Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Independent presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe said on Thursday evening (April 14) that she would root out the cause of criminality and corruption if voters would put her in Malacañang.
And this was poverty.
Poe was in Tondo, one of the poorest areas in Manila, where she repeated her commitment to fight hunger and contractualization.
The senator promised more than a million jobs every year if she became president.
“Mga kababayan, hindi po ang mahirap ang dapat ating patayin kundi ang kahirapan.” she said.
[Translation: “We should not kill poor people… We should kill poverty.”]
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Poe recalled the case of protesters in Kidapawan, North Cotabato where three farmers were shot and killed by the police.
She said this would never have happened if the government was sensitive to the needs of the people.
The senator also said she would put an end to “endo” or end of contract which signalled the termination of employment common among contractuals in the labor sector.
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Former president and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, who had endorsed Poe’s candidacy, was present at the Baseco campaign rally. The mayor reiterated his support for Poe, the adopted daughter of his best friend, movie icon Fernando Poe Jr.
