Aquino hits media focus on negative, his love fling

The good and the beautiful should be highlighted in local newspapers instead of intrigues and the negative, President Aquino lectured reporters yesterday on his arrival from a recent visit to Japan for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum Leaders’ Summit citing the penchant of local media to delve on his romantic flings and highlighting stories that denigrated the capability of Filipino boxing icon and Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao who recently won his eighth title in a lopsided win against Mexican opponent Antonio Margarito.

In an arrival statement he delivered at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Aquino expressed dismay with how some local media came out with their stories about Pacquiao before his recent fight with a stronger and bigger Margarito at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“I just mentioned Manny whom I have spoken to yesterday and when I boarded the airplane earlier, I saw some of the (local) newspapers — I think it was yesterday’s issue—one of it stated: ‘Greatest battle of Manny Pacquiao,’ the other one said: ‘Manny needs more hopes.’ It

just made me wonder why it is that we would discourage Manny on the day that he would take on the challenge itself. Maybe we could have just said that: ‘Manny we’re behind you’; ‘Manny we are praying for you’ and I hope that would also apply to us,” Aquino related.

Aquino cited the likelihood that supposed economic gains he brought home from the APEC meeting will get less prominence in most newspapers since most are feasting on stories about his lovelife that was after his owb admission that he is currently dating his stylist, Liz Uy, confirming speculations that his relationship with Valenzuela City Councilor Shalani Soledad had ended.

“I guess I would like to make an appeal [because] I think tomorrow, when I open the newspapers, my lovelife is the one being discussed once again. But it doesn’t matter… Perhaps it would be better if we focus our attention on: how are we going to stop the hunger, end the hostilities, manage healthcare? Bottom line: how am I going to help my neighbor? That should be our only response and our only focus…” Aquino said.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, meanwhile, said he would rather hear about investment commitments Aquino received from his Apec stint in Japan rather than the Chief Executive’s “lovelife.”

Zubiri was reacting on the kind of reports that have come out on Aquino’s trip to Japan, the most notable of which, was on Aquino having admitted that he is now back in the dating game following a recent break-up with Soledad, his girlfriend of nearly two years.

“It shouldn’t be a topic to be discussed. I think we should focus on the APEC summit – what our President is bringing home after the APEC summit, what agreement he has reached with APEC leaders rather than his lovelife,” he said.

Zubiri and other senators, however, do not blame the President for the kind of media coverage he has been receiving lately.

“I empathize with the President. I personally also married late. I married at 36. So I know the pressures of public service can put a lot of pressure on your lovelife. Let’s give him some slack,” he said.

“We are all public servants and we have responsibilities to the public. But when it comes to love life, let’s leave it at that, give him some space. He has the right to fall in love with whoever he wants and he has the right to privacy,” he added.

Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, a known critic of the Aquino administration, this time around, expressed sympathy on the President.

“You know that the President wants to get the job done and he does not want to get the public distracted by his lovelife, however, colorful. So in one sense, I would like for all of us to respect his wishes, and allow him to focus on the job. On the other hand, as a public figure, every aspect of your life is fair game.

“Remember, a lot of people admire the President not only of the presidency, or the political life but on how they handle the ins and outs of being a celebrity. I don’t think he is going to get his wish.

“A happy president works hard,” Cayetano said.

Aquino also has reportedly criticized the media before members of the Filipino community in Yokohama over what he claimed as excessive emphasis on the mistakes committed by his administration so far.

According to reports, Aquino has cautioned them on the possibility that they might not get all the news about what is happening in the country because the media, he claimed, has the tendency “to scratch on what were just tiny scrapes” of his government.

Aquino has even conveyed to reporters that he is already bracing for criticisms that may be hurled against him by the media once again despite the $ 5.45-billion worth of total estimated investments that he supposedly secured from his four-day visit to Japan.

“Here I am today, delivering the good things we obtained from our recent trip to Japan but I think there will be new criticisms again come tomorrow but that’s okay. We’ve gotten not lower than P2.85-billion worth of new investments and if we’ll just allow it, there are still new business ventures to come whose worth is estimated at not lower than $2.6-billion which is already at the final stages of their preparations,” he said in his arrival speech.

Aquino relayed that a Japanese company expressed willingness to build a sugar plantation somewhere in Isabela that would supply ethanol to help the biofuels program of his administration and provide jobs to about 15,000 farmers in that area.

He also mentioned that the large portion of the $2.85-billion new investments would go to expansion projects for the energy sector in answer to the country’s growing problem on power supply even as the economy allegedly continues to improve.

“Even if we would encounter a problem in the supply of electricity which is the concern of the others, here they [investors] are willing to commit hundreds of megawatts. They even went beyond our estimated reserves. Who wouldn’t be happy about it? The electricity that would support the growth of our economy is already here and, of course, if the supply continues with no changes in the demand, it will have a better price,” Aquino claimed. –Aytch S. de la Cruz and Angie M. Rosales, Daily Tribune