Aquino: I work hard as any president can

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III made it clear on Thursday that he was not a less than hardworking Chief Executive.

Before he read his prepared speech before a conference of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City, President Aquino told the country’s top employers about two newspaper columns he read that day and which implied “I don’t work hard enough.”

To prove the columnists wrong, Mr. Aquino said that “for their information,” his appearance at the ECOP conference at noontime Thursday was actually his “third engagement” of the day.

He said he woke up at 5:30 a.m. Thursday so he could take a 6:30 a.m. flight that would take him to Cebu and Samar to attend to the wake of “two party mates” from the Liberal Party.

Mr. Aquino was referring to his visit to the wake of Calbayog City Mayor Reynaldo Uy who was assassinated last week and Cebu Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr., who died from complications of his lung cancer.

President Aquino did not identify the newspaper columns.