Senator Richard J. Gordon said he will push for the construction of more bridges in the Cagayan Valley to help give a big jolt to the local economy.
Gordon, during his visit to the northern provinces of Cagayan and Isabela, noted that improving and building bridges will help cut travel time to other points of the country, which will increase economic gains in the area.
Gordon said these bridges will become “pathways to progress for the millions living in Northern Luzon” allowing for the “faster delivery of goods signal more progress to the people here.”
“They should take advantage of the various existing seaports, freeports, and airports in the area, because these are means to increase the production and distribution of agricultural produce elsewhere,” he also said.
Gordon traveled to the area as a guest candidate of the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem, where they were warmly received by residents.
Aside from Cagayan, he flew to nearby Isabela to speak to local leaders and voters, which culminated in a grand rally in Echague, where about 10,000 eager supporters packed the venue.
Gordon also mentioned that he will push to revive the port of Aparri, and the airport in Lal-lo through the passage of the Regional Investment and Infrastructure Coordinating Hub (RICH) bill.
“Northern Luzon is a perfect area where we could implement the RICH bill if it’s passed into law because there are so many underutilized seaports and airports that we could use here,” said the senator.
“Products could freely get exported to other places, and the government could easily find tenable land to be able to convert into a one-stop shop, where agriculture, business, and government could harmonize with one another to attend to the needs of the economy,” he further said.
As senator, Gordon pushed to improve the lives of the members of the agriculture sector by authoring and sponsoring Republic Act (RA) 10969, which provides free irrigation service to small farmers.
He also penned RA 11231, which simplifies the process of farmers in obtaining their land so that they could get ample support from banks and government agencies.
Gordon, as chairman of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), had repeatedly responded to aid victims of various typhoons that have affected the area.
The PRC provided homes, livelihood assistance, cash grant, food and non-food items worth Php 266 million to about 77,000 families in the two provinces.
During the pandemic, the PRC molecular laboratory in Isabela was also instrumental in testing thousands of residents in the area.
As Tourism secretary, Gordon promoted various tourism sites in Cagayan Valley such as various caves, the Sierra Mountain range, waterfalls, and rivers.
