Q: Hi Sir, Magandang Hapon po. Sir, ano po ang plano ninyo sa Department of Finance. Because there are talks that there might be changes in leadership. Lumabas po ‘yung pangalan ni Congressman Salceda. Gaano po ito katotoo, sir?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Fake news. I don’t know where it comes from. Why would I do that? We have assembled a great team. At saka we’re trying to go down a certain direction. It’s the wrong — it’s a very, very poor time to, as they say, change horses in midstream.
Q: Hi, sir. Good afternoon po.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Good afternoon.
Q: Sir, na-suspend po ng six months si Benny Antiporda ng NIA?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yeah.
Q: So dahil po ito sa mga reklamong administratibo ng kanyang mga tauhan. Ano pong plano niyo sa NIA? Sino po ang maghe-head nito at makakaapekto po ba ito sa food security program ng administration?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: No. There are enough people there in the NIA who know what to do. At, in fact, I’m meeting them after this. So, make sure that ‘yung function ng NIA ay tuloy-tuloy.
We have to find out what happened to Benny and see what really is the situation there, why Ombudsman Martires suspended him. So it happened all when I was away. So I have asked them to give me the background on what happened. Yeah. But the function of the NIA is – does not – is not going to change.
In fact, I suppose parang – if there was that conflict inside the agency, baka ngayon na nawala ‘yan, baka mas gumanda pa ang takbo.
Q: Good afternoon, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Good afternoon.
Q: Sir, there was a recent incident near Pag-asa Island wherein China Coast Guard seized a rocket debris from Philippine Navy. What will be your directive regarding this? Are we going to send a note verbale to China as recommended by Secretary Clarita Carlos?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yes, I think that that’s what we need to do because the… When it was first reported to me by the Chief of Staff, I asked him to immediately call his — the Philippine — the military attaché in the Chinese embassy and to get a report.
And hindi nagtugma ‘yung report ng Philippine Navy at saka ‘yung report na galing sa China because the word “forcibly” was used in the Navy — in the Philippine Navy report. And that was not the characterization in the Chinese navy report or the report coming from China.
So we have to resolve this issue. Of course, I am — I have complete trust in our Navy and if this is what they say happened, I can only believe that that is what happened.
So we have to now ask the Chinese, why is it that their account is so different and it’s much more benign — shall we use that word — than the…? Because the word forcibly na nga was used in the — at least in the initial reports of the Philippine Navy.
So we’ll have to find a way to resolve this. This is one of the things, this kind of incidents are some of the things that… I’m glad that I am going to Beijing early January because this is — these are the things that we need to work out. Because with the way that the region, our region, Asia-Pacific, is heating up, baka may magkamali lang, may mistake, may misunderstanding, then lalaki ‘yung sunog.
So we don’t want that to happen. So we want to have a mechanism na — we have to find a way na hindi na mangyari ‘yun, na wala tayong mga incident na ganyan.
All right. Sige. Salamat. Thank you.
— END —
SOURCE: OPS-PND (Presidential News Desk)
