Cagayan de Oro City Councilor and First District Congress aspirant Atty. Lordan Suan on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 said that he will pass special laws for the city if elected in congress.
Suan, currently the CDO Council Minority Floor Leader, said that he aims to pass special laws for economic zones, funding for the Department of Health-run Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) medical campus development, the establishment of a city college, agri-tourism development in rural areas, disaster resiliency and an updated aid program (ayuda) and comprehensive land use program.
"We want to file a law that will develop economic zones in our city, so more jobs will be created and the economy will grow. We want to make our city attractive to more investors and to facilitate that, we need to enable corresponding laws," Suan said.
Suan said that the national aid program (ayuda) needs to be overhauled to make it transparent and responsive to the needs of time.
"We need the ayuda system to be transparent. Beneficiaries must get what is due them," Suan stressed.
Suan added that the local and national lists of beneficiaries must be updated, cross checked and verified to allow transmission of aid efficiently.
"We cannot allow that just because some beneficiaries aren’t physically present during the ayuda distribution, they are no longer qualified to receive them. There must be a better way. We aim to push for that in Congress.”
Suan also said that special economic zones that cater low to high tech industries can be created in Cagayan de Oro.
Meanwhile, Suan wants to push for a city-owned state college that will provide free tertiary education.
"As of now, the city has close to three thousand city college scholars but we can do more with our own city college," Suan said.
Suan added that special economic zones will need college graduates and technical course graduates for their human resources. "The city college graduates can eventually be the source of that need," Suan added.
Suan is also batting for NMMC's facilities enhancement program. The Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) is one of the banner programs of the government for the upgrading of health facilities as well as providing training to health professionals to improve the access of people to quality health care. However, these were not funded in 2020.
Suan said that he will file a law that will make NMMC a 1500-bed facility and will provide for more medical needs, not only for the city residents but also for the region.
Suan added that he will also seek more funds for the city-owned JR Borja General Hospital system. "We need to work closely with DOH and DPWH for funding to further develop our JRBGH system.”
Suan is also batting for Agro-tourism development in the city's rural areas which are ripe for sustainable development. "We need to identify which areas have key potentials for sustainable tourism development," Suan said.
As Northern Mindanao is ever expanding, the need to further develop eco-tourism is also increasing. Suan sees this as an opportunity for city residents to work within city limits in the tourism industry.
"Tourism is a big boost to our economy, and there is so much potential for an inclusive tourism industry," Suan said.
Suan will also look into identifying key infrastructure projects in the city that need to be funded continuously.
"As we all know, the government infrastructure spending is getting bigger. We want a bigger share of that. In order to secure proper infrastructure projects allocation, we need to work cohesively with DPWH," Suan said.
Suan said that he will work with other congressmen from Mindanao so that Mindanao can get a bigger share of the national budget.
"More infrastructure projects will be identified for Cagayan de Oro and we will work in Congress along with Congressman Rufus Rodriguez to make sure that these will become a reality," Suan said.
