Presidential candidate Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso on Sunday vowed to prioritize the recovery of micro, small and medium enterprises from the pandemic slump and will use as a model the highly-successful “Sugbo Negosyo” of Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.
“Gov. Gwen’s Sugbo Negosyo is a brilliant and doable idea which is similar to what I plan to do when I become president. I would encourage the LGUs (local government units) to help businesses, particularly MSMEs, recover and sustain jobs and livelihood,” Moreno said.
“In these times where the whole world is suffering from the economic ravages of the pandemic, we have to look to ourselves and seek creative ways like Gov. Gwen’s Sugbo Negosyo, to survive and recover,” Moreno added.
The first round of the Sugbo Negosyo launched in August 2020 and benefited over 8,000 entrepreneurs across Cebu province.
Meanwhile, Domagoso said he will support agricultural initiatives that will boost the production of seaweed, locally known as “agar agar” to create jobs and alternative rural livelihood while sustaining exports averaging $200 million yearly.
“At a certain height in coastal areas, you can already plant agar agar. And agar agar is a very good way of alternative livelihood for our fisherfolks,” Domagoso said during Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc.’s (PCAFI) Agri 2022.
Marine agriculture experts said the country’s is ready with the technology in seaweeds, but the government would have to enhance its position by asserting its fishing right to the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“Our ambition should be to be a truly maritime nation. Asserting our right at the West Philippine Sea should be done to be a truly maritime nation,” said national scientist and Coalition for Agriculture
Modernization of the Philippines (CAMP) Emil Javier, who is also PCAFI officer.
In agreement to this, Domagoso said the Philippines should stand in asserting its WPS fishing right as a sovereign nation notwithstanding the size of its armed force.
“We must co-exist as countries. Yes, there are superpower countries that are trying to intimidate us. But when we stand our ground, we are respected by (bigger) countries because we have our own disposition.”
“I made it clear to our fisherfolks that we will fish in the West Philippine Sea undeterred, unharmed, and unbullied,” he added, noting that the Philippines should impose penalties on foreigners who violate Philippine’s territorial rights.
“Once you enter into our geography, I don’t have to make war with you, when it’s illegal (one should be penalized). Why do we imprison our fellow Filipinos when they do something illegal, but when it comes to foreigners, we just watch them?” Domagoso added.
He gives his full support to the country’s maritime vanguard, the Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine Navy, in defending the Philippine territorial waters from foreign aggression.
In addition, he said the Philippines, as a member of and signatory to international treaties should be able to rally the support of fellow allies as it will also come to their defense when placed in similar circumstance.
“I don’t think the other side will push the button. Nobody can afford it because we are a sovereign nation with allies. We’ve been signing agreements, treaties. It shouldn’t always be a one way road. This is the time they should come (to our defense),” he said.
Domagoso already had plans to segregate the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources from the Department of Agriculture, to give the both fisheries and land-based agriculture sectors the focus they need to develop and reach their innate potential.