Montemayor: All politicians, except me, are thieves

Politicians will stop running for public office if there was no money to be made illegally in the government service, presidential candidate Jose Montemayor said on Saturday.

During the SMNI presidential candidates' interviews, Montemayor indicated that he would probably be the only one who would run for office if there was no money to steal via the pork barrel system.

Told that a way had been found to work around the jurisprudence outlawing the pork barrel system, Montemayor said, “Actually lahat ng politiko, except ako, no. Lahat ng politiko magnanakaw lahat yan."

"Tanggalin ninyo yung pork barrel, walang pera, walang sweldo. Ako na lang po ang tatakbo,” Montemayor said.

(Actually, all politicians, except me, are thieves... Remove the pork barrel and there will be no money, no salary. I will be the only one running.)

Montemayor said the pork barrel system led to the emergence of political dynasties in the country.

“Vicious cycle po yan kaya maraming dynasty. Alam niyo 'pag tinanggal niyo yung pork barrel, siguro ako na lang tatakbo sa buong Pilipinas na senador, congressman, kasi wala nang tatakbo,” Montemayor said.

(It's a vicious cycle that is why there are many dynasties. You know when you remove the pork barrel, maybe I will be the only candidate for senator, congressman all over the Philippines. No one will run anymore.)

The pork barrel system allowed legislators to identify projects that will be funded by their congressional entitlements after the enactment of the national budget.

It has since been deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Critics have said that corrupt officials had found a way to go around the jurisprudence.

COVID-19 pandemic recovery

Montemayor said he would focus on the preventive aspect of COVID-19 response and work to build the immunity of the people against the coronavirus.

“In our economic approach to this pandemic we have to be on the preventive aspect of what we are going to do to build the immunity of our people other than these vaccines which are still in experimental stage,” Montemayor said.

He said he would push to increase the salaries of healthcare workers.

“We should be on the proactive side in public health care because public healthcare is not only affecting the healthcare of our people but also... the economy, the way we work, even the way we do our worship is affected,” Montemayor said.

Cutting ties with China amid WPS issue

Asked about the heightened maritime dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea, Montemayor said he would cut ties with China.

“Alam niyo po pag ang isang tao complain tayo nang complain tapos pinagtatawanan lang tayo (If the person is always complaining and then the other people just laugh at him), the best thing is to cut," Montemayor said.

"We mean serious business. We can go with other countries, we can join other agreements, other security agreements, we can expand that,” he added.

Montemayor said there would be “shooting” with China if the Chinese entered the country’s waters.

“Kapampangan ako, pagmayroong pumasok ka sa territory namin we will start a shooting. Kasi pumunta ka sa aming teritoryo," Montemayor said.

"Hindi naman ako magdedeclare ng ano pero lahat incursion na nadoon eh syempre papatayin natin, kasi pupunta ka sa aming lugar na bawal naman,” he added.

(I am Kapampangan, if you enter our territory we will start shooting. Because you came to our territory. I won't declare anything but all the incursions that are there, of course we will kill them, because you will go to our place which is forbidden.) —NB, GMA News