Buy Filipino First – Cayetano

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

DAGUPAN CITY – A Philippine senator wants Filipinos to patronize locally made products by appealing to the rich and famous to promote the slogan “Buy Filipino First” .

CAYETANO AIDED DRIVERS AND OPERATORS  -- Senator
 Alan Peter Cayetano recently turned over funds to the San
 Carlinians Tricycle Drivers and Operators Federation inside the
 office  San Carlos City, Pangasinan Mayor Julier Resuello which
will be used to bankroll a micro financing program that will offer small
 loans to members at very low interest and easy payment schemes.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano narrated about the leather Valentino shoes he sported when he attended social functions and his duties at the August Chamber.

“When I attended our 25^th class reunion some friends thought I wore a Topsider that costs P18,500. But the pair I sported was made in Marikina (shoe producing capital of the Philippines) that cost between P800 to P2, 500,” he stressed.

Cayetano, who declared in March 6 his moist eye as an alternative candidate for the presidency, cited that in the 1990s Marikina had 100,000 shoe workers. In year 2006 it declined to P40,000, and last year it plunged to 6,000 workers.

Cayetano assailed the Filipinos’ mentality to buy imported instead of the locally made products that are not only cheaper but competitive in quality than the foreign brand rivals.

“I’m planning to ask basketball stars, politicians, and Filipinos who are being looked up in the society to promote the “Buy Filipino First” and create jobs among our people”.

Meanwhile, Senator Cayetano on April 6 personally turned over funds to the San Carlinians Tricycle Drivers and Operators Federation in San Carlos City, Pangasinan which will be used to bankroll a micro financing program that will offer small loans to members at very low interest and easy payment schemes.

He met with officials and members of the umbrella federation composed of 85 individual tricycle drivers and operators associations (TODAs) and handed a total of P150, 000 which is envisioned to aid individual members and discourage them from borrowing money from loan sharks that charge very high interest rates.

Dubbed as the “Kontra 5-6 Program,” the project in part breathes life to the promises made by the Senator during his campaign for reelection in the 2013 polls, where he launched the Presyo, Trabaho/Kita, Kaayusan (PTK) platform that is aimed at promoting projects that lower the prices of goods, create more jobs, and increase the people’s income.

The micro financing mechanism allows members of cooperatives, entrepreneur groups and organizations such as the TODA federation in San Carlos City more and wider access to capital that they can use to improve their livelihood and spike their income.

The TODA federation is the sixth beneficiary of such a program in the province of Pangasinan. The rest are Ulopan na Sumisigay Ed Dagupan, Inc, Villasis Corn Farmers Association, Pangasinan Irrigators Association; CSI Lucao Dagupan Jeepney Operators & Drivers Association; and the Samahang Maliliit na Tindahan ng Dagupan.