Parents' ordeal inspires PNoy

President Benigno Aquino III admitted Wednesday (Tuesday in New York) that the problems he is facing now are nothing compared to what his parents went through. During the open forum at Asia Society where he delivered a speech, Aquino promised to emulate his parents, the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr and the late President Corazon Aquino. He likened his first two to three months in office to navigating unchartered waters, stressing that he was so burdened with “a compilation of the problems bequeathed to me by my predecessor" to the point that he became jaded of hearing the next thing that was unearthed by his Cabinet. He said gong back to what both his parents had to undergo — how they survived the challenges and how they overcame the challenges presented before them — helped him through the difficult. “I also end up by saying that the challenges before me pale in comparison to what they had to undergo and what they were able to overcome," he said. “I will not stop trying to emulate what they have done, lest I incur their wrath and to have visits from both of them to remind me of the training, the genes that they have bestowed upon me, and the experiences that they have enabled me to experience," he added. The President was the third Aquino to speak before the Asia Society. First was his father on August 4, 1980 where he delivered the popular line, “The Filipinos is worth dying for." Mrs. Aquino spoke before Asia Society in 1986. In his speech, Aquino vowed to continue the fight his parents to bring real and lasting democracy to the Philippines. “In 1981 my father spoke of the redemption of our democracy. In 1986, my mother spoke of the need to preserve democracy," he said. He said since he had taken office in July 2010, his administration had taken concrete steps to implement needed reforms to weed out corruption, end hunger and spur economic growth. “Our administration is committed to transformation: from a country where nice guys finish last, to one where those who deviate from the straight and narrow will face punishment for their crimes," he said. “Our goal is to empower the citizenry so that, regardless of who is in power, the citizenry demands the authentic rule of law. The task I have assigned to my colleagues in government is to demonstrate this by means of sustained reforms that foster merit, transparency, and accountability," he added. He cited the reforms implemented by his administration. The President said his administration trimmed National Food Authority’s debt to P153-million from P177-million in the previous administration. The Department of Public Works and Highways was also able to save some P7-billion. The President also mentioned the Finance Department’s move to promote fiscal transparency through its website called “Pera ng Bayan" or “the people’s money" that allows the public to anonymously report tax cheats, smugglers, and crooks. “The government likewise subjects government officials to lifestyle checks and vets their statements of assets and liabilities to find out if what they have acquired is commensurate with their income," Aquino said. These campaigns resulted to the filing of 67 tax evasion cases and 43 smuggling cases—with claims totaling more than P26 billion and P58.16 billion, respectively. He added the reforms resulted to having four different credit rating agencies, namely, Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch and the Japan Credit Ratings Agency, give the Philippines positive rating actions, all within a span of a year. “The World Economic Forum has also ranked us 75th in their latest Global Competitiveness Report: a ten-spot jump from last year’s 85th place. This jump is the highest for our country since it entered the survey, and I evidence that the Philippines, which opened for business under new management only a little over a year ago, is faring very well," Aquino said. - KBK, GMA News