Bam Aquino ‘proud’ serving under Arroyo

MANILA -- Presidential cousin Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino does not consider his ties with the Arroyo administration as a political baggage and is in fact proud of his work for the National Youth Commission (NYC) then.

“I don’t think so (that the appointment is a political baggage). We’re actually very proud of that and that’s in our website. I’m proud that I was able to serve during that time,” Aquino told reporters.

Aquino, who is running for senator under the administration coalition Team PNoy, was responding to the challenge of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) to explain his association with former President and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA).

The challenge of UNA came as Aquino’s ratings in pre-election surveys soared. Aquino had scored the biggest percentage points in the recent Pulse Asia survey where his ranked improved to 4th to 9th places.

Bam, the first cousin of President Benigno Aquino III, was appointed in the NYC right after the Edsa People Power 2 which ousted then President Joseph “Erap” Estrada.

He became the youngest head of a government agency in 2003 when he was appointed as chairperson of the NYC at the age of 25.

“I don’t know exactly what Mr. Tiangco is trying to say but if he sees my track record in the NYC, he’ll know that I served truthfully with no corruption charges thrown against me. I was able to serve the youth sector very well during that time,” he said.

Aquino said he left the NYC in February 26 feeling that the Arroyo administration had “betrayed” the youth.

He left months after the so-called “Hyatt 10” announced their resignation and demanded for Arroyo’s resignation over charges of electoral fraud.

“Personally, that was difficult for me because I was very idealistic when I entered government work during the time of GMA. I came from the youth sector and I wanted to serve honestly and of course, a lot of scandals happened so we decided to end our term already,” he said. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)