(Photo: Benhur Arcayan/Malacañang Photo Bureau)
MANILA – With only 23 days left before he steps down, President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday said he can go anywhere in the country without fear of being blamed for not helping the countryside throughout his six-year presidency.
“There is no place in the country that I’m afraid to go to because we neglected them,” Aquino said in an exclusive interview with Rappler.com. founder Maria Ressa.
President Aquino said his administration has implemented numerous infrastructure projects, including a skyway that will connect the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).
“We can talk about multiples of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) families and so many other achievements,” he said.
The beneficiaries of the 4Ps or the Cash Conditional Transfer (CCT) program have increased significantly from over 700,000 in 2010 to 4.4 million active household-beneficiaries, including 570,056 indigenous households.
The outgoing leader of the country believed that his administration has eliminated “a lot of these problems.”
“We’ve planted the right seeds and it’s for you to nurture so that we will have the real growth or the complete growth that we all aspire for,” he added.
Under the Aquino administration, the Philippines’s label as the ‘’Sick Man of Asia” has been eradicated, thanks to the anti-corruption campaign that made the country’s economy as one of the fast growing in Asia.
President Aquino said he was very honored to serve the Filipino people for the last six years.
He will step down on June 30 as the country’s 15th President, hoping incoming President Rodrigo Duterte will continue the good programs that the Aquino administration have started.