International airport in Pangasinan not practical – Roxas

MANILA, Philippines - Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II does not think the proposal of independent presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe to have an international airport in Pangasinan is practical.

“I think spending should be in the right place. If nobody will ride, no airplane will land so there’s no need. We will just be wasting money,” he said in Filipino.

He was reacting to reports that Poe is pushing for the construction of an international airport in Pangasinan, the home province of the senator’s late father Fernando Poe Jr.

Roxas explained that a big infrastructure project like an international airport has to undergo thorough study and assessment of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the country’s social and economic development planning and policy coordinating body.

He said NEDA studies all projects to make sure that government money is spent on projects that would benefit the majority of the people. 

In a statement, the LP said each candidate coming out to sow intrigue and assail the integrity of their rivals should take a step back and honestly assess if they are ready to walk their own talk.

Roxas had tried to woo Poe to become his runningmate in the 2016 elections. But the latter rejected the offer and instead opted to run for president with Sen. Francis Escudero as her runningmate.

Recently, senatorial candidate Richard Gordon claimed that an LP member approached him to file a disqualification case against Poe.

Roxas then challenged Gordon to name names, vowing to investigate and even expel from LP those who would be found engaged in black propaganda against party rivals.

“How we campaign is an indication of how we will govern,” said Roxas, as he promised that he and runningmate Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo would never engage in personal attacks against their rivals.

“Part of integrity is being ready, willing and able to put yourself up for public and legal scrutiny, whether it is in facing up to corruption charges or in forthrightly answering questions relating to your qualification for office,” said LP in a statement.

The LP issued the statement after Roxas and Robredo received more than their fair share of unfair attacks over the past few weeks.

The LP said everything from photoshopped pictures supposedly showing “epal” tarps along EDSA, to deliberate misquotes attached to memes circulated on social media, to five-year-old news stories rehashed as “current events,” to the filing of a certificate of candidacy for president by a man named Manny “Mar” Roxas, to the unending barrage of unfounded accusations that Roxas is behind everything from Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s cancer rumors to Poe’s disqualification case to Vice President Jejomar Binay’s legal problems.