Angara to Noy: Sustain trust, confidence of public

MANILA, Philippines - A veteran senator reminded President Aquino yesterday of the need to sustain the people’s trust and confidence in his leadership by doing his best to govern the country.

Sen. Edgardo Angara said the latest Pulse Asia survey that showed 80 percent of Filipinos still trust the President should be sustained.

Angara said the downside of the survey also revealed the problems concerning the staff and members of Aquino’s Cabinet.

“That’s good because he needs that. Even though he (Aquino) is not responsible for it, there were some mistakes made by his staff, (but) the public still trusts him. That’s very important as I keep saying. Public trust is very important to governance,” Angara said.

Angara pointed out the problems were highlighted during the Luneta hostage crisis, where Aquino was criticized over his decision to retain some of the officials amid their poor performance in resolving the hostage incident.

He said Aquino was widely criticized for retaining Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno and even absolving him of any liability.

“If the people have no trust and confidence in you, no matter how good your intentions and programs are, it will not be possible to implement them,” he said.

Angara noted the big approval ratings of Aquino, almost equal to the trust ratings given the President from all regions in the country.

“That’s a good capital for the President, and I hope that he utilizes it and husbands it because confidence is a very perishable commodity,” Angara added.

Angara said the President’s late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, also had a high level of trust and confidence but it only lasted for about a year before her administration was besieged by several coup attempts. Mrs. Aquino, however, survived all coup attempts and finished her term.

Angara added members of the presidential staff have shown improvement in their performance after five months of the Aquino presidency.

Angara also defended Aquino’s decision not to fire his speechwriter Mai Mislang. He said it would not be easy to let go of people whom you trusted.

“You can’t get any staff especially from the private sector if you are trigger happy every time they commit a mistake,” Angara said.