‘Poorest’ senatorial bet vows to develop Visayas

MANILA, Philippines - Out of the 33 senatoriables, 68-year-old Baldomero Falcone is the only one who claims to represent the Visayas.

Born and raised in Leyte, the Democratic Party of the Philippines (DPP) senatorial candidate believes that being the lone candidate from the Visayas is his edge over the other contenders for the 12 Senate seats.

Since there are limited job opportunities that prompt some of his kababayans to seek greener pastures in Metro Manila or look for work abroad, he has come up with ideas on how to improve the lives of the people from the Visayas region, particularly through employment.

Falcone believes that there are still unexplored possible sources of employment in their region.

The province of Samar, for instance, is dense with coconut trees. They could put up an integrated plant where they could process the coconuts and turn them into different by-products.

On Panay Island, there are several spots good for fishing and building a processing plant and cannery would mean job creation.

Falcone, the DPP national president, said that their party has several advocacies including the elimination of pork barrel and removing political dynasties in the country.

“The political dynasties control almost 70 percent of the natural resources in the country, which is meant for all Filipinos. It is very hard to imagine that heroes such as Dr. Jose Rizal, Apolinario Mabini and Andres Bonifacio died just for the oligarchs. That is not right,” he added.

He claims to be the poorest of all the senatorial candidates. With only an estimated P1 million in assets, he said, “Unabashedly I identify myself with the poor.”

There are instances when he would take public transport to get around in the city. “I commute, I take the LRT (Light Rail Transit) and the (Metro Rail Transit). I am the poorest candidate.”

But commuting does have its advantages. It gives him an opportunity to personally interact with the people. “I talk to (other passengers) and the response has been very encouraging.”

He is presently a business consultant, but Falcone admitted that he once thought of becoming a priest. “I was praying to get a vocation, but after graduation there was no calling.”

For the past 40 years, he has been happily married to Liz, and they have four sons.

Falcone is the son of former Labor Judge Julio Lelis Falcone and teacher Francesca Cordero-Falcone, both from Leyte province.

He finished Bachelor of Arts major in Liberal Arts at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Palo, Leyte where he graduated summa cum laude. He later took up Philosophy at the University of San Carlos, Cebu City and has a master’s degree in Business Management from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).

He authored the book “Christian Economics: The Philippines’ Developmental Ideology,” published in 1984.

He is president of the Millennium Industrial Commercial Corp. based in Cebu and vice president of Global Interphase Security Services Provider Inc.

He co-founded Consultasia Management Service Inc. and the lending firm FG Finance Co.