SENATORIAL candidates for the upcoming midterm elections visited the voters of Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental province on Friday, April 5, to convince them that they deserve their votes, also they made another set of promises.
Aspiring senator Imee Marcos is pushing for the release of the coco levy funds to help and aid coconut farmers in the country especially in coconut-producing provinces like Misamis Oriental.
Marcos said there is a need to appeal to President Rodrigo Duterte to release the Coco levy trust funds to help coconut farmers earn bigger income by assisting them with their capital and equipment for the coco sugar, coco oil, coco juice, and among other coconut byproducts.
The senatorial candidate was in Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental for the senatorial campaign caravan of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) led by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
“Kailangan nating i-apela kay President Duterte na i-release na ang coco levy funds kasi sabi niya may objections daw siya sa constitution ng board kasi kulang ang representation ng gobyerno at may utang pa daw ang UCPB at feeling ko naman kaya nang bayaran yan kasi and dami ng pera P107 billion na daw ang nakatambak doon sana ihatag na sa mga farmers ng lubi,” Marcos said.
(We need to appeal to President Duterte that he should release the coco levy funds because he said he has objections in the constitution of the board, because there were enough representation of the government, including a debt from the United Coconut Planters Bank, and I think it can be settled because there is already P107 billion in there, and they should give it already to the coconut farmers.)
Marcos said it is upsetting that 65 percent of all coconut farmers are in Mindanao who are now suffering greatly.
Former Philippine National Police chief Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa said he will push for the restoration of death penalty for drug traffickers once he gets a seat in the Senate in the May elections.
Dela Rosa is convinced that death penalty is among the solutions to put an end to the still unsolved problem on drug trafficking in the country.
But, unlike other lawmakers who wanted to bring back the death sentence for persons convicted of heinous crimes such as murder and rape, Dela Rosa's version will only focus on drug traffickers.
“Walay labot ang mga pushers and users kato lang big time nga gapabaha og shabu sa nasud (small time pushers and users are exempted in the death penalty, only those big-time ones who flooded the country with shabu),” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa said one of the reasons why drug trafficking remains to be one of the perennial problems in the country is because there is no death penalty for drug traffickers.
He said if this will remain unsolved, the country will be swallowed by drug syndicates who can freely bring in dangerous drugs to the country and destroy the lives of millions of Filipinos.
Meanwhile, senatorial aspirant Bong Go said he doubts Duterte will actually suspend the writ of habeas corpus, saying the President respects human rights.
Go however said if critics will really intend to destroy the government, Duterte might possibly do it.
“Maari sigurong posible yun, kung gobyerno na yung pababagsakin didto (Maybe it's possible, if the intention was to destabilize the government),” Go said, in an interview Friday, during the campaign caravan of Hugpong ng Pagbabago in Gingoog City.
Go said he understands that criticisms are part of politics, but urged critics to maintain telling the truth. He said Duterte won't mind criticisms if these are all truth.
Duterte last week threatened to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and arrest all of his critics, whilst declaring a revolutionary war if pushed to a corner.
The Movement Against Tyranny in Northern Mindanao meanwhile condemned the recent rant of the President.
The group said Duterte is “fully capable of committing the worst human rights violations.”
“Duterte is fully capable of committing the worst human rights violations. He has already proven these in the last three years. Despite his deadly convulsions of rage, the emperor has found that there are limits to fear tactics, as the protest movement against tyranny and his betrayal of national interests has grown bigger and more implacable,” it said in a statement.
The group said they also do not believe that Duterte can ever wage “revolutionary” war.
“What he will unleash will be nothing short than treason on behalf of a foreign power and criminal syndicates,” it added.
The group urges Duterte to stop his theatrics and focus instead of defending his family from accusations against wealth from drugs.