SENATOR Grace Poe vowed Saturday to give 30 percent of national budget to Mindanao and create more economic opportunities in the region if she is elected president in the upcoming national elections.
"Mindanao is my priority. Just like any parent prioritizing a child who has more needs, I believe that the government needs to invest more in Mindanao and give it more development projects. Growth must be inclusive and must leave no one behind," Poe said in a statement.
Poe said the bigger chunk of national budget she, along with her running-mate Senator Francis Escudero, would allocate was aimed to develop Mindanao, particularly its infrastructure, so it can catch up with the country's economic momentum and build on its potential as a tourist destination.
She said peace and development in Mindanao would be her priority, noting the highest poverty incidence in the region.
Based on the Social Weather Stations survey, Poe said hunger incidence in Mindanao was at 13 percent for the fourth quarter of 2015, with some 658,000 families experiencing hunger.
Poe noted that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) remained the poorest among all regions, with nearly half of its population living below the poverty threshold, according to 2012 survey by the National Statistical Coordination Board.
The survey also listed 10 Mindanao provinces among the 16 poorest provinces in the country, with Lanao del Sur having a poverty incidence of 67.3 percent.
Also included in the bottom poor cluster are Maguindanao, Zamboanga del Norte, Saranggani, North Cotabato, Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Camiguin, Sultan Kudarat, and Sulu.
"Most of the lowest-ranked provinces in Mindanao are conflict-ridden,” Poe said.
"This is why achieving genuine peace is important, because progress and development could not exist where there is conflict. There must be a consultation wherein all indigenous and armed groups are represented."
Poe said Mindanao's vast potentials for agriculture and agri-business must be explored and development projects must be laid out on such industries to create more jobs in the region.
"Let us give Mindanao what is due them. It’s been neglected for so long. People in Mindanao deserve the same support and attention that people in Metro Manila and Luzon are getting, if not even more," she said. (Sunnex)