UNA senatorial candidate JV Ejercito Estrada during his recent visit to Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 3, 2013) –UNA senatorial candidate JV Ejercito Estrada visited Zamboanga City, and was welcomed by huge crowd of supporters and fans, as part of his campaign sorties in the southern Philippines.
Ejercito Estrada also met with students and faculty members of the state-owned Western Mindanao State University led by Dr. Milabel Ho during the launching of the Ako YON (Ako Youth of the Nation) movement.
He told students and their leaders of his plans and programs for the youth and the forthcoming increase in government subsidy in state-owned schools by as much as 40%.
The San Juan City lawmaker, who is the son of former President Joseph Estrada, was overwhelmed by the warm welcome he received from students, who, in groups, spent time with Ejercito Estrada posing for photographs inside the university campus.
While in Zamboanga City, Ejercito Estrada was also interviewed on TV 11’s No Limit by host Ronnie Lledo where he enumerated his platform of government and plans for Mindanao if gets elected in the mind-term polls in May.
He said among his priority program is to legislate proper resource allocation for Mindanao according to potential gains and development goals and to strengthen and augment legislation that encourage investors and industrial growth, especially in sectors that are fitted to Filipino skills and aptitude.
Ejercito Estrada expressed alarm over the worsening power situation in the South.
“This is alarming, if the situation continues, the power crisis continues, this will definitely affect the economy of the whole of Mindanao. Definitely business will shy away and even some of the business establishments will probably close down and we will have a big problem there because we will lose jobs and we will lose potential jobs as well. We have to improve the power situation in Mindanao by rehabilitating our Agus-Pulangi (hydropower plants) facility,” he said.
He said there was a P2 billion funding in 2010 for the rehabilitation of the hydro-power plants, but this was not carried out for a still unknown reason. He said the Department of Energy and the National Power Corporation should look into the critical power situation in Mindanao.
Ejercito Estrada also paid a courtesy call to Mayor Celso Lobregat and the local UNA party members led by Crisanto dela Cruz and lawyer and councilman Rommel Agan, and had a dinner at the Lantaka hotel with the delegation from the Junior Chamber International and press people.
He motored around Zamboanga in a convoy of vehicles and was interrupted several times on the road because of a large number of followers and supporters that blockaded his path to be able to shake hands and take pictures beside his pick-up truck.
“I cannot express how happy I am with all these warm reception and show of support by the Zamboanguenos and everybody we met along the way. Zamboanga and Mindanao and Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu will always be in my heart and we thank them all for their support to me, to us our family,” Ejercito Estrada said.
Ejercito Estrada belongs to the political party of Vice President Jejomar Binay. (Mindanao Examiner)
20