Aquino says he could only be jailed under ‘unjust judicial system’

President Benigno S. Aquino III answers questions during the Coffee with Media held at the Maritem Hotel. The President arrived here on Friday (September 19) for the last leg of his four-nation tour of Europe to meet top Geman officials and business executives. (Photo by Robert Vinas / Malacanang Photo Bureau)

MANILA – President Aquino expressed his willingness to be imprisoned but added that he could only be jailed under an “unjust judicial system.”

“If there is a situation where we’re back to an unjust judicial system, then that is a necessary consequence,” Aquino said when asked if he was willing to be arrested and jailed if proven guilty.

Aquino made the statement during a forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

Asked about the possibility that he might be held accountable for his decisions, especially when an opposition candidate gets elected for President, Aquino said:

“I guess the best way to answer that is all the decisions I made were never spur of the moment. They were well studied and arising from the best advice I could get from various sectors. Now, at the end of the day, I think I can defend all of the decisions that we made.”

“That doesn’t mean that all of the decisions were perfect. No, that will be incorrect to say that. It will it be an impossibility for an imperfect being to come up with perfect decisions all the time. So, all I’m saying is we can defend each and every decision that we have done, and if there is an underlying question to that—that I was vindictive in the previous administration—no,” he added.