SENATOR Miriam Defensor-Santiago said Tuesday her administration will achieve higher economic growth by investing heavily in public infrastructure if she wins the presidency in next year’s elections.
She made the promise even as she slammed the country’s “crumbling” roads, bridges, urban transit systems, airports and seaports.
“We need to build them up at par with, if not better than, our Asean neighbors,” Santiago said during the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s presidential forum at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City.
She said country’s poor public infrastructure was the major constraint to economic development. The government should set aside at least 5 percent of its resources to build public infrastructure to enable the Philippines to catch up with its Asean neighbors and to sustain strong growth.
She said that, for maximum impact, these projects should be done simultaneously, and that P819 billion should be allocated to those projects in 2017 and P1.3 trillion in 2022.
“We cannot build modern infrastructure on the basis of promises alone,” Santiago said.
“It will have to be financed through better tax administration, tax policy reform and government borrowings.”
Santiago questioned her critics for being nasty about her health.
To prove that she was in good health, Santiago stood up from her chair on the stage and asked: “Can’t you see that I can stand straight and look at you in the eye? Why are you so nasty? What kind of government will we grow up into if this is your attitude?”
Without mentioning any names, Santiago was obviously alluding to Sylvia Claudio who had pressed her to come out with her medical records to prove that she could finish her six-year term if she became President.
“Do not try to mislead me to go into a political debate about my illness. Can’t you see that I can stand straight?” Santiago said.
The senator, who declared she had been cured from stage 4 lung cancer, rejected the call to disclose her medical records.
She said those criticizing her capability due to her health merely wanted to derail her presidential bid.
Santiago also took the cudgels for her running mate Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Quoting the Bible, she said “The sins of the father should not be visited upon the son and that Marcos Jr. should be given a chance to redeem himself because he won as a senator.
She said Marcos was capable of defending himself.
“He is perfectly capable of intellectualizing the situation he is in,” Santiago said.
