Pres. Aquino Says "I'm Sorry"

I would say that I’m old as a living witness of Philippine history. Through all these years, I have never heard any president in office taking the blame of a national fiasco --- light or great in magnitude.

Only Pres. Noynoy Aquino did it when he said “At the end of the day, I’m responsible for everything that has transpired.” (Hostage carnage at the Park)

How could the president be held accountable for the hell when our security forces are tasked to secure peace and order? The Manila Police District also knows as Manila’s Finest and the SWAT manned by officers were there to do their job. In fact, they did their job although it was not enough. They were short of training, weapons and gadgets. Thus, the disaster.

The president, surrounded by his official aides was monitoring the crisis. I would be surprised to the point of insanity if on the following day after the fateful day, newspapers say that Mr. Aquino was sitting on the director’s chair coaching the cops and even the negotiators on what to do. The president is a marksman but he has no military and hostage negotiating training. We are not under Martial Law that just like the evil dictator we had; Mr. Aquino’s words and orders would become laws of the land or must be followed by trembling knees “or else . . .”. Not even in communist countries that their presidents meddle in hostage situations. They leave the job to those who are tasked. In the recent hostage-taking in Maryland at the Discovery Channel building, although Pres. Obama may have been monitoring the developments, he was hands off in letting the security forces do the job.

Others demanded that P-Noy should have gone to the scene at the critical stage of the hostage-taking. But what could have he done there to peacefully end the drama? Had he gone, the Chief Executive was directly exposed to danger.

Pres. Aquino’s acceptance of responsibility shows how humble he is. His subordinates did not have the guts in preventing his mea culpa --- they should have confessed first instead of merely accepting that somewhere, blunders were made.  The story should not end here.  Instead of protecting  his top aides, the president should have also the will, determination and courage to fire some of them.

The president, although had nothing to do with the bloodbath has set an unprecedented example not only to future presidents but to all in the government that humility counts. I did not read Gloria Arroyo say “I’m sorry” for the Maguindanao massacre and on her tinderbox of scandals, improprieties and corruption charges. I only heard her say “I’m sorry” in the “Hello, Garci” case. I never heard her apology for the human rights violations in her administration at par or even worse than Marcos’ dictatorship. And yes, I did not hear Marcos apologize in devastating our country and in dehumanizing us. Joseph Estrada is not sorry in his plunder conviction. If he were, he did not run again for the presidency. That is another way of saying that although convicted and pardoned later, everything is now fine and his name unstained.

The president said sorry. Isn’t it time for some in the government do the same for their part in making life more difficult for millions of Filipinos by being self-righteous and putting their personal needs ahead of ours? -30-