Aquino (UPDATE) Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:46:00 10/02/2010
THE COUNTRY'S first bachelor president will mark his first 100 days in office next Friday with a mix of early accomplishments and some serious setbacks attributed by detractors to inexperience and inefficiency.
But President Benigno Aquino III prefers to look at the proverbial glass as "half-full" rather than "half-empty."
"There are really some people whose purpose in life is to always see the glass as half-empty and who no longer see that it is also half-full," he said in Filipino in an ambush interview with reporters in Tondo, Manila.
"But perhaps, I will just be tolerant. To me, as long as the people see and appreciate what we are doing, which is for the majority, I'm content."
Catching 'big fishes'
Aquino, who was catapulted to power on the strength of high trust ratings and expectations, rattled off a number of what he called "changes" in government after he assumed office on June 30.
He cited the campaign against tax evaders where the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs took turns every week in filing cases against the so-called "big fishes."
Last month, the BOC filed a case against three oil company executives for allegedly defrauding the government P700 million in unpaid taxes six years ago.
Two months earlier, the Department of Finance and the BIR sued William Villarica, owner of Villarica pawnshops, for not filing income tax returns from 1998 to 2009.
Villarica declared an aggregate payment of only P25,600 even if he allegedly owned several sports cars.
The President also cited as an accomplishment the suspension of questionable bonuses and other perks received by board members of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).
"There are actually a lot of things that we will point out in our 100-day report," he said.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Friday said the President deserved a grade above the passing mark for his performance within his first 100 days in office.
Sidelined a bit
"I would like to say we are sidelined a bit by the [Incident Investigation and Review Committee], but we are on track," Lacierda said in a press briefing.
He was referring to the August 23 hostage crisis, which was apparently mishandled by local authorities and which left eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage-taker dead.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:46:00 10/02/2010
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
