LEGAZPI CITY, Aug. 4 (PNA) — Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda said he went for Mar Roxas, who was anointed by President Benigno S. Aquino III as Liberal Party’s candidate for president in the 2016 election, because he personally knew that the latter stands for something — clean government.
According to Salceda, Roxas’ commitment has been tested by a rent-seeking political economy and that he has clearly and consistently demonstrated this commitment since he entered public service in 1994 when he replaced his brother.
“After Chavit’s expose, he was first to resign from Erap’s cabinet. After the Garci tapes exploded on May 6, he led the Liberal Party in leaving the PGMA coalition and two months later LP led the Hyatt 10 on July 8,” Salceda said.
During the Cancun World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, Roxas led the Philippine delegation in walking out when he fought for a better deal for developing countries. especially in TRIPS, specifically, among others, patent relief for medicines which would allow cheaper access to intellectual property, particularly during outbreaks and health crisis.
TRIP refers to Trade-Related Intellectual Property Agreement.
Industrial countries hold 97 percent of patents worldwide, and more than 80 percent of patents in developing countries — yet more than half of the world’s most frequently prescribed drugs are derived from plants or synthetic copies of plant chemicals.
“We can revisit his major policy positions in Congress, in the Department of Trade and Industry, in the Senate and as member of PNoy’s cabinet. What stands out immediately is how he prohibited the family-owned Araneta complex from riding on the property boom that resulted from the rapid Business Process Outsourcing growth which he fathered and nurtured,” Salceda said.
With respect to vested interests, he said, first, there are countervailing forces from WTO, Asian Economic Cooperation and even Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation moving towards a common market that would ensure domestic markets become more contestable that would compel these big business groups in behaving reasonably competitive.
Second, the Albay governor added, the Aquino administration has enacted the Fair Competition Law and amendments to Cabotage Law that have been pending in Congress since 1987.
“Certainly, the primordial challenge remains in making the economy more socially expansive and I believe that among the candidates, only Mar has built from 22 years in national policy domain (certainly the most directly exposed among the presidential aspirants) the intellectual handle, the political skills and the market savvy in engineering and restructuring a more egalitarian society in the next six years,” he said.
Salceda noted that Roxas has the heart for the ordinary Filipino families and has the brains in creating a broad middle class by empowering the lower income classes. (PNA)