Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Friday said her legacy to the Philippines was financial stability that enabled the country to weather various financial crises that threatened it after she stepped down from the presidency in 2010.
At the same time, Arroyo thanked the people who stuck with her through thick and thin in her roller coaster life-political career.
Celebrating her 72nd birthday anniversary Friday, Arroyo wished for the good of the Filipino as she talked about her legacy that she hoped history would remember her for.
Arroyo, while her legacy may not be as dramatic as those of other world leaders, said she would like to be remembered as the President who brought fiscal stability to her country after a global crisis that dramatically reduced the poverty rate.
“I like to think that my legacy will center around restoring our country’s fiscal stability after the storms on financial crisis here and abroad.
“The restoration of fiscal stability was the platform for my program that built more and better infrastructures, and that reduced our poverty from 39 percent when I assumed the presidency, to 26 percent when I left the presidency,” Arroyo said, speaking after the 8 a.m. Mass celebrated in her honor at the San Agustin Church in her hometown Lubao in Pampanga.
When asked what was her birthday wish, she said it “is the good of the Filipino people always.”
Arroyo also repeated her earlier statement that she would concentrate on writing her memoirs after she steps down as speaker on June 30, 2019.
But she declared she planned to be the consultant of the Pampanga provincial government so she could continue helping her home province.
“Pampanga Governor [Lilia] Pineda asked me to tell you that I will serve as consultant of the province after I have stepped down from the speakership,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo was joined by her family, husband lawyer Mike Arroyo, children, former Reps. Mikey and Dato and their children, several members of the House of Representatives, Pineda, local officials of Pampanga as well as friends and families.
Before the Mass, Arroyo joined the opening of the Hot Air Balloon Festival at Pradera Verde in Lubao at 6 a.m. with Pineda.
Several ambassadors also personally greeted her as they called on her in her house in Lubao.
They were Ali Ibrahim Al-Malki of the State of Qatar, Daniel Robert Pruce of the United Kingdom and Songkane Luangmuninthone of Laos.
