Mitos: No devt after 2 yrs of PNoy
MANILA, Philippines - Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay on Thursday said she will continue to be a critic of President Aquino after seeing no positive change in the nation in the past 2 years.
In a statement, Magsaysay said she is willing to give her support to President Aquino's projects if he substantiates his promises with a concrete action plan and if his policies benefit majority of Filipinos.
"I have no problem supporting the administration and this has nothing to do with politics. If there are programs that will truly address the problems of the poor and the regular folk, why not? But so far, it seems that I will continue in my role as a critic because frankly, I do not see any development from the time we started in 2010," she said.
Magsaysay said the problem with the Aquino administration is that its promises are based on "vague and flowery words, buried by statistics and catch phrases that look good on the newspapers and sound great on TV."
"The time for words is long past, we need to see what became of those promises because Juan dela Cruz is not feeling the development that they are claiming, and the projects that seek to uplift the poor are not really working, so where does that leave us now?" she said.
Magsaysay, formerly allied with ex-President Arroyo, has been a vocal critic of President Aquino since the start of his term. She once described the President as "the most amateur, stubborn, laid back, lazy, immature, and least knowledgeable president we ever had."
She also described Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang as a "spoiled brat" during a budget hearing.
The Zambales lawmaker also accused the Aquino administration of hypocrisy for vilifying former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo while continuing her policies. She criticized Malacañang for withholding her pork barrel since 2011 because of her frequent tirades against President Aquino.
"It's all hypocrisy. They bash the past administration for going against its political opponents by withholding the pork barrel but they are doing the same. They said they won't do a Gloria, that they will release the pork barrel to majority and minority. I am living proof that they haven't," she once told Headstart host Karen Davila.
Palace officials admitted they did not release priority development assistance funds (PDAF) for Zambales directly to Magsaysay because she is against the Aquino administration’s policies. Budget Secretary Butch Abad said the funds are funneled through the local government units or national agencies.