TFC brings P-Noy closer to global Pinoys

MANILA, Philippines - On his last day in the United States, President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III made television history by holding a live town hall forum with global Filipinos through the facilities of The Filipino Channel (TFC) at ABS-CBN International’s studio in Redwood Shores.  Hosted by Balitang America’s Gel Santos-Relos, North America News Bureau chief Ging Reyes, and Adobo Nation’s  Karmina Constantino, the program was aired live globally on ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) and gave overseas Filipinos an opportunity to address their concerns directly to President Aquino.

The president’s audience included Filipinos from Northern California, London, Tokyo and Dubai, as well as from New Jersey, Los Angeles and Toronto, Canada. ABS-CBN Global used state-of-the-art satellite and video conferencing facilities to connect overseas Filipinos with Aquino for his first-ever town hall meeting as president.

The on-line community, through www.abs-cbn.com and TFCNow was also part of the hour-long conversation with the President.

Aquino shared with the Filipino communities the good news about his first trip to the United States. As Manolo Lopez, chairman of the Lopez Group of Companies, put it, “The President did not just eat hamburgers and hotdogs in the US.  He also brought home the bacon.”

Together with the $434-M grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, President Aquino told his audience that he received nearly $2.8-B in pledges and investment commitments from US businessmen.

However, Aquino refused to rate his performance on his first foreign trip, saying, “Mahirap ho namang mag-grade dahil tinuruan ho tayo ng humility, dapat maging humble. Baka ho yung tatay at nanay ko nanonood ngayon, batukan ako pag nagyabang.”

The President answered questions from the audience ranging from the prosecution of his predecessor, human trafficking, immigration reforms, veterans equity, to jobs and population control.

The Chief Executive assured that his administration is cracking down on human trafficking syndicates, while giving priority to helping OFWs currently on death row in the Middle East. However, Aquino said he was not inclined to give in to requests to set up a separate department of OFWs. There are enough agencies, the President explained, that should just improve their coordination and performance.