CEBU, Philippines - The newly designated deputy palace spokesperson called President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo the best president the country has ever had.
Former Quezon City vice mayor Charito Planas said that the President does not deserve the treatment she is getting from critics.
“I’m 79 now and I’ve lived through the administrations of all presidents since Quezon, and I can tell you, pagsama-samahin mo man lahat ng presidente, hindi mapapantayan ang kasipagan ni Presidente Arroyo (Compared to all other presidents, nobody can equal President Arroyo’s focus on the job),” she said .
“I feel for her,” Planas added. “Masyado na siyang bugbog. Para bang wala nang nagawa. (She’s all beat up. As if she had not done anything for the country). Yet in spite of that, she keeps on going. That means, she’s focused,” she said.
Describing herself as a staunch advocate of positive thinking, Planas called on people to look at things in a positive light so that the country can move on.
“We’ll go nowhere by being negative,” the lady-lawyer said after being introduced by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita as a replacement for former deputy spokespersons Lorelei Fajardo and Anthony Golez.
“With a positive mind, we can all fly high,” she added.
According to Planas, she is not out to defend the President in her new designation. Rather, she said, she will try to project her as a human being, “one who has done so much to uplift the lives of Filipinos.
“The President has done so much, yet she is always criticized,” she also said. - THE FREEMAN