Noy says people’s support is his greatest strength

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino believes the people’s continued support remains the greatest strength of his administration after more than four years in office.

“First of all, the strength, I think I will have to go back to the people. At the end of the day, we keep saying that the greatest resource of this country is its people. This was I think heightened in our first trips abroad,” Aquino said at The Youth Summit 2014 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City yesterday.

He said there were so many vested interests that “lorded it over all of us” and used the system to their advantage.

Aquino told participants the fear was that these groups with vested interests would band together to be able to thwart all attempts to correct the ills of society.

He said through the people’s mandate and constant support, “we have the courage to be able to fight all of these vested interests, to right the wrongs that we find in society regardless of who we had to challenge.

“The fight had to be fought. We challenged their vested interests and with the people’s support we won. So the threats do continue. People would want us to go back to a system where they are having a lot of advantages to the disadvantage of the vast majority of our countrymen. So, it is up to us to stop them from going back to the old ways and to make permanent the changes that are already happening in our country.”

Aquino said he would make it a point to visit Filipino communities abroad.

“There has been praise for all of our people as positive contributors to the host countries,” the President said, adding that this would reinforce the idea that given the right environment, the Filipino would shine in whatever endeavor he chooses to get into.

“The challenge was how to make that environment real in Philippines so that, again, we are able to maximize the opportunities for our countrymen and for them to really show their strengths,” Aquino said.

But he said there must be a lot of cooperation from the people, recalling an instance where transport operators threatened to withhold their services to the communities if they would not get their way.

Aquino said the government provided an alternative and told operators they would violate their franchise. “After that, this particular transport group became responsible citizens as opposed to dictating sectors in the rest of the community,” the President said.

He also cited the challenges he had to deal with when then chief justice Renato Corona was impeached and removed from office for failing to uphold the Constitution.