MANILA, Nov. 19 -- This city's Lone District Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez personally reiterated his support for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. after the Visayan bloc in the House of Representatives issued a statement backing the administration.

In an interview on Wednesday, Benitez, who considers himself an independent member of the House, said the President's initiative to fight corruption in the bureaucracy should be supported.

"The reason why we're supporting this administration is because he's the only president in the history of the Philippines who is investigating his own administration. This has not happened before," Benitez told reporters on the sidelines of the opening of the Terra Madre Asia and Pacific here. "For him to ...