Aquino hails Lacson as no-nonsense person

President Benigno Aquino III and Panfilo Lacson INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday expressed full confidence in former senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson who has been tapped to head the reconstruction efforts in the Yolanda-battered Eastern Visayas.

“Ping Lacson strikes me as a no-nonsense person,” was Aquino’s answer to a question why he chose the former senator as “rehabilitation czar” to areas devastated by the supertyphoon.

The President, in a televised media forum, said he believed in Lacson, and his “unique capabilities” will be able to promptly address the needs of people hardest-hit by the disaster.

“Members of the Cabinet have their normal functions. Then you also have the imperative to get our people back in a better condition at the soonest possible time… The attention is divided between the two obligations right off the bat,” Aquino said at the Bulong Pulungan gathering in Pasay City.

“Now having Ping Lacson at the center…focused solely on Yolanda’s rehabilitation will undoubtedly achieve the targets sooner,” he added.

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