President Aquino in New Zealand. Photograph: AP

In the New Zealand coverage of the visit of the Philippines president this week, somehow the most delightful remark by Benigno Aquino appears to have gone unreported.

Let me fix that. Here it is:

There are many sheep here in New Zealand but let’s use dairy as an analogy: You are milking the cow, but you still want to turn it into bone marrow soup.

(I’ve taken the liberty of removing the square brackets that the translator helpfully included in the above, in the cause of fluency.)

What was he on about? It was a reference, the Philippine Daily Inquirer explains, to the previous administration in Manila:

Just two hours after arriving for his first state visit to New Zealand, President Aquino immediately took a swipe at his predecessor for the alleged massive corruption and mismanagement on her watch.

Without naming former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Mr Aquino reminded members of the Filipino community of the evils that pervaded the corridors of power for close to a decade, including the “milking” of the national coffers by high officials.