Jaden,Sen @JVillanueva2016 son,askd to be carried by NinongPNoy @Cab secs,senior govt ofcls awarding @Team_Inquirer pic.twitter.com/ynFCsi103R
— nikko dizon (@nikkodizon) June 23, 2016
MANILA— Outgoing President Aquino conferred, on Thursday afternoon, presidential awards to members of his Cabinet, saying that everyone would end their six-year service under his administration with “heads held high.”
Mr. Aquino awarded the Order of Lakandula with the rank of Gold Cross Bayani to the Cabinet secretaries and the Presidential Medal of Merit to other senior government officials.
The President told them in his speech that he would not have done the job he was given six years ago had it not been for their help and support.
“Indeed, over the course of our administration, I have remained keenly aware of everything you have given. This is why, every time I am praised for anything, I make it a point to say that I couldn’t have done anything without you, and without our countrymen, simply because that is the truth,” the President said.
Mr. Aquino said the “formal award” he conferred to them hopefully made up for the “shortfall” of rewards he had given them.
The President said that the awards went beyond the “kind words” and his offer to them to “share a meal,” which were what he usually gave them for a job well done.
“Most of you here have personal experience of how healthy my impatience can be when it comes to our people’s well-being. Yet, without complaint and with boundless enthusiasm, you energized the bureaucracy and made an impact on the lives of our people. You saw the hopes and dreams of our countrymen and turned them into tangible realities. You took what many considered to be impossible, and made it possible,” Mr. Aquino added.
It was an almost informal event for the President, his men and women, and their families, enjoying the moment with his officials and their families onstage.
Mr. Aquino fitted the blue sash of the Order of Lakandula on Foreign Affairs Secretary Jose Rene Almendras to show, he said, that “one size fits all.”
President Aquino also shared a light moment with the children of neophyte Senator Joel Villanueva and another baby brought by a family member of one of the Cabinet members.
Villanueva was one of the officials conferred the Presidential Medal of Merit for his stewardship at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Villanueva’s five-year-old son Jaden asked the President to carry him, to which Mr. Aquino obliged, and the two pretended to leave the stage. Mr. Aquino is Jaden’s godfather.
Villanueva’s daughter, Gwyn, 3, asked President Aquino where was the queen if they were in the Palace.
“The President told her, maybe soon there will be a queen,” Villanueva smiled, shaking his head at his precocious children. SFM