Aquino: I got cynical, jaded, too

President Benigno Aquino III speakd with reporters and editors during the Meet the Inquirer multimedia forum in Makati City on Tuesday. KRISTINE SABILLO/INQUIRER.net

Even the most powerful person in the republic gets pessimistic and exhausted, too.

A few months before the expiration of his term, President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday admitted that he had been “cynical and jaded” at some point of his presidency.

“It had gotten to a point na you felt like something… Somebody like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills, or ‘yung sa ating expression ‘hitting your head on the wall or banging your head on the wall,’” Aquino said during the Meet the Inquirer forum at the Philippine Daily Inquirer headquarters in Makati City.

“Parang no matter what you did, no matter what risks you took, no matter what energy you expended it seemed you couldn’t change anything. So I have gotten to that point in time that you were getting to be cynical and jaded,” he added.

Asked if he would have done things differently in his presidency if he knew what was coming his way, Aquino answered “perhaps,” but added that he would not have also achieved certain milestones if he changed decisions he made in the past.

“If I could have done something and I chose not to, I would not be able to live with myself, and I subscribe to the same. So if I do that, we wouldn’t be at this position, and you name it: the investment grade, the health insurance program that covers (…) already by this point in time, the 4.4 million households that are being taken care of by Pantawid Pamilya,” Aquino said.

Aquino said accepting the challenge to be president of the country after the administration of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was “very daunting,” but added that Filipinos’ cooperation made his task easier.

“If I knew all of these successes will be achieved, ’di siyempre I would have volunteered in Day One. But at that time, if I can just remind everybody, we do… I read it in your paper quite a lot of times the very numerous issues confounding my predecessor, and we knew that we knew was a portion of what the extent of the problems were, so it’s very daunting,” Aquino said.

“People would want solutions even before we step into office, at saka tangible results, even before we step into office. The question was would you be given enough time to effect the changes necessary? And in fairness to our people, and the faith in our people, they did. They supported the correct measures,” he added. Yuji Vincent Gonzales