Manila: President Benigno Aquino urged Philippines yesterday to elect a new leader with the zeal to pursue reforms which he said had led to high growth in a country impoverished by rampant corruption.
In his last annual address to parliament, Aquino said his high-profile anti-corruption campaign led to a more business-friendly Philippines, creating more jobs that ushered in 6.2 percent average annual economic growth in the past five years.
“If the transformation is not cut short, this will just be the beginning. What we’re saying is, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Aquino said.
Aquino, who is constitutionally limited to a single six-year term, described the May 2016 presidential election as a “referendum on our Straight Path”.
The anti-graft campaign saw his predecessor Gloria Arroyo and three opposition senators in jail for alleged misuse of hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds.
The state of the nation address was attended by three of the presumed leading contenders -- Vice President Jejomar Binay and Aquino allies Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Senator Grace Poe.
State sources said Aquino was likely to choose between the popular Poe and Roxas, who lost to Binay in the vice presidential race in 2010 after giving up his own presidential campaign to clear the way for Aquino.
Aquino yesterday singled out Roxas for praise as a man of “mettle and integrity”.
As he spoke, dozens of rain-drenched activists armed with bamboo poles that held their protest banners attacked shield-bearing policemen who stopped them marching on parliament.
They burned a giant effigy of Aquino on top of a train, saying his failure to fix the capital's creaking rail system symbolised his failure to improve the lives of the poor. AFP
