PNoy chides columnist over criticism vs. EDSA celebration

President Benigno Aquino III may be in Malaysia but this did not stop him from publicly rebuking a Filipino columnist for criticizing his administration's decision to hold the commemoration of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution in Cebu.

In his speech delivered before the Filipino community in Kuala Lumpur, Aquino recounted how a columnist initially praised the move to bring the celebration to Cebu since the revolt against the late President Ferdinand Marcos did not only happen in Metro Manila.

"So dapat lang naman kilalanin ang iba pang mga lugar. At para sa akin ho yung Cebu, [na] kumupkop sa nanay ko. Panatag ang loob ko na nung nandoon siya, nandoon ang taumbayan para alagaan siya," he said.

"So yung article po niya, ang dami hong paragraph, siguro po mga 80 porsyento, tama raw na dinala sa Cebu para naman hindi [mabansagan ng] 'imperial Manila.' Ang dami niya hong sinabi... basta sa dulo nun tama ang desisyon," he added.

In the end, however, he said the columnist still found something to complain about.
 
"Ang sabi niya ngayon: ‘O magkano naman kaya ang ginastos kung nilipat dito ito? ‘Yung trapik sa EDSA nilipat rin dito.’" he said.

And although saying the columnist was free to say what he wants to say, he would be confused if he had him as his adviser.

"Sa isang sentence, 'di ba, bahala na ho kayo kung pakikinggan pa natin yung ganoon," he said.

Aquino did not name the columnist but in the edition of the Philippine Star published Thursday, Bobit Avila in his column "Shooting Straight" had also praised the move to hold the celebration in Cebu but later went on to say [the] decision was probably part of the "damage control" plan of spin doctors to "buoy the morale of the Aquino presidency."

Avila also said Cebu "got nothing" from the President even after the event.

"Incidentally the province of Cebu still had nothing to do with the preparations for the EDSA celebration, as it was the work of the EDSA Commission.  All speeches were in the Tagalog language, except for Gov. Davide who spoke in English. But PNoy's visit to Cebu only brought an EDSA style traffic jam that Cebuanos never saw in the last 28 years. Now how much did that EDSA extravaganza cost us taxpayers?" he said.

But other personalities from the peaceful revolt had also expressed dismay over Malacañang's decision for the venue.

Aside from this, the President also once again poked fun at Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the P10-billion pork barrel scam, by saying the controversial businesswoman lost a chance to be featured on a popular TV drama program because of her "amnesia."

It was only after this when he finally addressed the Filipino community and trumpeted the achievements of his administration.

He specifically cited the country's GDP growth, rise in competitiveness report rankings, and the achievement of wiping out the country's classroom backlog.
 
"So palagay ko naman po... malaki-laki na ang narating natin mula nung 2010. At palagay ko nga ho, kumbaga ito yung – kumbaga sa Olympics sa swimming, nandoon na tayo sa diving board. Baka pangit naman yung diving, baka dapat trampoline na lang," he said. — LBG, GMA News