Sunday, January 30, 2011

Aquino to media: Why focus on negative issues?

President Benigno Aquino III on Sunday expressed exasperation over what he perceived as the media’s propensity to focus on the negative issues instead of the positive ones.

During the K4Phil Intercessors' Convergence at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, Aquino cited as example the attention given to his armored Lexus and the corruption in the military last Friday.

He lamented that the media focused more on these issues than the P29 billion worth of dividends remitted by several government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), which he said was higher than last year’s remittance of only P9 billion.

Hindi naman sa pagmamalaki, last year P9 billion lang ang ni-remit nila, malaki-laki naman ang angat ng P29 billion sa P9 billion. Itong perang ito gugugulin natin sa mga kababayan nating kapos palad. Kapag binasa ninyo sa mga diyaryo, hahanapin ninyo wala sa front page," he said.

(When you read the papers, the P29 billion that was a big improvement from last year’s P9 billion was not in the front page.)

He said there had been other good news that were overlooked by the press, like the discovery of a potential natural gas source in Mindoro Occidental, an oil source in Palawan, a $1-billion investment from Japan, and the discounts granted the Philippines in a peso bond flotation that is set to mature soon.

Aquino said some media personnel may be just turning a blind eye on positive developments under his administration. “Mahirap ipakita sa nagbubulagbulagan, at ipadinig sa nagbibingibingihan. Basta kami magtatrabaho na lang (It’s hard to show things to someone who’s playing blind, as well as inform people who do not want to listen)," he said.

Aquino, however, did not identify any particular journalist whom he said is very critical of him, but added that people affected by the reforms that he has been implementing, like those at the National Food Authority, are probably behind the criticisms and attacks against him. - KBK, GMANews.TV

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