THE opposition has plans to grab credit for the accomplishments of the Aquino administration once the campaign for 2016 elections starts, President Benigno Aquino III claimed on Monday.
“We must not forget: It is in the game plan of the opposition to Daang Matuwid to minimize our accomplishments. Others will even report claiming they are the ones who did the accomplishments of the administration, which we worked hard for,” said Aquino at the Liberal Party Convention at the Club Filipino in San Juan City.
“Even those who are criticizing the government due to the traffic, once the Skyway Stage 3 is inaugurated, as well as other of our projects. Just think about this, when they are the ones inaugurating [the projects of the Aquino administration], they might be readying a ‘marker’ as early as today, stating that they are the ones who established [the project],” Aquino said.
“And saying that they are the ones who solved the traffic problem, and they are the ones who have the thickest face,” said Aquino, who urged LP members not to be silent against attacks of critics and advised them not to stop working.
“The sacrifices of those who were ahead of us are at stake,” Aquino said. “The future of 100-million Filipinos is also at stake.”
Aquino, however, has also been criticized for credit-grabbing, the latest of which was during the World Economic Forum last May when he claimed he established anti-corruption programs in the Bureau of Internal Revenues.
“Our efforts were not limited to those in the highest positions; we want to institute integrity throughout the bureaucracy. This is why, through programs called Revenue Integrity Protection Services, Run After The Smugglers, and Run After Tax Evaders, we have filed a total of 487 cases against those who allegedly committed offenses as of April 15, 2014,” Aquino said.
The three programs, however, were all established through separate orders by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2003 to 2008.
In May, the family of Filipino overseas worker Mary Jane Veloso, who is on death row in Indonesia, slammed Aquino for claiming credit for Veloso’s stay of execution when the government allegedly mishandled her case.