PNoy Cites Gains Of His Administration In Last Cebu Visit

Just after a week since his last visit, President Benigno Aquino III came back again to Cebu and cited the gains of his administration with slightly over two months left before he steps down from office.

Aquino in his speech yesterday afternoon during a political sortie stressed his administration constructed 185,000 classrooms throughout the country in the last six years of which 7,900 classrooms were built in Cebu.

When he was still congressman, the President said classroom construction only reached 8,000 a year or about 48,000 in six years.

In terms of infrastructure projects, the present government poured a total of P34.8 billion in Cebu alone which included the budget for the upgrading of the Mactan Cebu International Airport. The infrastructure spending showed an increase of almost three-fold compared to the amount allocated from 2005 to 2010 by the past administration of P12.6 billion, he said.

The government also received P14.4 billion premium from the GMR-Megawide Corporation, who won the bidding for the new airport passenger terminal under the public-private partnership scheme. The amount could be spent for other infrastructure projects, Aquino said.

His speech also mentioned the continuing upgrading of the Mactan Circumferential Road which is just part of the 18,000 kilometers of pave roads nationwide that have been done or currently being worked on by his administration.

Another infrastructure project in Cebu that have been allocated funding is the construction of a new passenger terminal in Bantayan worth P10 billion under the Procurement and Construction.

Cebu on the other hand, will be the first to implement the Bus Rapid Transit System in the whole country seen to address the worsening traffic as the President bared that in the past two to three years, an average of more than 26 percent car sales were recorded.

According to Aquino, in 2014 to 2015 alone, over 600,000 cars and 1.2 million motorcycles were sold which have aggravated traffic woes in many parts of the country.

The President also cited the significant contribution of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry which this year alone employed 1.3 million Filipinos boosting the Philippine economy of US $25 billion dollars.

In Cebu, the President said the BPO industry used to contribute US$300 million but now has reached over US $900 million dollars.

On Phil Health coverage, Aquino said his administration covered 93 million Filipinos already, which previously was pegged at 47 to 51 million members only.

Aquino mentioned other accomplishments under his leadership but capped the gains by citing the 6.2 percent average growth rate every year, the biggest growth spurt since the 1970s, which he questioned as this was during the martial law period.

The President cannot help but expressed his wish that his ‘Tuwid na Daan’ policy will continue so the gains of his administration would not only be sustained but will be continued.

In his 30-minute speech, he mentioned that this might be his last visit to Cebu with only 64 days left before his term expires. (fcr/PIA7)