Fernando defends his campaign vs street vendors

Ormoc City – Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando said that the culture of productivity of the Filipinos should be enhanced in order to attain the real progress and growth of our country.

Speaking before top officials of the 4th District of Leyte led by Rep. Eufrocino Codilla Sr., Fernando said that political will is badly needed if we want to improve the productivity of the country.

He said that Filipinos are poor because production is also very poor.

Fernando said the Philippines is three times behind the productivity of the Japanese people that’s why “We are also three times behind the salaries of the Japanese people.”

He said that his going against vendors before he was the mayor of Marikina City and now as chairman of the MMDA is his way of increasing the productivity of the vendors, and the whole area.

He said that when he was the mayor of Marikina City he cleaned up all the streets with vendors and this resulted to earnings not only for the vendors but also for the owners of buildings that were blocked by vendors in their fronts. “Everything rises because the city also increases its taxes from the building owners who earned from the rentals of the former vendors that leased the building,” Fernando said.

He said that vendors are the clear picture of non-productivity of Filipinos because they stay in the streets the whole day waiting to sell a handful of vegetables and other items.

If these vendors work in construction and indulge themselves with another kind of endeavors their productivity would also increase, he said

Fernando who hinted to run in the 2010 presidential election said that he is optimistic he would win in the presidential race based on surveys conducted in the last election.

Fernando, who admitted he is not pro-poor said that based on that survey, pro-poor candidates garnered 45 percent of the total votes while performers got 35 percent of the votes and the rest was divided by the anti-poor and nuisance candidates.

Fernando, who was with his wife Marikina City Mayor Marides was in this city to crown the Miss Ormoc last night, said that the 35 percent votes for the performers will bring him to the presidency come 2010.

Fernando’s performance as the mayor of Marikina City resulted to the progress of the city today, and his success as MMDA chief is also visible nowadays specially in solving the traffic problem.

Present during the meeting were Albuera, Leyte Mayor Sixto dela Victoria, and his vice mayor Mario Barte, Kananga, Leyte Mayor Elmer Codilla, and Vice Mayor Boy Lumangtad, Merida, Leyte Vice Mayor Kumar Dumagsa, Palompon, Leyte Vice Mayor Lloyd Surigao, and Ormoc City Mayor Eric Codilla, Vice Mayor Nepumuceno Aparis, and the city councilors of the city and from the mentioned municipalities.