STABLE jobs and financial security of Filipinos would be among their top priorities if given the opportunity to serve as leaders of the country in 2022, according to presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his running-mate vice presidential aspirant Inday Sara Duterte.
Addressing supporters during their Uniteam caravan in Cavite recently, Marcos said he understands that the economic security of every family is a basic need, and his administration will prioritize this concern.
“All of us desire to see every Filipino able to get back his job. Have money in their pockets to buy their needs, and feel not just some economic relief but also some hope in a better future,” the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) standard-bearer said, mostly in Filipino.
Marcos said one of the keys to a brighter future is to make the people feel there is hope and that they are secured while “we are focused on our efforts to rise as a nation after the debilitating effects of the pandemic.”
He urged people to “look at experience. Let us look at our nation’s history. In all the crises the Philippines faced, we only recovered when we were united. When we Filipinos helped each other. When we practiced bayanihan, our natural trait,” Marcos Jr. told the crowd.
He said one of the issues he and his running mate agreed upon when they forged their tandem was to become a “symbol of unity.”
“If someone from Ilocos and another from Davao, coming from opposite corners of the country, can be together, then perhaps all Filipinos can be like that—reunited once more,” he added.
Duterte, on the other hand, said it is imperative that “we help each other especially during these precarious times.”
She emphasized that this is one of the reasons why she did not think twice about teaming up with Marcos Jr., who had a vision for the country.
“Before I agreed to join him I asked what is there to be done now that the country is faced with several challenges. He told me, ‘Inday Sara, even before the pandemic, there were people mired in poverty. When the pandemic struck, we were all somehow hit. The pandemic has wrought different impacts on the lives of Filipinos,” she related.
Duterte also recalled Marcos Jr telling her: “People need money. People need jobs, which will bring in the money. People should learn to be entrepreneurs. We should have entrepreneurs in all areas of the country because that creates jobs and that’s what people need—money and jobs.”
Duterte said when she heard those words, she immediately realized that she had made the right decision to stand behind Marcos.
“One question, one answer. He told me all that I needed to know. Why UniTeam? We call it UniTeam and we want to show you all that in the next six years we should all be united,” she said.
Marcos and Duterte thanked their Caviteño supporters and promised a better life for Filipinos under their leadership.