A LIBERAL Party (LP) senatorial bet visited Bacolod City Sunday calling "the Ilonggo people" in promoting the kind of government "where corruption is a no-no."
Peace and civil society advocate Yasmin Busran-Lao, the twelfth in the senatorial slate of presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, the lone Moro woman candidate for senator said, she believes that the LP could bring change, which the Filipino people and the country needs today.
"A new government that is people-centered and which is not corrupt," she said.
She opined that because of corruption in government, national development especially in the countryside had been derailed causing ground injustices and social conflicts.
Lao is a founder of Al-Mujadillah Development Foundation (AMDF), the only national Muslim women non-government organization in the country which strongly advocating for the women's rightful cause.
As a Muslim, Lao narrated the sufferings of women in Mindanao as she witnessed how wars affected the women's civil society.
"There were even cases how pregnant women would die in war," which we cannot afford to see more of them die as innocent victims.
Lao cited that the government would have to spend P5 billion to P10 billion for war in Mindanao a year for ammunition. "The war that everybody losses", she said, adding that the government failed to see and address the problem of insurgency already for four decades, especially in Mindanao region.
That's why she would like to help the next administration in solving the conflict in Mindanao, Lao said.
Lao noted that in lieu of the long-running insurgency and the unsuccessful peace negotiation, she would push for a national peace policy "that is holistic and lasting."
She condemned the inconsistencies in government actions like in the case of the MOA-AD (memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain) "where the government only play with the people's aspirations when in the first place the government itself started and presented the idea to the National Peace Panel."
Lao who graduated Magna Cum Laude at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur said, she believes that change is now beginning to happen in Mindanao.
In fact she said that there are several Non-Government Organizations in Mindanao joining them in their cause for change and to reflect the real votes of the people.
She also said the 12-0 (for the administration's senatorial lineup) turn-out in the previous election that happened in some areas in Mindanao, would not happen again in the May 10 elections "because of the craving of the people in Mindanao for change."
Lao challenged the voters, not just to vote for the well-known politicians who come from the wealthy clans, but to stand up in the coming elections to bring change in the country.