MANILA, Philippines — Former Cabinet secretaries from the Ramos and Macapagal-Arroyo administrations on Wednesday threw their full support behind the presidential bid of Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso.”
The ex-cabinet secretaries include:
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- Ruben Torres, former Ramos administration executive secretary
- Hernani Braganza, former Arroyo administration agrarian reform secretary
- Ernesto Ordoñez, former trade undersecretary and former agriculture secretary
According to a statement released through the mayor's camp, the three went to the Manila City Hall to personally convey their full support behind Moreno and his running mate, Dr. Willie Ong.
Former Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor joined a Zoom meeting to ask Moreno for his plan for the agriculture sector if he becomes president.
He was joined by Bong Inciong, president of the United Broiler Raisers Association, and Danilo Fausto, national chairman of the Dairy Confederation of the Philippines.
“You are ready to listen, that had an impression on me. You also said before, in your declaration speech, that ‘our’ plan, that is ours, is like the flag of the Philippines that we will weave from fiber and thread that will come from you,” Montemayor said.
Moreno's camp added that Montemayor’s group has sent to Moreno their proposed 12-point agenda for better Philippine agriculture.
The former Cabinet secretaries lauded Moreno’s plans to cut taxes on oil and electricity by half, the establishment of cold storage and post-harvest facilities in all provinces and other vital areas across the country, as well as the creation of jobs by stimulating medium, small and micro enterprises in the countryside by appropriating 30 percent of local government units' windfall from the Mandanas ruling for loans for the sector.
Braganza, also a former press secretary, said this is the first time that he heard an aspiring president that is willing to sacrifice the government coffers for the sake of the ordinary people.
“The good thing I heard is that the government should make sacrifices, rather than go to the government and just be stolen by politicians,” Braganza said in Filipino.