Aquino to give report on first 100 Days Thursday

President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III will give a report on his first 100 days in office on Thursday, a Malacañang official said Wednesday. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Aquino will deliver his speech on that day even though Malacañang considers Friday to be Aquino's 100th day in office. Valte said Aquino has several engagements on Friday. "He is going to give a report on the first 100 days," Valte said at a press briefing in Malacañang. "Beyond that we have not been told because we have been advised that they are still finalizing the details of the report and the logistics," she added. Aquino took his oath noontime of June 30 as the country's 15th Philippine president, replacing Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whose administration was plagued by several corruption scandals and rocked by a number of military uprisings. In an interview with reporters after the briefing, Valte did not dismiss the possibility that Aquino might include in his report Malacañang's legal review of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) report on the August 23 hostage crisis, which is perceived to be the biggest problem Aquino faced during his first 100 days. Valte said Executive Secretary Paquito "Jojo" Ochoa Jr. and chief presidential legal counsel Eduardo de Mesa are still finalizing the results of the legal review, which would show whether Aquino followed the IIRC's recommendations on who should be charged for the poorly-handled hostage situation. Aquino said previously that the full IIRC report — including the recommendations that Malacañang did not disclose before — and the Palace's legal review will be released Wednesday. He said over the weekend that most of the IIRC's recommendations were adopted. "Most of it [IIRC recommendations] in-adopt pero marami rin talaga pag pumasok ka doon sa actual implementation, baka may kinakapos na mga batas na magpe-penalize sa certain acts or omissions (Most of the recommendations were adopted but there were many points, especially concerning actual implementation, wherein some laws might be enough to punish certain acts or omissions)," he said. The IIRC last month submitted to Aquino its 83-page initial report, a portion of which was made public last September 20 and drew mixed reactions — with some praising it for holding 12 government and media officials liable while others criticized the president for withholding the last portion of the report on "Accountability and Recommendations." The IIRC later included an addendum composed of the testimonies of two survivors and the delayed ballistics report by the Philippine National Police (PNP). — RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV