Iloilo eco zone brings Marcos Jr.   closer to hearts of Ilonggos

By Alex P. Vidal 

“I couldn’t stand back and watch the strong economy that my father envisioned go to ruins.” — Park Geun-hye

THE Ilonggos soundly rejected President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in favor of former Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo in the 2022 presidential election, but after two years, the relationship may have ameliorated and no longer frosty.

This became apparent after the Ilocos-based President Marcos Jr. has declared an area in Iloilo City that comprised a building and parcels of land as a special economic zone.

After successfully wooing the support of local elective officials and hitherto Robredo allies led by Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Trenas and Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. one after the other, Mr. Marcos Jr. now totally believes there is a need to also rev up Iloilo’s viable economic domain through a presidential fiat.

While the president’s “stowaway” enemies embarked on a wide scale and counterproductive vilification campaign to smear his name, he was busy helping shore up economic prosperity in the countryside.

Proclamation 668 seeks to create and designate a building and parcels of land in Barangay San Rafael, Mandurriao district as an information technology center.

The edifice will be known as “The Grid” and is located in Iloilo City on the island of Panay, with an area of approximately 7,021 square meters.

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Mr. Marcos had also expanded the Lima Technology Center-Special Economic Zone in Batangas to attract more foreign investors.

Signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin dated August 27, 2024, the declaration and expansion of the special economic zones were based upon the recommendations of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) board of directors and contained in separate proclamations.

PEZA reportedly plans to establish the legal framework and mechanisms in integrating, coordinating, plan ning and monitoring industrial estates, parks, export processing zones and other economic zones.

PEZA also wishes to promote the flow of investors into these special economic zones, which in turn will create jobs and establish linkages among industries.

Now that Mr. Marcos Jr.’s trust and confidence level among Ilonggos appeared to have accelerated over the past months, it isn’t far-fetched he will soon be able to consolidate the Luzon and Visayas political forces before going full blast for annexation of the Mindanao bandwagon.

This will leave the president’s critics and adversaries mostly based in Davao City in Mindanao eat the dust and help baffle those who agitate for Mr. Marcos Jr.’s detractors.

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US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION UPDATE. Vice President Harris widened the gap with former President Trump among women in a new poll that highlights a notable boost from a major voting group that could be a key for the Democratic nominee in November, The Hill has reported

The ABC News/Ipsos poll, released August 31, found Harris leading Trump 54 percent to 41 percent among women. Before last month’s Democratic National Convention, Harris edged Trump out by 6 points among this demographic.

Trump, who has struggled with female voters, led Harris 51 percent to 46 percent among men in the new survey.

Pollsters noted the gender gap between Harris and Trump is now more aligned with recent elections. The gap has typically been about 19 points in exit polls since 1996.

The movement among women and men in the new survey occurred the most among white voters, pollsters found. Trump had a 13-point advantage among white women before the Democratic convention and now has a 2-point edge.

By comparison, the former president had a 13-point advantage among white men prior to the convention and now has a 21-point edge.

Women are seen as a key voting bloc that has powered Harris’s successful presidential campaign rollout.

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No man is worth much more than a dollar or two a day from the chin down. Even what we do with our hands depends for its value on the amount of sense we use.

We can train and improve our mind as well as our fingers. Mental laziness is the most common disease.

Let’s put in a certain amount of time every day at making our brain more efficient.

Let’s read. Let’s study. Let’s think. Let’s not fritter away all our spare time. It’s all habit. We can get used to hard study as well as to hard work. And it pays. Let’s improve ourselves from the chin up.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)