The Philippines is strategically located and blessed with the greatest resource: its people, who are hard-working, very loyal, and very adaptive.
Let me make it clear: The Disbursement Allocation Program is not pork barrel. Of the DAP releases in 2011 and 2012, only nine percent was disbursed for projects suggested by legislators. The DAP is not theft. Theft is illegal.
Perhaps the strongest signal of reengagement with Southeast Asia was the U.S.'s accession to the Southeast Asian Treaty of Amity and Cooperation.
Both President Obama and I shared the conviction that territorial and maritime disputes in the Asia Pacific region should be settled peacefully based on international law. We affirm that arbitration is an open, friendly and peaceful approach to seeking a just and durable solution.
Anytime emotions are involved, you cannot come up with an impartial and objective assessment of any given problem.
My administration's compact with the Filipino people will demand no less than the attainment of lasting peace and equitable prosperity. We will employ all the tools at our disposal to achieve this.
Part of my mandate is to curb corruption and streamline a cumbersome, graft-ridden bureaucracy, to put resources where they will provide the clearest results, and to untangle a complicated regulatory environment.
China itself has said repeatedly that they will and have been conforming to international law.
The Philippines has vast minerals that are still untapped. It has one of the world's largest deposits of gold, nickel, copper and chromite. Through responsible mining, we intend to generate more revenues from the extraction of these resources.
As you may know, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, or MCC, awards grants only to countries which rule justly, promote economic freedom, and invest in their people.
If we say yes to something we believe is wrong now, what guarantee is there that the wrong will not be further exacerbated down the line?
I had a simple goal in life: to be true to my parents and our country as an honorable son, a caring brother, and a good citizen.
Typhoon Haiyan showed the entire world how vulnerable the Philippines as well as other developing countries are to natural disasters.
I've been called 'hardheaded,' 'obstinate,' 'unreasonable,' etc.
In politics, you must learn to say 'no' without offending people. That is an art that one must master: to satisfy a person even when you have to say 'no' to him.
We in the Philippines know we have to perform our own role in terms of promoting peace in the world. We are actually members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in many areas.
Pictorial is something that I am not used to. You have to pose, smile, bend your arm, straighten up, look to the left.
We will revive the emergency employment program established by former President Corazon Aquino. This will provide jobs for local communities and will help in the development of their and our economy.
As far as same-sex marriage, I really would want to think about that a lot more given the fact that my focus would be always on the child. The innocent should not be given more even burdens than what is absolutely necessary.
I try to put myself in others' shoes: How does any country give up any sovereignty and expect to survive as a government? I don't think that any Philippine president, or any leader for that matter, can afford to give up any portion of territorial sovereignty. That would be political suicide.
