Manila Hotel
23 October 2013

President Benigno S. Aquino III joined the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) in their Annual Presidential Forum at Manila Hotel.  This is the third time that the President met with the media group.

In his speech, the President explained that the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) is the same stimulus package that he announced two years ago, and that this is the same program that led to the country’s economic boom.  Because of this, the government was able to relocate informal settlers living in critical areas, build the necessary infrastructures through the DPWH, upgrade the facilities of government hospitals such as the Lung Center, Philippine Children’s Medical Center and Philippine Heart Center.  Likewise, this is the same stimulus program that funded TESDA’s Training for Work Scholarship Program and the electrification of 1,513 sitios in the country.

President Aquino also asked the journalists to separate the important from the frivolous, the spin from facts and the malicious lies from the simple truth in their reports.

After delivering his statement, President Aquino answered some questions from the foreign correspondents.  Among the issues that were raised include the country’s claim on the Scarborough, the human rights violation during the Zamboanga crisis and the delay of some of the Public Private Partnership program.

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