MANILA (PNA) — President Benigno S. Aquino III Friday night said he was open to criticisms from media “because it is media’s right and obligation to encourage public discourse.”

“But I hope it is the type of discourse that leads to consensus and ultimately action,” the President said in a speech during the 60th anniversary of GMA-7 Friday night at the Shangrila Hotel in Makati.

The President said he was counting on media “to be part of this difficult but worthwhile journey of turning our country around.” He also gave assurance that media can count on his support.

The GMA affair was attended by past and present executives of the broadcast network, as well as captains of industry and government officials.

President Aquino hailed the GMA Network as he recalled that during the martial law era, it persisted in keeping the public informed despite the risks of censorship and even to the safety of its reporters.

“Working under the yoke of a dictatorship, GMA-7 kept the flickering light of truth alive during that difficult and dangerous time,” he said.

According to the Chief Executive, GMA-7 touched his life in a very personal way, being among the TV stations that prominently covered the assassination of his father, Sen. Benigno S. Aquino Jr., as well as the subsequent wake and funeral.

“It was also the TV station where my mom, former President Corazon C. Aquino, made her television debut on August 21, 1983. You were also present in her historic wake and funeral which we will be commemorating in two days,” the President said.

He expressed gratitude to the network “for your courage in delivering the news to our people. I am extremely grateful.”

“You certainly made a positive impact on the lives of so many Filipinos through stories that are not only worth telling but are also worth remembering,” he said.

“’The Untouchables’ impressed upon my impressionable mind the long arm of the law and the certainty of judgment. This ideal is of course something we are trying to turn into a reality,” the President said in reference to a long-running GMA-7 program.

He said, however, that he was not just a viewer but media’s partner. “This administration will defend your right to free expression.”

“By working together, we can enhance democracy and make it real, not just for those who have more in life, but more so for those who have less,” he said.

President Aquino also said he was pleased with the publication of a coffee table book chronicling the 60 years of GMA7, an autographed copy of which was given to him by GMA-7 chair and CEO Felipe Gozon and Gilberto Duavit Jr,, executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Apart from Gozon and Duavit, other GMA officials who were present were former Rep. Gilberto Duavit Sr.; former CEO Menardo Jimenez; and GMA directors former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and former Central Bank Governor Jaime Laya.

The President even cited Duavit Sr. as his mentor during his first term at the House of Representatives.