MANILA, Philippines—Facing foreign media for the first time in his presidency, President Aquino took umbrage Wednesday when asked to comment on a rumor he was playing video games at the time of the deadly hostage fiasco in Manila in August last year.
The President told the reporter who asked the question to check his schedule that day and interview the government officials as to what he was doing during those precise hours.
“If you do a little checking, there is no basis for such an allegation,” President Aquino said at the forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.
“I’m sorry I’ m also human… I’m insulted if I’m asked to disprove a non-event, and I think any of us in the same situation would feel the way I do when I have to prove something that did not happen,” Mr. Aquino said.
Asked if he played video games and what video games he liked, the Chief Executive retorted: “I can’t go to Tarlac anymore and that is the main source of relaxation.”
The same reporter then asked the 51-year-old bachelor President about his love life, which the President had jokingly described as being “like Coke Zero.” He replied, “That is not my priority at this point in time.”