Espiritu: vote for bets who prioritize people’s interest; Floranda urges support for PH transport sector

Senatorial candidate Luke Espiritu on Sunday urged the youth to vote for candidates who will prioritize the public’s interest in the upcoming 2025 midterm elections.

“Ang challenge ngayon para mawala ang pagba-violate ng buong system sa karapatang bumoto at magluklok ng mga leader na sumasalim sa ating interest. Kayong mga kabataan, kayo dapat ang maging pwersa ng isang conscious na pag reject sa mga dynastiya, ng klase na politika na meron sila,” Espiritu told students of the Palawan Polytechnic College Inc.
 
(The challenge now is to remove those who violate the system of our right to vote and proclaim leaders that mirror our interests. The youth should be the force of a conscious rejection of dynasties and the kind of politics they represent.)

Espiritu said those belonging to political dynasties prioritize their own interests, which lesfd to poverty, unjust wages, and displacement of communities.

He added political dynasties have the power and influence to change one’s vote.

“Ang idea dyan (democracy) kung ang tao ay may right to vote, malaya ka. Mae-elect mo ang matitinong tao,” Espiritu said.

(The idea of democracy is that you have the right to vote, you are free. You can elect the right people.)

Meanwhile, senatorial bet Mody Floranda urged the government, particularly the Department of Transportation (DOTr), to create a transportation industry that supports Filipinos.

“Sa ilalim sa modernasyon, hindi natin pinapaunlad ang ating ekonomiya, kung hindi, pinapaunlad natin ang yung mga dayuhan at malalaking mga negosyante na modern na mini bus tulad ng China, Japan at US,” Floranda, who is also the national president of PISTON, said on Facebook Live.

(Under the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP), you are not improving our economy but those instead of foreigners and big companies that make the mini buses such as China, Japan, and the United States.)

“Kung ang layunin ng gobyerno para maayos ang ating public transport, dapat unahin nila gumawa ng sariling industriya at tayo mismo mag create ng sariling public transportation sa ating bansa,” he added.

(If the government’s goal is to fix our public transportation, they should prioritize creating our own industry, and that we should create our own means of public transportation.)

Earlier this month, PISTON had a meeting with Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon to discuss the PTMP.

The program aims to replace traditional jeepneys with vehicles that have at least a Euro 4-compliant engine to lessen pollution and replace units that are no longer deemed roadworthy.

A modern jeepney unit costs over P2 million, an amount that even state-run banks LandBank and Development Bank of the Philippines said was too expensive for PUV drivers and operators.

On March 24, DOTr expressed it is open to some changes in the PTMP.

Dizon said the agency will present a “solution” in two weeks after its talks with more stakeholders.

Espiritu is running under the Partido Lakas ng Masa while Floranda is under the Makabayan coalition.
—Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA Integrated New

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