheduled May 9 elections.
Marcos said his aim is to fast-track the government system “as soon as the new administration takes over and make it work to ensure immediate economic recovery.”
“Lagi kong sinasabi na ang ambisyon ko ay dalhin ang Pilipinas hindi kung saan tayo nanggaling, yung kalagayan natin bago magkaroon ng pandemya, kundi pasikatin at lalo pang pasiglahin ang ating ekonomya (I always say that my ambition is to take the Philippines not where we came from, our condition before the pandemic, but to make our economy famous and even more vibrant),” he said.
Asked how he would carry out the tedious task of rebuilding the country and making the economy better after a debilitating bout with the pandemic, Marcos said he has a detailed road map centered on job creation that will “fix the system and propel our economy to greater heights.”
“In the next few weeks, dahan-dahan ko ng ipapahayag ang detalyadong plataporma ng UniTeam. Ang priority dyan ay MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), and ating agrikultura, yung health care, infrastructure, kuryente (I will slowly reveal the platform of UniTeam. Our priority is MSMEs, and our agriculture, health care, infrastructure, electricity). That is the way to do it. Ang nakita kong nangyari sa pandemya ay ang kakulangan ng sistema (What I noticed during the pandemic was the lack of system),” he said.
Marcos added that the pandemic “taught us a lot” and the next leaders should be prepared and be able to thwart any adversities that might come along.
“Kaya kailangan natin tiyakin na kapag may dumating uli hindi lang pandemya, kahit na ano, huwag naman sana giyera, pero kailangan nating maging handa. Talagang malaking trabaho ng susunod na administrasyon (So we have to make sure that when pandemic, whatever, I hope not war, we need to be ready. The next administration has a lot of work to do),” he said.
“Walang kaduda-duda yun. Ang unang-unang dapat tugunan ng susunod na administrasyon ay ang magparami ng trabaho (That’s for sure. The focus of the next administration should be how to increase jobs),” he said.
Marcos said if you ask the ordinary Filipino what he is thinking about Covid, the reply would be the loss of jobs and poverty.
“His least worry ay yung sakit. Ang sasabihin magtatrabaho ako kahit may sakit basta may maipakain sa pamilya (is sickness. He would still work despite not be healthy just to feed his family). This will be one of our priorities. Kaya ang tawag ko dyan ay (I called it) jabs to jobs. The next objective is to provide them with jobs,” he said.
Before concluding, Marcos emphasized that he will ensure a strong health care system that will empower the doctors and nurses, who suffered immensely during the onslaught of the pandemic.
“We have to go back to basic dahil nakita naman natin tinamaan tayo ng sakuna marami na sa ating mga systems ang hindi gumana. Kaya kailangan natin tiyakin na kapag may dumating uli hindi lang pandemya handa tayo at ang ating gobyerno na tumugon sa mga hamon (because we saw tragedies hit us and our systems did not work. So we have to make sure that when pandemic strikes again, we are ready and our government can respond),” he said. (PR)
