President Benigno Aquino III assures Filipinos
that his administration is doing its best to address corruption – a point
raised by Pope Francis in some of his homilies during his five-day State and
Pastoral visit to the country from January 15-19, 2015.
”That’s what we are doing since day one,” he told
reporters during an ambush interview after the send-off ceremony for the
Ponfiff at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City Monday (Jan. 19).
The President cited that even the Bureau of
Corrections (BuCor) has been directed to address corruption issues.
BuCor is currently in limelight after a visit by
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed that some inmates are given special
privileges as proven by their air-conditioned quarters that also has Jacuzzi
and music room among others.
Aquino said the fight against corruption will
not stop but also stressed that everything has to be done through right
processes.
”As a saying goes the measures of democracy is
not how you defend your friend’s rights but the right of your enemy,” he said.
On the issue of poverty, which Pope Francis also
included in his homilies, Aquino said the government continues to help the
needy through its various intervention program like the Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program (4Ps).
He said some 2.5 million poor Filipinos have
been alleviated from poverty through these various pro-poor programs and about
one to 1.6 million new jobs have been created as of 2013.
He said results of the poverty alleviation
programs will not be felt overnight but stressed that the government is slowly
achieving its targets.
Meanwhile, asked for his assessment on the
security implemented during the Pope’s visit, the President said there is still
some room for fine-tuning especially since the country is hosting this year’s
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings.
Also, Aquino said the Pope told him that he is
very happy during his stay in the country.
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