UniTeam senatorial candidate Harry Roque said that disunity among Filipinos is blocking efforts towards economic recovery from the pandemic.
“Marami tayong problema e pero kung tayo ay nagkakaisa malalampasan natin ‘yan. Nandiyan ‘yung pandemya, nandiyan ‘yung pagbangon sa pandemya. Napakadaming namatay, napakadaming nagkasakit, napakaraming nawalan ng trabaho,” Roque said in an interview with The Philippine Catalog.
“Hindi panahon ngayon na magbirahan, magtirahan. Panahon po ngayon na lahat tayo ay kilalalin na Pilipino tayo. We will heal and we will rise as one,” he added.
Should he win in the May 2022 senatorial elections, Roque said he would focus on providing legislation to uplift the lives of Filipinos, many of whom have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
In October 2021, the country’s unemployment rate was 7.4 percent, the third-lowest in 2021, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In December 2021, the poverty rate among Filipinos increased to 23.7 percent in the first semester of 2021, equating to 26.1 million people.
The same PSA data showed that Philippine Gross Domestic Product (GDP) posted a growth of 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021.
“Pangarap ko na mawala ang kahirapan, na lahat ng nananginip ng kabataan ay magkakaroon ng katuparan,” Roque said.
“Tingin ko po kinakailangan na magkaroon tayo ng isang bansa na pwedeng mangarap ang kabataan dahil pwedeng magkaroon ng katuparan ang mga pangarap,” he added.
