San Juan Rep. Joseph Victor Ejercito yesterday said that if he is elected senator, he will work for the interest of Negros Occidental and its sugar industry in the Senate.

Ejercito, whose mother, San Juan Mayor Guia Gomez, is from Bacolod and Silay cities, said at a press conference at L ‘Fisher Hotel in Bacolod yesterday morning, that he supports the proposed Sugarcane Act of Rep. Alfredo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District).

It is sad that not enough government safety nets and supports are in place with the tariff on imported sugar expected to drop to 5 percent by 2015, said Ejercito, who was hospitalized Sunday night in Bacolod due to pain caused by kidney stones.

“If I make it to the Senate…rest assured that, as a Negrense, I will want to protect and support the industry of Negros…I would never forget my roots,” he said.

If elected to the Senate he will also continue to fight for higher subsidies for state universities and colleges, and push for the further development of agriculture and tourism in the country, he added.

The President, during his State of Nation Address, said there will be a 40 percent increase in the budget of state universities and colleges, which is “a victory because we made noise,” Ejercito said.

Ejercito yesterday also congratulated the Bacolod City government and the organizers of the MassKara Festival, which he called “a great spectacle to watch”.

“I was really impressed at how organized it was….it was really fun,” he said.

He noted that one could not even walk in a straight line down the Tourism Strip in Bacolod City during the Electric MassKara because there were so many people.

Ejercito said, he is getting tips from the MassKara Festival to further improve the Wata-Wata Festival in San Juan City.

He said that while the Estrada name of his father, former president Joseph Estrada, is a big factor in his making it to the number three and four slots in the surveys on senatorial candidates, more than 50 percent of the country’s voters are young people who are hard to please and look for performance in those seeking public office.

Ejercito said he is not running for the Senate banking on the last name of his father as an investment, he is running for the senate because he believes he has the performance and track record to back him up.

Ejercito said that, as of mayor San Juan he was named a TOYM (Ten Outstanding Young Men) awardee, and was also named an outstanding congressman.

He said he is supporting the re-election bids of Silay Vice Mayor Mark Golez and Board Member Patrick Lacson in the 2013 polls as both are friends and members of his father’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.

Ejercito yesterday paid a courtesy call on Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. at the Capitol in Bacolod City. On Saturday night he met with Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr. *CPG

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