PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III on Friday again expressed confidence that the Liberal Party’s standard bearer Manuel Roxas II would win in this year’s presidential election.
“I am more confident than ever before that the Philippines is indeed in good hands—that even as I step down from office, this nation will choose to tread the Straight Path,” Aquino said in a speech at the opening of the third Global Society Business Summit and Gawad Kalinga’s 13th anniversary at the Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm in Bulacan.
Aquino never mentioned Roxas’ name, but he said he was confident that the Filipino voters would still choose the “Straight Path.”
“Will we continue the Straight Path or will we go back to our old situation? We have seen the results of the crooked policies and selfish ways,” Aquino said during the signing of a contract for the Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project at the Provincial Capitol in Malolos, Bulacan.
“The Filipino knows the right direction which the nation must pursue. The Filipinos will still carry our collective vision for a more developed and more prosperous Philippines.
“As father of the nation, I have a duty to pursue the best interest of the majority. We must focus on…addressing the needs our countrymen not only today but also on the next generations.”
Aquino said the Gawad Kalinga had reached many Filipinos in need, building 2,500 communities in the Philippines and most of them in the areas that were most vulnerable to calamity and conflict.
He also cited the Conditional Cash Transfer program or dole to the poor.
“We have increased the budget of this program more than six-fold, and its coverage has skyrocketed from around 786,000 in June 2010 to around 4.4 million households today,” Aquino said.
“The goal now is to reach 4.6 million households for this year. One would expect that the results of such a program would only be seen in the long term, but the early results are promising.”