Agro-Industrialization To Create Rural Jobs, Says Gibo

MANILA, Philippines - Lakas-Kampi-CMD presidential candidate Gibo Teodoro said the government should set the environment for re-industrialization and agro-industrialization to bring back the factories and the jobs that used to be vital anchors of the national economy.

This push for re-industrialization and agro-industrialization was made by Gibo in a recent radio interview, saying the resurgence of the factories and the agro-industrial sites is one sure way to lifting the economy and generating jobs on a massive scale.

Gibo is the first presidential candidate to argue for the twin programs of industrialization and agro-industrialization, the attraction of which as economic anchors has waned owing to the emergence of service and tourism jobs and the rise of jobs generated by business outsourcing.

In the same interview, Gibo said the government’s role in the overall job-generation and economic-lifting landscape has to be recast in its proper role—as a stimulator of growth, not a source of endless subsidies and dole-outs.

“The government should not be a well of dole-outs and of benefits. The government is a bridge that lays the foundation for jobs and growth,” Gibo said.

Toward this, Gibo said, his presidency would use good governance to entice the private sector into creating and generating quality and well-paying jobs.

He said that micro and small-scale entrepreneurs should either be assisted with the start-up capital, or given the assurance of adequate return-on-investment.

As all of these are being pursued by government, there will be adequate investments in the precious human capital through education and health care investments, added Gibo.

At forums and discussions related to the presidential election, Gibo has been the most impressive presidential candidate, with his in-depth take on critical national issues and his impressive but doable policy prescriptions.

“Gibo’s push for industrialization and agro-industrialization has never been part of the presidential discussions on the economy because it is essentially an out-of-the-box solution and it would take immense political will and planning to see to it that the country recaptures its industrial foundry,” said Gibo’s spokesman Mike Toledo, who is also director of the G1BO 2010 Media Bureau.

Toledo said Gibo is also batting for the imperative “synergy” between the country’s agricultural development programs and the agrarian reform program because the two are intertwined and the failure of the agrarian reform beneficiaries has been dampening agricultural production and the effort to achieve national food security.

Gibo has also been saying that his presidency would spend more in agricultural investments from roads to seaports to post-harvest facilities and irrigation.

Only through massive investments can agro-industrialization take place, Gibo added.