TWO SENATORIAL aspirants allied with the Duterte administration have shared their plans to the public when they visited Cagayan de Oro over the weekend.
Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, who graced the fellowship gathering spearheaded by the Padayon Pilipino-Centrsist Democratic Party (Padayon-CDP) coalition with the Provincial Government of Misamis Oriental, said the government will soon go back to the negotiating table to talk peace with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, even as he favors the localized peace negotiations in the provinces.
Go was in Cagayan de Oro City on Satuday, March 2, to meet the local leaders and supporters of the Padayon-CDP at the capitol compound.
The entire Padayon slate of the province and members of the Padayon-CDP ticket in the city were present to support Go's senatorial bid.
“Yung mga mayor and governor alam nila ang kultura at sino yung mga lumad doon. Ako naman ay open tayo at isusulong natin ang localized peace talks (The mayors and governors in local government units know the culture of those natives there. On my part, I am open to push for localized peace talks),” Go said, adding that he does not want Filipinos killing fellow Filipinos.
He said the government has already created a task force for the localized peace talks and that local leaders can already begin talking with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) on their own level to achieve long and lasting peace.
“Pumunta kami sa Agusan del Sur para kunin yung mga ni-release na prisoners of war at nagtiwala kami sa kanila. Kaya hinihikayat ko din sila na magtiwala sa pamahalaan at kay Pangulong Duterte kasi very sincere siya kausap (We went to Agusan del Sur to get the prisoners of war, and we trusted to the rebels. That is why, we are encouraging these rebels to trust in the government and President Duterte because he is sincere when talked to),” Go said.
Go also laid down his plans once he is elected into office which include programs on agriculture, sports, health through the “Malasakit Center,” establishment of the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers, among others.
For his part, Governor Yevgeny Emano welcomes the government's peace efforts to allow local chief executives to launch a localized peace talks.
“Lipay ko nga kung tagaan sa higayon ang localized peace talks kay ako dugay na nagdamgo niini (I am glad that if localized peace talks will be given a chance, because I have been longing for it),” Emano said.
Emano said he would just wait for the parameters and guidelines before they implement the localized peace negotiation. It can be recalled that Emano has asked his father, former Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Vicente “Dongkoy” Emano to lead the localized peace initiative. The governor said the CPP-NPA responded and showed willingness to participate in the localized peace negotiations.
Meanwhile, former Philippine National Police chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said one of his priorities if he wins, is to revive the death penalty for drug traffickers. The death penalty however does not include small time drug dealers, such as users and pushers.
“We will concentrate on drug traffickers kay pirminti man gyud argument sa oppositor ani nga balaod-non, pobre ra daw ang luoy sa death penalty kay walay ikabayad nga abogado, so walay labot ang small time (because the opposition keeps on complaining that only the poor gets to be executed because they don’t have money to pay for lawyers, so we exclude the ‘small time’),” he said.
He added that drug traffickers are not “small time” criminals, and they are the ones who bring illegal drugs to the country, thus his targets for death penalty.
However, Dela Rosa admitted that the administration's drug war affects his campaign, both in a negative and positive way.
He said it affected him negatively with the criticisms on the drug war.
“But ultimately, the positive outweighs the negative, nothing to worry about that,” he added.
He also vowed to support Duterte in his campaign against illegal drugs, and so is Go who also included corruption and other criminality.