By Val G. Abelgas
When Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was caught in a storm of protests on June 27, 2005 following the Hello Garci scandal, wherein she was taped talking to Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano about election results in Mindanao, she addressed the people to say “I… am… sorry” in a melodramatic tone. Nobody probably believed she was indeed sorry for the mistake, which she acknowledged, but coming from the usually arrogant Arroyo, it was surprising, to say the least.
Arroyo had always been arrogant in the face of criticisms. How many times did she challenge her critics after every corruption or political fraud scandals to go ahead and impeach her or charge her in court? But in that instance, faced with the prospect of another People Power revolt as tens of thousands gathered daily to protest poll fraud, Arroyo had to apologize.
When President Benigno S. Aquino III was exposed as having talked to four senators about the impeachment trial of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, he admitted the meetings but denied impropriety and, instead of saying “I am sorry,” dared critics to impeach him.
And I thought Arroyo was the most arrogant Philippine president ever.
When it was revealed that he gave P50 million from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) to each senator who voted to convict Corona a few months after the Senate decision, Aquino denied they were bribes and also dared critics to impeach him.
Legal luminaries, including law deans Fr. Joaquin Bernas and Fr. Ranhillo Aquino, said the disbursements were illegal and unconstitutional but Aquino insisted there was nothing wrong with DAP and again dared critics to go ahead and impeach him.
When he was criticized repeatedly for giving away billions of pesos in people’s money in the form of pork barrel or from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which was eventually declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional, Aquino flared and in a live televised address, infamously said: “I am not a thief” and again attacked media and dared his critics to impeach him.
Aquino’s arrogance and allergy to criticisms first surfaced just a few weeks after his first day in Malacanang when he refused to admit the poor handling of the hostage situation at the Luneta on August 23, 2010 and refused to apologize to the Hongkong government for the police operation that resulted in the death of eight HK tourists.
Although the Philippine government has expressed “its deepest regret” over the incident and has started paying “generous offerings” to the families of the victims, Aquino insists no apology to the Hongkong government is coming.
Hongkong demands that the Philippine government apologize for the incident and said: “It’s not the money. It’s the act of apologizing that we want to see because that will prove that you are really sorry for what happened.”
But apparently, Aquino would have none of it. He is never known to admit mistakes, nor listen to critics. In fact, he has blamed his media critics for much of the negative things said about his administration.
When it became obvious that the government failed in both the preparation for and the aftermath of typhoon Yolanda, he immediately blamed the provincial officials. He publicly reprimanded a police official who told media that the death toll would be close to 10,000 and insisted that the fatalities would be closer to 2,500. The police official was sacked. And then, even as the death toll climbed daily past the 2,500 mark, he remained adamant that it couldn’t be more than 2,500. As of the last count, nearly 7,000 bodies have been counted.
Because of his refusal to issue a formal apology, Hongkong started imposing the first of many sanctions that it said it would implement until the Philippine government apologizes. The other week week, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced that the current 14-day visa-free arrangement for visiting Philippine diplomats and officials would be suspended starting Wednesday, February 5.
Philippine officials remain confident that the Hongkong government would not stop the employment of some 150,000 Filipinos working in Hongkong nor suspend hiring of Filipino workers. But what if the Hongkong officials suddenly decided to do so? Can the Philippine government find job replacements for the Filipino workers?
Why is it so difficult to accept that the government bungled in handling the hostage situation, which was witnessed by the whole world live? Why is it so difficult to say we apologize when in fact we should?
A simple apology from the Philippine government would put closure to the whole incident and bring back the good ties between the Philippines and Hongkong.
In the novel “Jasper Jones” written by Craig Silvey, one of the characters said about saying sorry: “Sorry is a question that begs forgiveness, because the metronome of a good heart won’t settle until things are set right and true. Sorry doesn’t take things back, but it pushes things forward. It bridges the gap. Sorry is a sacrament. It’s an offering. A gift.”
But obviously, Aquino would rather listen to John Wayne, who as Captain Nathan Brittles in the 1949 movie “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” said: “Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.”
Is it, really?
(valabelgas@aol.com)
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