“There will be more hospitals and health centers everywhere.”
Bongbong Marcos (BBM), the consistently leading presidential candidate in all election surveys past and present, recently made an announcement that was welcomed by his supporters and many undecided voters.
BBM announced that if he is elected president, he will revive many of the pro-people projects of his late father, President Ferdinand Marcos.
One of those projects, BBM said, will be the creation of more hospitals and health centers everywhere, particularly in the remote areas of the Philippines.
During his administration, President Marcos established many public hospitals which remain functioning today. Those hospitals include the Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center, Kidney Center and the Children’s Hospital in Quezon City. These hospitals saved many lives at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
President Marcos also established the extension building of the Philippine General Hospital (the highrise behind the old building), and the renovation of the Veterans Memorial Hospital, V. Luna Medical Center, and East Avenue Medical Center.
BBM also plans to revive the Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and Services (BLISS) housing project for low-income Filipino families started by his father in the 1980s. Those sturdy tenements are still around in many parts of Metro Manila today.
Likewise, BBM intends to bring back the Oil Price Stabilization Fund (OPSF) created by his father in October 1984. The OPSF collected a few centavos from every liter of gasoline or diesel fuel purchased by motorists at gasoline stations. That fund absorbed any increase in gasoline prices brought by fluctuations in oil prices in the world market. The arrangement stabilized the price of gasoline and diesel in the Philippines, which thus prevented any sudden, run-away increase in the cost of prime commodities and food staples.
In 1994, under the administration of President Fidel Ramos, Congress abolished the OPSF. As a result, Filipino consumers today are at the mercy of fluctuations in oil prices in the world market.
BBM is right. The OPSF must be revived. As the late President Marcos correctly saw it, Filipino consumers need it badly.
The ever-increasing public demand for electricity in the Philippines was also addressed by President Marcos.
By and large, imported oil is used in the generation of electricity in the Philippines. This means the cost of electricity depends considerably on the price of imported oil.
To make the Philippines less vulnerable to the fluctuations in the price of oil in the world market, President Marcos began the construction of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).
Stalled by protests regarding public safety instigated by local communists, the operation of the BNPP was overtaken by the February 1986 EDSA mutiny which allowed Corazon Cojuangco Aquino to seize the presidency from President Marcos. Under Aquino, the BNPP was mothballed.
Forty-three years following the mothballing of the BNPP, all the safety issues raised by local communists against the BNPP proved to be baseless.
Here’s the sad part.
Had the BNPP been allowed to operate, the electricity bill of every common household in the country would have been 90 percent cheaper since 1986.
Now, let’s hear the good news.
BBM said he will order a study into the feasibility of upgrading, renovating and ultimately, operating the BNPP, all with a view to lowering the cost of electricity in the Philippines, without compromising public safety.
Water was another concern addressed by the late President Marcos.
Under his watch, President Marcos established the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija; the Magat Dam in Cagayan; and the Angat Damin Bulacan. He also created many water projects in the Visayas and in Mindanao.
Because of those dams and water projects, agricultural productivity in the Philippines was at its peak, and the supply of potable water in the country during the summer months was never in peril, during the administration of President Marcos.
BBM is also going to take steps to make sure that the supply of water in the country will not be a problem for the Filipino people.
Communism remains an obstacle against progress in the Philippines. This godless ideology promotes terrorism, poverty and social discord among our people.
The communists almost succeeded in taking over the Philippines in 1973, but martial law under President Marcos (proclaimed in September 1972) derailed everything for the reds. That is why to this day, three decades after the passing of President Marcos, the local communists still hate him, and by extension, BBM.
Communists see the incompetent, weak, gullible and delusional Leni Robredo as their only hope for survival. That is why they are supporting Robredo’s run for the presidency. If Robredo wins, communism will not only remain alive in the country; the godless communists will have a strong influence in the government.
For voters, it’s a choice between a continuation of the pro-people projects under BBM, or a communist-influenced government under Robredo.
In my opinion, voters should go for BBM.