Aquino III beats President Obama…

President Benigno Aquino III said the honour of being chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the world in 2012, where he beats US President Barack Obama, belongs to the country, describing himself as merely the “face” of Filipinos.

“First they gave me the chance to serve, and they continue to support me,” he told reporters in the central Philippine city of Lapu-Lapu, in Cebu province, on Friday night. “I’m accepting that honour on their behalf, rather than for myself.”

Aquino III was second in list after Rand Paul, a junior US senator from Kentucky, while Obama placed third.

The list has five categories, namely, Titans, Leaders, Artists, Pioneers and Icons.

Aquino III was in Lapu-Lapu City on Friday for the groundbreaking of the Mactan Circumferential Road, where he said in his speech that the backlog of 66,800 classrooms in public schools nationwide would be erased by the end of the year.

He cited a report from the Department of Education that the building of these classrooms will be matched by the hiring of about 60,000 teachers. He cited the Filipino people’s solidarity in making this daunting task doable.

“The impossible is now possible,” he stressed. “What our predecessor has failed to do in nine years, we’ll accomplish in three years, and this will even be fast-tracked.”

The Filipino-born Howard Chua-Eoan, writing for Time, cited Aquino III’s courage in pushing for the passage of reproductive health (RH) bill into law, his rebuke of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at last year’s summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), and his brave stance in a territorial dispute against China.

Despite strong opposition from the powerful Catholic Church, Aquino III rallied lawmakers to approve the RH bill, which is aimed at moderating rapid population growth, reducing poverty and trimming high maternal mortality. He signed the bill into law last December.

At the Asean Summit held in Phnom Penh last November, Aquino III intervened when Sen claimed that member-countries had reached a consensus against internationalising the territorial conflict on West Philippine Sea. Then the Asean issued a joint communiqué excluding remarks by Sen, an alleged stalwart supporter of China, which claims the whole West Philippine Sea as its own.

“We take pride in how the ideas of good governance and inclusive growth that are the major thrusts of the Aquino presidency resonate not just with Filipinos but with the entire world,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said. “This is especially relevant today, as countries all over are trying to become more inclusive economically, politically, and even culturally, President Aquino is already doing it in the Philippines.”

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