Presidential candidate Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday, April 26, said she plans to boost the local production of fertilizers or “abono” so farmers won’t suffer from high importation costs that eat away at their profits.

Speaking at the “Pasabdal sa Isla: People’s Coalition Rally, Mindorosas 2.0,” the Vice President noted that she and running mate Sen. Kiko Pangilinan has a program to address the high costs of fertilizers.

“Halimbawa po, para mapababa 'yung presyo ng abono, magpo-produce na po tayo locally. Ngayon kasi 'yung abono lahat imported kaya napakamahal, wala po tayong control sa presyo ng abono (For example, to lower the price of fertilizers, we need to produce locally. Now the fertilizers are all important so it’s very expensive, we do not have control on the price of the fertilizer),” Robredo said at the Plaza de Francisco M. Sanchez in Lubang, Occidental Mindoro.

The aspiring president also wants to provide farming equipment to modernize the farms and lower the cost of production.

“Kaya hindi natin kayang makipag kompetensya sa mga imported na produkto dahil napakamura ng produkto nila, sa atin mahal (That’s why we cannot compete with imported products because their products are very cheap, ours are expensive),” she added.

“Mahal ang produkto natin kasi hindi pa modernized 'yung ating mga farms pero 'yung mga imported, marami 'yung subsidy ng gobyerno nila kaya mababa 'yung presyo nila (Our products are expensive because our farms are not yet modernized but the imported, many of them have subsidy from the government so their prices are lower),” she explained.

Robredo promised that if she wins as president, her government will only import products as needed.

Her administration’s priority will be to buy directly from Filipino farmers.

She has the same plans for the fisherfolk, particularly those in San Jose who now work in construction because they cannot compete with big Chinese fishing vessels.

“So ako po, pag ako naging Pangulo, mag-iinvest ang pamahalaan para siguruhin na hindi madedehado ang ating mga mangingisda (if I become president, the government will invest to make sure that our fisherfolk will not be at a disadvantage),” Robredo said.

The lone female presidential candidate also talked about her plans for women and tricycle drivers and operators, and promised to solve the electricity and internet connection problems in the province.

Robredo promised that she will be the kind of president that the people will see, and that she will make sure she personally knows her people’s problems.