{"id":76456,"date":"2016-05-28T03:37:20","date_gmt":"2016-05-28T07:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=76456"},"modified":"2016-05-28T03:37:20","modified_gmt":"2016-05-28T07:37:20","slug":"president-aquino-says-best-president-crisis-situations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/05\/28\/president-aquino-says-best-president-crisis-situations\/","title":{"rendered":"President Aquino says he did his best as President during crisis situations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cI<\/a>
\u201cI perform my role as President. And I\u2019d like to think every minute and every second of my presidency to include even the sleeping moments,\u201d Aquino said. (Photo: Gil Nartea\/Malaca\u00f1ang Photo Bureau)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SAN JOSE, Tarlac \u2013 President Benigno S. Aquino III defended himself on Thursday from criticisms that he lacks empathy, especially during crisis situations, saying he has always acted as a true Chief Executive who thinks of restoring calm and putting things in order.<\/p>\n

During an interview here, the President cited two examples \u2013 the onslaught of typhoon \u201cYolanda\u201d and the Zamboanga siege.<\/p>\n

He recounted that he went to Tacloban City two days after typhoon \u201cYolanda\u201d struck Eastern Visayas to check the situation there and assure the people of government support.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Yung dinaanan naming kalsada ang daming tao na naglalakad, \u2018yung pabalik-balik. At siyempre alam na natin \u2018yung balita na nagkaroon na ng mga looting doon. So, parang wala akong nakitang LGU (local government unit), walang kapulisan na nagsasabing: Bakit ba tayo gala nang gala dito kung namomoroblema (problema) na tayo kung saan tayo kukuha ng tubig, pagkain, et cetera,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, ano ang ginawa ko doon? Bumaba ako at pinakiusapan ko lahat ng makausap ko doon, may nagkumpol-kumpol na grupo, sabi ko sa kanila\u2026 Alam ho niyo, parang interes ko kailangan mabigyan ng feeling of calm na may parating na ayuda na, at talaga naman may parating na,’\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, during the Zamboanga crisis, he related that there were those who insinuated that the hostages be sacrificed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDumating ako, dinalaw natin \u2018yung sugatan, pinuntahan natin\u2026 Tiningnan natin \u2018yung ibang sites, may briefing \u2018nung tactical situation, pero ang isang hindi ko makakalimutan doon, hinarap ko \u2018yung mga representante ng komunidad ng Zamboanga City, meaning \u2018yung local government unit, \u2018yung civil society, meron pang mga relihiyoso, maraming \u2013 nasa ulo ko ho \u2018yung mga mukha at saka pangalan nila, hindi ko na babanggitin,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBottom line, ang hindi ko makalimutan na bitaw na salita: \u2018Alam ho niyo matagal na itong kaguluhan sa amin at iyong interes ng mahigit 200,000 mamamayan ng Zamboanga City ay dapat mangibabaw doon sa interes ng 200 hostages.\u2019 At sabi nila doon sa dulo, doon ako medyo nagimbal nang kaunti: \u2018Kailangan tapusin na ninyo ngayon ito. Sobra na ang molestiya sa amin,\u2019\u201d he said, adding that his mind was on how to calm the people down and come up with a reasonable solution.<\/p>\n

The President said he refused and this resulted in the rescue of many hostages.<\/p>\n

More than 200 people were taken as hostages by members of the Moro National Liberation Front and only two were killed \u2013 those who tried to escape before the rescue operation, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cParang hindi bababa sa 16 sa ating kasundaluhan at kapulisan ang yumao sa pagliligtas ng mga tao pero na-achieve \u2018yung pangunahing mission: Pangalagaan ang interes ng ating mga mamamayan,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay mga lumusob, nabawi natin \u2018yung hostages, hindi tayo gumawa ng panibagong \u2013 pwede nating masabing mitsa para lalong lumaki ang gulo doon,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

President Aquino emphasized that he is not play-acting his role as Chief Executive of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI perform my role as President. And I\u2019d like to think every minute and every second of my presidency to include even the sleeping moments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE, Tarlac \u2013 President Benigno S. Aquino III defended himself on Thursday from criticisms that he lacks empathy, especially …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":76457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[3212,1148,194],"class_list":["post-76456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-aquino","tag-benigno-aquino-iii","tag-noynoy-aquino","mauthors-philippines-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}