Viet-lang

The President's ASEAN Summit in Vietnam has created a great buzz in the cyberworld and even with the knowledge that the cyberworld has already been purged with unceasing talks about the controversy, I just cannot stop myself from joining the bandwagon. Too much has already been said regarding the issue and I will do my best to refrain from citing too familiar comments.

First, I want to say that I am starting to feel remorse about voting the current President. I know and always say that the President is just starting to warm his Palace seat to expect perfection from him. But this time around, I think there are too much controversy surrounding this administration to ignore the truth. I won't go to the below-the-belt criticism for those are for the political immatures. But I, for one will use this particular incident to justify my "remorse".

When the Vietnam controversy broke out on the World Wide Web, I know that the immediate supervisor of Ms. Mislang (the antagonist in this story), told the public that he reprimanded her for her actions. But sir, may I just refresh your mind that when Mislang tweeted her dissatisfaction on the wine, you asked her which of the wines served "sucked". Meaning, you did not find this inappropriate and undiplomatic. I do not know if maybe after the flaming-hot banters on the internet prompted you to reprimand her or you just said that because of the negativity that it has created. And, may I just inform you that articles about this incident has been written in other parts of the world also, like in Finland. And that when the Vietnamese people did not say anything about the issue, it does not mean that they are not offended by the remarks. Remember, the remarks are negative and shameful. Answering Mislang's comments will only deepen the shame that they might be feeling right now.

What I cannot accept is that Mr. President himself did not make any "conciliatory" remarks just to ease up everything with the offended party. I don't mean to say that Mr. President should apologize or publicly shame Mislang, but he should at least release a statement to the Vietnam people to appease them.

Lastly, to Ms. Mislang, I do not know you personally, or in any other way before this controversy that you created. But as a normal citizen of this country, please be cautious of your actions because you along with all the Cabinet members of the Aquino administration, reflect the President himself. Your comments about the wine, the men and motorcycles of Vietnam would have only laughed at if you are just an ordinary Filipino visiting Vietnam. But when you are a part of the President's delegation in an official business in any part of the world, your remarks are whether it were sent to a social networking site or overheard from you when you are drunk, will always have an effect to the country you are talking about and our country as well. So next time, when traveling as part of the official delegation, no matter how the wine sucks, or how ugly the people were, nor how deadly the streets are, please refrain from shouting it out to the whole world. Just keep it to yourself and wait until you are safely out of "unnecessary listeners' " earshot, then you can start gossiping about it to your friends. Until then, please zip your mouth and just scratch the itch from your fingers to avoid another social networking mishap. The President already has too many problems to handle. He does not need any more problems to solve that are created by those whom he has too much confidence.

Boss's Assessment

Yesterday is the 100th day of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III in office. He delivered a report, in which the theme of the event was aptly called "Report kay Boss". I am impressed by the program's theme because at the end of the day, they have not forgotten yet that his countrymen are his boss, as how they called them during his SONA. As I was impressed by this, I cannot ignore the fact that the President's speech was almost dedicated wholly to blame past administrations. I know that the past administration, especially the last one has been stained with too much controversies but this is a report of a subordinate to his superior. In a corporate setting, you do not include blames of your co-workers on your official report, do you? The speech should be reporting to us, the progress of the nation, and what has been accomplished over the oh-so-short 100 days of the President. Yes, I think that the report is not appropriate because I think that 100 days are too short for the President to accomplish any major thing worthy of reporting. I would also like to suggest to the President to caution or better yet, look for another speechwriter. His speeches to the nation from his Inauguration to the SONA, to his 100th day report was full of accusations and blames of the previous administration. As truthful as these things can be, I do not think blaming other people when you are the one in power now will help the President nor the President's image. Do not keep on blaming other people, this is a report of YOUR progress as the new OIC of the nation. We do not need to hear bow bad the previous presidents were. Our concern is YOU and the now, and the future, or at least the next 6 years. Your blaming past administrations will only make you indifferent from the other administrations. So please, stop.

Although, I do not like the come out of the "reporting" by the President yesterday, what of the same tone of his speech, the vague answers given, and the "corny" answers, I also do not agree of the interruption did by the students. It is but shameful to yell your sentiments, in a private place, not your place, and to the President. I believe these students were enrolled in schools so that they learn how to be a better person. How come they do not know how to respect when it is one of the very first lessons that you will learn in school? Is it very cool for people to know that you do not have respect? Are you proud that your name, and your school name are published in the media and it is not because you have done something very worthy of your school and your parents' pride? I think you should have at least behaved yourself instead of interrupting and shouting at the venue.

The problem is this, no matter what kind of administration we have, seems like there are some people who are always in the opposition. Those who do not even know what they are fighting for anymore. Those who are even before y0u act, already have their objections. If this will be the case, then how can this nation be a better one? How can the country's politics improve? If we will always be on the other side of the court no matter what, will this help in resolving conflicts among the Filipinos? How does being vigilant turn into being over-vigilant? There's nothing wrong in being vigilant. There's nothing wrong either in being careful. This country has already seen bad to worse days of its existence. This country has already gone through too many problems and yet it has always managed to survive. Nobody wants to go through "hell" all over again. But let us be fair and patient as we should be careful and protective of our country. Giving the new leader a little faith is not that difficult, is it?