President Benigno S. Aquino III has sworn into office a group of newly-appointed government officials led by Tourism Secretary Ramon Reyes Jimenez Jr. as well as several generals and flag officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
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Malacanang announced on Saturday the appointment of two ambassadors, as well as officials for the Land Registration Authority (LRA), National Transmission Corporation (TRANSCO) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
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Kabataan Partylist National Capital Region asked President Benigno Simeon ‘Noynoy’ Aquino about his campaign promises of ‘Daang Matuwid’. As the PNoy adminstration turned one, the group launched its cyber campaign to address the issues faced by the sector and the people. ‘Dear PNoy, ano na?’ is a page created to further register dismay and condemnations of the president’s dismal performance to uplift the condition of the youth and the people.
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Below is a press statement from Secretary Joel Villanueva, Director General of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA):

Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo missed an important point when she heaped criticism on President Benigno Aquino III’s “nobody home” leadership.

The more accurate state of affairs when she stepped down from office last year after her nine-year stint could be aptly described as “Nothing Left at Home.”
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Here is the speech of President Aquino at the anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine Independence, June 12, 2011 at Kawit, Cavite:
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President Benigno Aquino III for the first time will lead the Independence Day celebration in Kawit, Cavite.

Aquino said that there’s no other place for the celebration but Cavite.
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President Benigno Aquino III will lead this year’s 113th Independence Day celebration on Sunday, June 12, that will start with a flag-raising ceremony in Kawit, Cavite.
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Here is the speech of His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III, President of the Philippines, upon being conferred with an honorary Doctoral degree in Economics by the Kasetsart University, Thailand
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The first international trip of President Benigno Aquino III brought home good news as he returned to the country from the US early Tuesday morning.

The president announced that his trip yielded $2.8 billion (more than P120 billion) that would be poured into the Philippine economy mostly as investments. More than 10,000 jobs will be generated from the said investment.

“In church where we are taught to be humble, I’m sorry for my lack of a little humility, but we will be bringing home not less than $2.7 billion in new investments,” Mr. Aquino told the Filipino faithful at the Basilica of Mission Dolores.

In particular, the billion investments resulted from $2.4 billion came from two corporations and $434-million grant from the US government-run Millennium Challenge Corporation.

On the other hand, Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes noted that Aquino missed a very important discourse with the US President Barack Obama. This is the long-time issue between US and RP which is the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). According to Reyes, the money given by America was possibly to shut up the president regarding the VFA matter.

Instead, Aquino and Obama discussed the possible removal of thousands of tons of ammunition left behind by US forces on Corregidor Island during World War II.

The President with the members of his delegation—Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo and Energy Secretary Rene Almendras—attended not less than 45 meetings for the betterment of our people.

Here is the official statement of Pres. Aquino regarding the Manila hostage taking incident which killed 4 Chinese nationals:

With the rest of the Filipino people, I wish to offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims whose lives were lost in the hostage situation at the Quirino Grandstand. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs has conveyed our deep feelings of sorrow to the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China and the people of Hong Kong through Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang. I have tasked Secretaries Soliman and Lim to provide everything necessary for the recovery and return home of the survivors. I have directed the fullest cooperation with the Hong Kong authorities on the part of our officials.

From the onset of this incident, the hostage-taker seemed to not be belligerent, as shown by the release of hostages. These were encouraging signs.

We were going to wait him out. The idea was to let the ground commanders who are the experts in this field handle the operation with minimal interference from people who are less expert.

But the situation deteriorated rapidly when, during the course of the negotiations, he was given the letter of the Ombudsman in which she promised to personally review his case. As he was reading the contents of the letter, while talking to an unknown individual on the phone, he became increasingly agitated.

The presence of his brother also added to the tension.

At this point, he threatened to kill a hostage. The police decided to remove the brother from the scene. As the negotiators were departing, the negotiators were shot at.

Media coverage of his brother being taken into custody further agitated the hostage-taker.

Shots were fired. They seemed to be warning shots, as there was no audible indication of tumult or chaos to show that the hostages were in immediate danger.

Nonetheless, the negotiators tried to reestablish contact with the hostage-taker but they were unsuccessful as the cellphone of the hostage-taker was continuously busy. He also refused to answer the throw-phone provided for him by the authorities.

The escape of the driver, combined with his reports that the hostages were being harmed, forced the assault to happen. When the vehicle began to move, and with reports that he had hand grenades, a decision was made to immobilize the vehicle as it would have made the situation even more dangerous.

As we know, the incident tragically ended in the deaths of eight innocent civilians.

We expect more of the facts to come to light and I have ordered Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to thoroughly lead this review.

President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III would not prioritize the amendment of Charter Change even if would help the peace agreement with the 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

While Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) chief negotiator Marvic Leonen believes that cha-cha is a lasting peace settlement with the rebel groups in Mindanao, PNoy never closed his door to cha-cha but still it is not one of his priorities.

As of late, there were two Cha-cha proposals in the house. One came from Pampanga 2nd district Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s House Resolution 8. The other is filed by La Union 1st district Rep. Victor Ortega stated in House Joint Resolution 3.

However, the administration is optimistic in providing peace with the MILF.

President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III supports the passing of bill that would not use the name of politicians in government projects. The said bill was proposed by his ally Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero.

Senate Bill No. 2187 will criminalize the practice of naming government projects after public officials and persons associated with them. Under this proposed bill, violators shall be punished with one-year imprisonment and a fine of P100,000 to P1 million depending on the amount of the government project concerned. The bill, however, says that the National Historical Commission of the Philippines may exempt projects depending on its guidelines or regulations.

“President Aquino totally agrees with that. He doesn’t want any projects named after him. All projects are from taxpayers and the taxpayers should be recognized, not the proponents,” Lacierda said.

Escudero stated that naming the government projects is a reflection of “false inflated sense of accomplishment to public officials to their constituency.”