TARLAC CITY, Philippines – United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) senatorial candidate Jack Enrile has challenged the Aquino administration to help farmer-beneficiaries of the land reform program make the land they till productive.
The son of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile made his appeal last Thursday during UNA’s miting de avance in President Aquino’s home province.
“We should give our farmers the chance to get out of poverty because by helping our farmers become more productive, we would be ensuring our country’s food sufficiency,†Enrile told 2,000 people who gathered in Tarlac City Plazuela to hear the platform of government of UNA candidates.
“No Filipino should get hungry in his own land,†Enrile said in Filipino, adding that if he gets elected to the Senate he will create a law making irrigation free for farmers.
He noted that irrigation fees are becoming exorbitant, one of the reasons why rice has become expensive.
The miting de avance was the first UNA sortie in Tarlac since the campaign for senatorial positions started on Feb. 13.
UNA senatorial candidates Ernesto Maceda, Nancy Binay, Miguel Zubiri, Richard Gordon, Margarita Cojuangco, and JV Ejercito Estrada also visited the controversial Hacienda Luisita owned by Aquino’s family.