EXTEMPORANEOUS ADDRESS OF DR. NORBERTO L. MERCADO
BEFORE AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR THE POOR AND MARGINALIZED, KASIH SAYANG MOUNTAIN RESORT OVERLOOKING MOUNT KINABALU, KOTA KINABALU,SABAH,MALAYSIA ON APRIL 28,2009
2010 Presidential aspirant Dr. Norberto L. Mercado posed for a sentimental photo with his son, John Mark Morales Mercado at Mt. Kinabalu, Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia. Mt. Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South East Asia, is covered with clouds.
Filipino Christians and Muslims want to show to the whole world that religion is no barrier to camaraderie and friendship. Dr. Norberto L. Mercado and his son Engr. John Mark Morales Mercado happily posed for this photo with Filipino Muslim businessmen and their assistants in Sandakan, Malaysia.
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Brothers and sisters in Christ, I will be running for President of the Philippines in the 2010 national elections in my country. Combating poverty is one major issue which I will tackle.
I am aware that I am the least -moneyed and least-known among the
candidates in our country's coming presidential elections. It will be just like the classic David and Goliath battle, for I will face Political Goliaths in my country. They have the ample campaign funds, big political machineries, and
they are well-known and well-trained in political combat.
But I am not scared in the coming battle, for I have the Lord God as my Protector and Guide - the same God who guided and protected David. In fact, I am excited to do the battle.
I am excited because I have a message from the Lord to the Filipino people. This message is centered on 2 Chronicles 7:14, in which the Lord God declares : " If My people which are called by My name shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins, and heal their land."
The first part of my campaign message is the necessity of repentance. This is God's condition for the healing and redemption of our land - that we first repent from our sins, humble ourselves, pray and seek His face.
Thus, it is not just the politicians who are called by God to repent, to turn from their wicked ways, but everybody,especially His people.
The electors who sell their votes for P500 or USD10 to the politicians must equally repent from their sins. For it is a sin to sell one's vote because this is against the law of the land. In fact, this is the major cause of corruption.
When the voters sell their votes to the politicians, these politicians will have to recoup their expenses during the campaign period. And so, when they are in office, they get involved in financial anomalies to recoup their expenses and to help those who financially helped them during the campaign also recoup their expenses.
It is no surprise then that these acts of selling and buying votes during elections result to a vicious cycle of graft and corruption which greatly affects the service of government to the poor. The government fund which is allotted to social services is greatly diminished due to financial anomalies in government projects.
And so in the coming presidential campaign, I will tell our people that
if we don't repent and turn from our evil ways, there will not be a healing of our land. For repentance is God's condition to the redeeming of the land. Without repentance, it is impossible to stop corruption in government.
The second part of my campaign message is this : Once we repent from our sins and obey the Lord, He will fulfill His promise to forgive our sins and heal our land. He will give us good ideas to redeem our nation, for the Word of God states that good and righteous ideas come from the Lord. He will also do supernatural acts to bless our land..
In response to my prayers, the Lord has given me initial ideas in redeeming the land from hunger and poverty which stalk millions of my countrymen. In direct relation to these initial ideas, I will ask the Filipino voters "FIVE QUESTIONS" during the campaign period.
The First Question : "Do you want free college and university education with monthly student allowance?"
If the voters will answer "Yes!", then I will request them to campaign for me, and vote for me and my runningmate, so that we will win and do our job. While on our way to the airport at Clark Air Field, I saw the headline of a daily tabloid which states : "MILLIONS CAN'T GO TO COLLEGE". This is why I will make free college and university education with monthly student allowance as a campaign issue.
The Second Question : " Do you want the Personal Income Tax and the Inheritance Tax on lands abolished?"
Our people are heavily taxed. We pay several direct and indirect taxes. I want to eliminate the direct taxes such as the Personal Income Tax and the tax on inherited lands to ease our people's tax burden. So I will ask the voters if they favor this. If they say "Yes!", then they should campaign for us, and vote for us so will win.
The Third Question : " Do you want the E-VAT on gasoline,oil,diesel,power,electricity,water,food and medicine completely removed, and the E-VAT on the rest of the goods and services marketed
reduced to seven per cent?"
We have to reduce the costs of goods and services to check inflation.
The Fourth Question : "Do you want the national debt solved?"
Our national budget beginning 2009 is P1.4 Trillion.
Half of this national budget will be used to pay our external and internal debt. That means only P700-Billion is left. Of the amount left, half is lost to government waste and corruption. This means that only one fourth of the annual national budget is really used for social services and other government needs. We must, therefore, solve the national debt, and we have a God-given strategy in solving this.
The Fifth Question : "Do you want more jobs, and an honest and God-fearing government?"
We will wait for the voters replies to these FIVE QUESTIONS.
All of us who are gathered here believe in the importance of prayer. When we pray, the Lord God is moved. The Lord shows us His power. The Lord God whom we worship, the Creator of the vast universe,
is powerful. Please pray for me as I prepare myself for the coming battle.
-End of Address-
