JV ESTRADA HAS THE ANSWERS
UNA Senatorial bet JV Ejercito Estrada
Not one to shy away from interviews or
public fora, Cong JV Ejercito Estrada has answered most every kind of question
in the run up to the Senate elections in May.
From naughty [What age did you lose your
virginity?, The Bottomline with Boy Abunda, Feb 9, 2013] to nice [What is your
biggest accomplishment as San Juan Mayor and how would you translate this into
legislation?], Estrada has shown to one and all that he not only has the track
record to back up his Senate bid, but also the gift of gab that will liven up
the august Senate halls.
To the “nice” question posed during Harapan
2013 last April 10, the UNA Senatorial bet focused on his record as San Juan
mayor. “San Juan now is considered as top performing city in terms of delivery
of basic services to the people. We were able to raise our income from P300-M
when I started as Mayor and during the last day of my office, it rose to
P1.1-B, almost quadruple, even if I was in the opposition,” he said. “And because of this, we were able to
already implement all our dream projects, we have a new city hall, we were able
to established state university which is funded by the local government. But
for me, the biggest accomplishment is being able to uplift the lives of our
people, the living conditions of our people. San Juan has the lowest poverty
incidence among the LGUs all over the country. Because of our vibrant economy,
we were able to give jobs and opportunities to a lot of our people,” Estrada
added.
Working for the Answers
Many who have heard him are beginning to
understand why he has done well in surveys since he filed his candidacy in
October 2012. The younger Estrada has consistently been in the top choices for
the senatorial polls, reaching as high as #3 in the March 2013 Social Weather
Stations survey. In the latest Pulse Asia survey, conducted April 20-22, 2013,
Estrada was in the 5-11 ranking.
In the realm of delivering on his
commitments, the credentials are solid: A neophyte legislator who made a mark
as the ninth most prolific lawmaker in Congress. Of the 149 House Bills and 18
House Resolutions he authored, 5 bills were approved on third reading and made
it to the Senate.
As a three-term mayor, he led the reforms
and strengthening of San Juan’s fundamentals to increase the municipal
revenue from 300 million to 1 billion pesos in just 9 years. Because of the
significant growth, San Juan was converted into a highly urbanized city in
June 2007. The year before, in 2006, San Juan was recognized as the Most
Progressive Municipality.
If one looks at his record, in business, as
a leader, as a public servant, Rep JV Estrada seems to have the answers when
needed. And while this may seem like he has a lucky streak, the milestones of
his public service reveal a hard-working, determined man.
One good example is how he fought for
higher budgets for State Universities and Colleges when it became evident that
national allocations were not enough to sustain public education needs. Rep JV
Ejercito Estrada consistently fought for additional budget allocations for SUCs
in 2011 and 2012. The determination has paid off with the allocation of an
additional PhP 16 Billion for the 2013 SUC Budget. He saw that the
question about the future of public education was threatened by the inadequacy
of funding, and made the push to find the answers that would make a difference.
Answers that Matter
His strong sense of purpose is further
enhanced by his spontaneity and his solid set of values. This combination is
evident in his responses to the questions posed during this electoral campaign.
In a town hall forum at the Ateneo de
Manila campus in Quezon City, he put forward his position on the Freedom of
Information Act when queried about his vote.
“I support the Freedom of Information Act
[FOI], I think that this will be a good instrument of the administration in the
fight against corruption, and thrust for good governance. I’m also an author of
the FOI and I believe that all transactions of government contracts, everything
should be made public,… as long as it does not impinge on national security. I
believe that public office is a public trust, hence there is no need for us to
hide anything, any transaction or any contract should be made available to the
public anytime.”
Among the many questions he has fielded in
live public appearances, the one that went viral was about medical marijuana,
asked during "The Rundown 2013," at the University of the Philippines
in Diliman. To the question “Would you legalize marijuana?, JV Estrada quickly
answered "If it will heal the body, why not?" This candid perspective
drew reactions from the crowd and the online community, enough for rappler.com
to write about it. http://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections-2013/21336-jv-ejercito-for-legalizing-marijuana,-netizens-react
And the answer to the naughty question? “…
I think I was 17 or 18 years old.”
Rep. JV Ejercito Estrada is not only the "Man of the Hour" but the "Man of All Ages." He is one truthful, trustful, dedicated, dependable and devoted pal worth our VOTE!
