PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III accused his “persistent critics” of spreading lies about his health to reduce the value of his endorsement for the 2016 elections.
In a speech delivered during his visit in Tiaong, Quezon, to attend a briefing on a new toll road project, Aquino said his critics were spreading these rumors to further their own agenda.
“You have probably heard different versions of the rumor that began spreading midnight Friday and into Saturday that I collapsed in Malacañang, that I was seriously ill, or that I was in the ICU. Then when they saw I was fine on Saturday, they said we spread the rumors ourselves to gain public sympathy. For those who were taken in, here is a reminder: we have nothing to gain from rumors,” the President said in Filipino.
He attacked his critics for spreading lies that have no basis but only create angst, chaos and confusion in the minds of the public.
These same critics, he added, only want to grab power and return the country to the old corrupt system of government.
During his speech, the President also cited his administration’s accomplishments, particularly in improving the economy.
He cited the reduction in the backlog of classrooms, school chairs and textbooks, and played up the government’s massive dole program, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino that he said benefited 96,101 poor households in the province of Quezon.
He also said the coverage rate for PhilHealth, the state-run health insurance company, in Quezon had reached 84.5 percent, or almost 1.8 million residents.
In terms of infrastructure, Aquino pointed to the start of the P13.1 billion South Luzon Expressway-Toll Road 4 project, a briefing for which he had just attended.