MANILA — Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said that actress Agot Isidro with her “beggar’s mentality” was exactly the kind of person President Rodrigo Duterte was targeting in his speech against over-dependence on foreign aid.

“Her position is the kind of mental attitude that the President wants to address, which is when he mentioned that we tend to have a mendicant or a beggar’s mentality,” said Abella in a press conference.

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Abella said that Isidro and her ilk were afraid of losing the country’s aid from the United States, which was what the President wanted to shake off.

He said the President wanted all Filipinos to “become independent, mentally, emotionally, internally, and be willing to risk a bit of sacrifice so that we can establish our own independence, in terms of policy and not be dependent on foreign aid.”

He said the public should take the President’s rants against the US as a challenge to be more nationalistic and not depend on other countries. SFM

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