WITH Vice President Jejomar C. Binay apparently intent on pursuing his presidential ambition in 2016 despite the flurry of corruption allegations against him during his stint as Makati mayor, the question of who will be his candidate for vice president is now the object of much speculation.
Among the names prominently mentioned are Sen. Grace Poe, who has been the frontrunner in vice presidential surveys. But she has already said that she has no plans of running for higher office in 2016.
Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao’s name has also been bandied about, but he would still be underage as VP candidate when the next election comes.
Binay has said it is still too early to name his running mate but he mentioned two vice presidentiables: Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza of Buhay and Rep. Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian of Valenzuela City, both of whom he said had good track records in local governance.
Gatchalian has actually been fixture in Binay’s political sorties. He is a former three-term mayor and is also actively involved in the scouting movement as national vice president for National Capital Region of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines.
Gatchalian is a stalwart of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), which counts in its roster Senators Tito Sotto and Loren Legarda, both of whom have no plans of running for higher positions in 2016. This leaves Gatchalian as the NPC’s lone candidate for a national position such as vice president.
Gatchalian and Binay have known each other for four years and the solon is among the allies of the VP who have defended him from corruption allegations.
In fact, Gatchalian vouches for Binay’s ability to connect with ordinary Filipinos in his provincial sorties. “I can say that he [Binay] continues to enjoy the trust and confidence of the majority of ordinary Filipinos, particularly those in the lower classes which compose the bulk of voters in the country,” he said.
Gatchalian had earlier said the Filipino people would be the ultimate judge on whether VP Binay deserves to be the next president of the Republic.
“It would do well for VP Binay to go directly to the people to explain his side since the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee has already prejudged him based on how witnesses against the vice president were given the latitude to hurl their accusations, whether unfounded or not,” Gatchalian said.
At age 21, Gatchalian graduated from the prestigious Boston University with a degree in Finance and Operation Management. His college degree proved useful in managing family-run companies such as Air Philippines and Waterfront Philippines which maintains a string of hotels nationwide.
He ran and won as congressman of Valenzuela City’s First District in 2001. His impressive record as legislator later allowed him to win handily as city mayor.
Gatchalian’s leadership has earned him much recognition. Valenzuela was named as the Best Governed Highly Urbanized City by the Department of the Interior and Local Government in 2010; Business-Friendly City by the World Bank in 2011; Most Business-Friendly Local Government Unit by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2012, among others. He was also honored as Outstanding Young Man for Public Service by the Jaycees in 2011.
Education is Gatchalian’s main advocacy. In his nine years as Valenzuela mayor, he was able to build 2,000 classrooms. Public school students in Valenzuela also led in the National Achievement Test (NAT) during school years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.
Youth, competence and integrity are Gatchalian’s assets that Binay could definitely tap in the 2016 elections.
Snail-paced
WILL we ever see an end to Metro Manila’s monstrous traffic jams?
Banish the thought, as the government seems unable to fast-track road-infrastructure projects under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program.
Take the case of the parallel connector roads linking the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) to the South Luzon Expressway (Slex) aimed at decongesting the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port.
The Nlex-Slex Connector Road Project has two components. The first component is the Skyway Stage 3 of the Slex, won by San Miguel Corp. in partnership with Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. The second component, won by Metro Pacific Investment Corp.’s (MPIC) Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), involves the construction of a 13.4-kilometer four-lane elevated expressway via the PNR tracks, with three exits to connect Nlex with Slex.
The SMC-Citra portion of the project is now under way, but the MPTC project component worth P18 billion has yet to take off the ground. While the President himself has given the go-signal for the project to proceed in January last year, nothing has moved up to now because the Chief Executive’s subalterns either keep changing the rules or are doing snail-paced work.
One tangible benefit of the Connector Road Project is the unrestricted flow of cargo trucks from Manila’s port area to Northern and Southern Luzon, thus easing truck-ban concerns.
It will also improve transport logistics as a result of the more efficient movement of cargoes, roll-on, roll-off vessels, and passengers in and out of the ports in Manila, and would reduce travel time from Nlex to Slex to only 15 to 20 minutes.
MPIC’s Connector Road Project is among the crucial PPP ventures because it would help ease the worsening traffic in the metropolis and cut travel time between Nlex and Slex to just 20 minutes, thus speeding up the transport of goods and services between Luzon’s north and south points.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources already issued the Environmental Compliance Certificate for the project in March 2012.
National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, local government units in Makati City, Manila and Caloocan, as well as the Japan International Cooperation Agency have endorsed the project.
Unfortunately, however, even the Neda’s approval did not lead to the speedy implementation of the MPIC project, which, to this day, has been wracked by one delay after another.
For one thing, the MPTC has been told by the government to scrap the Swiss Challenge, and use instead its existing joint-venture agreement with the Philippine National Construction Co. in implementing the project.
The Department of Justice also issued an opinion in July saying that the Connector Road Project cannot be done through a JV without public bidding, and that the Neda erred in approving the joint venture.
Because of these obstacles, the Nlex-Slex Connector Road Project is now delayed by more than two years, even as President Aquino apparently wanted the project completed within his term to woo voters to the side of the ruling party in 2016.
Email: ernhil@yahoo.com
1 comment
fooooking Abnoy presidency with his palpak and pAbaya secretaries