Roxas likes ‘Noynoying’ too

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II on Monday redefined the term “Noynoying,” giving journalists a rundown of what he believed were President Benigno Aquino III’s virtues.

“For me, Noynoying means somebody who always tells the truth,” Roxas said in a speech at the weekly Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel news forum. “For me, Noynoying means somebody who is so careful about the people’s money, who does not borrow recklessly and who does not spend recklessly.”

“Noynoying,” a play on the President’s nickname “Noynoy,” is a new protest form characterized by lazing around, also known as the new planking.

Roxas expounded on the newly coined term for over three minutes.

“For me, Noynoying means somebody who never allows politics to tramp on the people’s interests, or conversely, the people’s interest is always ahead of politics.”

Inquirer Lifestyle columnist Gilda Cordero-Fernando tackled the same issue in her column on Sunday titled “Noynoying also means … trying to govern a country that has so many opinions.”

“Noynoying is knowing how to tell the truth. He never said he was poor; he never wore a wig; he never said he loved Corona,” Fernando wrote. “Noynoying means never to stop believing in the possibility of a clean government.”

Roxas cited the case of the last National Economic and Development Authority board meeting where Mr. Aquino, for nearly eight hours, went through 13 projects costing approximately

P150 billion with his executive family.

He said the President asked each member of the Cabinet where and how the funds would be spent, if the spending would be for the best and if the project had been well studied. That, Roxas said, is what Noynoying means.

“Noynoying for me means somebody who is putting our country on the straight and narrow path, which is why we are currently being admired and why investors are pouring in. For me, Noynoying means somebody who has so established a level playing field where businesses are left alone and where businessmen know they will get a fair shake and not a shakedown.”