Joy Adalia
President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino has once again drawn flak for being “insensitive” after he chose to attend the inauguration of the Mitsubishi Motors’ plant in Santa Rosa City in Laguna instead of joining the welcome honors for the bodies of the slain PNP SAF troopers.
Several high-ranking officials were at the Villamor Air Base to honor the slain cops: Vice President Jejomar Binay, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.
The president, however, followed his original schedule of attending the car plant inauguration. Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte defended the president’s choice, saying he was not really scheduled to attend the arrival honors but will grace the necrological services on Friday, January 30, at Camp Bagong Diwa.
A lot of netizens felt that Aquino should have skipped the car plant inauguration because the people at Mitsubishi Motors would have understood if he did not grace the ceremony as the arrival honors for the slain cops is more important. Many are saying the plant officials might even postpone the event to a later hour just to accommodate the president’s sudden change of plans.
According to Valte, technically, the president did not skip the arrival honors because he was not originally scheduled to attend it. However, netizens pointed out that these slain officers should have been more important to the president than a new manufacturing plant, especially because he had previously recognized them as fallen heroes.
Also, no one wanted these cops to die, so their deaths and subsequent arrival honors at the air base would never be on anyone’s long-term schedule of events. The president should have attended the arrival honors out of respect for these fallen officers who might have been possibly acting under his approval. Aquino had previously admitted to having spoken with the SAF commander before the operation was launched; though he neither denied nor confirmed whether he had given the “go” signal for the group.
See Aquino Admits Talking to SAF Chief Before Deadly Maguindanao Operation
As the president of the Philippines, Aquino does have every right to choose the inauguration of the car plant over the arrival honors of the slain SAF troopers. After all, he has the freedom to choose whatever he will do. However, the president of the Philippines, he should have picked the event involving people who were slain while protecting the country’s best interests!
So, what do you think? Did Aquino disrespect the fallen soldiers by choosing the car plant inauguration?
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