MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino compared the stages of his love life to various variants of a brand of soft drink.
 
“May nagtanong ho kasi sa akin e—sabi niya, ‘Kumusta lovelife mo?’ Kaya ang sabi ko po sa kanya, ‘A, parang Coca-Cola.’ So sabi ngayon ng tao, ‘Hindi ko yata maintindihan.’ Kako, ‘Coca-Cola, ‘nung araw regular, naging light, ngayon zero,” Aquino said during his speech before the Filipino community in Beijing.
 
And as in his previous appearances before Filipino communities abroad, Aquino enumerated positive developments in the Philippines such as the creation of more jobs, more classrooms being built and more investments coming in.
 
The President lamented the media’s focus on the negative. He said that the decrease in the number of dengue cases, for example, was not highlighted in news reports.
 
“Alam ho ninyo ‘yung ating media sa Pilipinas, talagang nasanay sila noong panahon ng Martial Law na ‘yung mga talagang may tinatawag nating paninindigan, may ethics, sinasabi ‘yung mali noong Martial Law. Ang problema ho noong natapos na ‘yung Martial Law, talagang parang kailangan ‘pag nagsabi ka ng maganda parang mali. Kailangan maghanap ka ng mali o pangit at kung wala, medyo papangitin mo na lang ‘yung maganda,” Aquino said.
 
“Example ho, may problema po tayo sa dengue—aminado po ‘yan. Pero sa dengue po, last year, noong April, ang natala mga 60,000-plus cases of dengue. Etong April po this year ang natala mga 40,000. So kung titingnan po natin, malaki ‘yung 40,000, paano ho ninyo isusulat ‘yon? Syempre, ‘di ba, parang pwede ninyong sabihin bumaba ang dami ng kaso ng dengue—tama po ‘yon, ‘di ba? Tama rin naman sigurong sabihing 40,000 na ang cases ng dengue at hindi mo na babanggitin na bumaba mula 60,000. Sa akin lang ho, sa amin, alam n’yo mayroon tayong mga pinaggagawa, medyo napaganda ‘yung resulta diyan. Sana mabigyan naman ng pampagana ‘yung mga nagtatrabahong magpapababa at sinabing may nangyayari.”