Casiño vows to work for industrialized Phl, if...

MANILA, Philippines - Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said yesterday he would work for an industrialized Philippines if he succeeds in his senatorial run.

“What I envision is an industrialized Philippines with modern agriculture and interlinked industries. The country has to have plans to build basic and consumer industries alongside genuine land reform and modernization of agriculture,” he told members of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX).

“But we cannot reach that without the political will and a comprehensive plan to industrialize the country. Unfortunately we do not have an industrial plan,” he said.

He said he is one with groups like FINEX in creating a business environment conducive for local and small enterprises.

“As a three-term congressman and activist, I have proposed measures to lower the cost of basic utilities to give economic relief to the common folk and to lower the cost of production of local enterprises,” he said.

“We can’t be dependent on business process outsourcing, OFW remittances and electronics assembly anymore. It is time that the government creates a detailed plan for the economy, or else we will be left out. We need to have our own heavy industries and manufacture goods here,” he stressed.