Gibo confident he has Baguio City's votes

BAGUIO CITY - Administration presidential bet Gilberto “Gibo" Teodoro Jr. on Sunday expressed confidence that he has the support of the majority of people in this mountain city in the bag. “I am confident that I have a big chance of winning [here] because the local leadership is with us. I know the situation in Baguio. I speak the language. And most of all, people here in Baguio are thinking people," he said at a press conference here. Teodoro, who was attending the closing ceremonies of the Panagbenga Festival, said he has the support of the city’s local officials, including incumbent Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan. He described his visit to what is dubbed as the “Summer Capital of the Philippines" as a “homecoming," noting that his great grandfather, J.J. Murphy, was the paymaster of Gen. Lyman Kennon, who built one of the major roads that leads to the city. He said one of his grandmothers also came from here. “Madalas kami dito dahil ang lola ko taga- Baguio. Maganda naman na makihalo rito sa Panagbenga. Parang homecoming na rin (I frequent this place because my grandmother came from here. It’s nice to mingle with people during the Panagbenga Festival. This also a sort of homecoming for me)," he said. While in Baguio, Teodoro went around Burnham Park where he shook hands with tourists and spoke with natives in fluent Ilocano. He watched the float parade at the Athletic Bowl and toured a local mall, where he was mobbed by supporters wanting to shake his hand and take his picture. Tourism Teodoro said the Panagbenga Festival, a month-long flower festival celebrated every February, was a good showcase of “domestic interconnection." “As I went around, I noticed that most of the people here now are not from Baguio. They are from Metro Manila, Laguna, Visayas and even Mindanao. Domestic tourism is a really important niche for the domestic market," he said.

If elected to Malacañang, the former Defense chief said he would make Baguio City more accessible to tourists by ensuring that all three major roads leading to it—Kennon Road, Marcos Highway and Naguilian Road—would remain passable in all weather conditions. “Dapat maisaayos ang mga kinakailangang imprastraktura upang hindi na maulit ang mga landslides. Kailangan siguraduhin na ang mga kalye, sa lahat ng weather ay maayos (The necessary infrastructures should be maintained so as to prevent more landslides. We have to make sure that these roads are passable in all weather conditions)," he said. He also proposed the reopening of Loakan Airport in Baguio City to commercial air services. The airport has stopped serving commercial flights for more than a year. “Ang maganda, buksan ang (It will be good if we can open the) Baguio City Airport. There is no way that it should remain closed. It is the only way of bringing in much needed supplies to Baguio," he said. Baguio City, one of the country's major sources of vegetable produce, was isolated from the rest of Luzon during the onslaught of cyclone Pepeng last October, when Teodoro was still head of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC). Teodoro likewise said that he will push for the ecological rehabilitation of Baguio City and the reformulation of the city’s land use plan if elected to the presidency in May. - KBK, GMANews.TV