Noynoy Aquino Update 4/18/2010

Magsaysay endorse Team AQUINO-ROXAS

Former Senator Ramon “Jun” Magsaysay announced today he and his family were supporting the candidacy of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, his running mate Sen. Mar Roxas.
In a press conference, Magsaysay, only son and namesake of a much-admired and beloved Filipino president, said the country needed a new type of political leadership to give true reforms a chance to start.
“It will take many years and hard decisions to reverse the culture of corruption in public service. True reforms must be continuing. Honesty and integrity must exist in that new leadership,” Magsaysay said in a formal statement (full text attached).

The former senator said what the Philippines needed at this time were leaders who were “tough, transparent, and true. Tough enough to make hard decisions. Transparent enough to open up cans of worms and expose the rot in public finances and transactions. True enough to commit to initiating and instituting reforms as deeply, as widely and as long as it takes to rid the bureaucracy of the parasites that weaken our moral fabric.”
Magsaysay said the Aquino-Roxas team was decent, strong and God-fearing. He expressed his conviction that both candidates would live up to the trust and confidence the Filipino people would bestow on them by voting them into office.
The former senator said he believed the Noy-Mar ticket would deliver on their promise to prosecute and bring to justice, firmly and without any reservations, corrupt elements in government within the first 100 days of their administration.

“I believe they will do it. I know they (Aquino and Roxas) and their group of principled politicians will pursue this objective as no other candidate will,” Magsaysay said.
He said they had taken a strong stand, as they shared the people’s deep yearning for justice and unity.
“We must be united and stand with them in this perilous struggle to initiate the rebirth of the country, to build a just society that will give all Filipinos pride and dignity as respected members of the global community having cleansed themselves once again of the stigma of corruption, just like we did in 1986,” Magsaysay said.
He reminded Filipinos that the historic events on EDSA in 1986 that became known throughout the world as the People Power Revolution made the Philippines a beacon of hope and an inspiration for all peoples trying to free themselves from the shackles of tyranny, oppression and corruption.

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RAMON MAGSAYSAY, JR. BACKS AQUINO-ROXAS TICKET

My family and I have decided to support Senators Benigno ”Noynoy” Aquino and Mar Roxas, Liberal Party candidates for president and vice president, respectively in the May 10 elections.

It is my conviction that we need leaders that are honest and trustworthy at a time when our country is in crisis. And these two men fit the profile almost perfectly.

A Country in Crisis
We continue to suffer from bad government. Worse, our people have been silenced by apathy, fear and intimidation, forced to endure the most ineffective, deliberately secretive, and maliciously unjust political leadership since the martial law years.

The truth shall set us free. “Kung may katotohanan, susunod ang katarungan. At kung may katarungan, magkakaroon ng katahimikan.” So said Archbishop Oscar Cruz about a couple of years ago when he was still head of the Catholic diocese in the Pangasinan-Ilocos region.

The archbishop made the exhortation in relation to the case of Jun Lozada, whose whole family remains under the protection of the ASSOCIATION OF MAJOR RELIGIOUS SUPERIORS IN THE PHILIPPINES (AMRSP) community under Sister Mary John Mananzan and the De la Salle Brothers in Greenhills. Lozada’s predicament remains the most dramatic manifestation of how this administration hounds and threatens those who expose government anomalies hoping to correct such excesses. To Jun, his wife, and five children, I say: The truth shall set you free.
For the families of the 57 Filipinos who were mercilessly massacred allegedly by [those] in power to prevent them from running for office in Mindanao: The truth shall set you free.
For the families of those assassinated–Marlene Esperat, Gumersindo Lasam, Teofilo Mojica–over the misuse of farmers’ fund in the Department of Agriculture that continue to haunt the country: The truth shall set you free. Two Senate committees–in the 2006 13th Congress and the 2009 14th Congress—that investigated the fertilizer fund scam arrived at the same conclusion based on their reports: There was sufficient evidence to charge with plunder certain officials of the DA. Both reports were signed and approved by an overwhelming majority of the senators. They have since been ignored, archived and forgotten! Social justice has lost out to political expediency.
For all these victims of injustice, the sun may finally rise after May 10.
Judgment Time
The famed broadcaster Ed Morrow once said, “A nation of sheep begets a government of wolves!”
Knowing that the Filipino prefers to mind his own business if he has a choice, some public officials use this as an opportunity to steal government funds. Already limited financial resources are strained even further. They overprice equipment and supplies, pursue ghost projects, and blatantly mismanage operations.
The scams will never stop until we get together,unite under one honest and tough leadership and kick out those crocodiles that have made government a rich feeding ground.
We need a new type of leaders to initiate true reforms. It will take many years and hard decisions to reverse the culture of corruption in public service. True reforms must be continuing. Honesty and integrity must exist in that new leadership.
My Choice – tough, transparent, true

We need leaders who are tough, transparent, and true. Tough enough to make hard decisions. Transparent enough to open up cans of worms and expose the rot in public finances and transactions. True enough to commit to initiating and instituting reforms as deeply, as widely and as long as it takes to rid the bureaucracy of the parasites that weaken our moral fabric.

Senators Benigno C. Aquino and Manuel A. Roxas. Noynoy and Mar makes a team that is decent, strong and God-fearing. Both will do justice to the trust and confidence the Filipino people will bestow on them by electing them into office.

Both firmly and without any reservations vow to go after the corrupt and bring them to justice within the first 100 days of their administration. I believe they will do it. I know they and their group of principled politicians will pursue this objective as no other candidate will.
Noynoy and Mar have taken a strong stand, as they share the people’s deep yearning for justice and unity.
We must be united and stand with them in this perilous struggle to initiate the rebirth of the country, to build a just society that will give all Filipinos pride and dignity as respected members of the global community having cleansed themselves once again of the stigma of corruption, just as they did after the historic events of 1986 that made the Philippines a beacon of hope and an inspiration for all peoples trying to free themselves from the shackles of tyranny and oppression.