Sino ba si Jennifer Laude? Hindi naman siya kamag-anak ng mga Aquino. Hindi naman siya haciendera katulad ng mga Cojuangco-Aquino. Hindi naman siya sundalo. Hindi naman siya miyembro ng Liberal Party. Hindi naman siya nanay o asawa ng miyembro ng Liberal Party.
Asked last Wednesday by Raul Dancel of The Singapore Straits Times during a forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association if he was going to the wake of Laude, the transgender who was murdered by a member of the United States Marines Corps last Oct. 11, Aquino said he doesn’t go to wakes of people he doesn’t know.
His complete answer: “You know, in general, I don’t attend wakes of people I don’t know. I find it—and I’m speaking for myself—I’m uncomfortable in trying to condole with people who don’t know me and… Parang how can I say that I really sympathize with their loss and have some relevant discussion with them on trying to assuage, ‘di ba, their loss at that point in time? If I know the person somehow or the person is close to me… For instance, I went to the wake of the mother of Governor (Alfonso) Umali recently. The mother of Governor Umali had entertained me in her house in the years previous and Governor Umali is very close friend. In Leyte, I went to the unanticipated demise of the wife of Congressman Boying Cari, and I had a chance to talk also to his children—the eldest is 23 and the youngest is Grade Six. As a general rule, I attend wakes wherein there are some connections, so that ‘yung I don’t want to be a burden but rather I want to help them at their time of grief.”
No one can accuse Aquino of not being transparent. He does not bother masking his arrogance.
Really, why would Aquino go to Jennifer Laude’s wake? Who is she? She is not a relative. She is not in his class. She is not a member of the Liberal party like Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali, treasurer of the LP and Rep. Jose Carlos Cari of Leyte’s 5th district.
I asked Fr. Eliseo Mercado for his reaction. He pointed out three things:
First, “PNoy is the President and he is known to almost all Filipinos.”
Second, “All the while he keeps mouthing the Filipino people are his bosses. Jennifer belonged to the people – his bosses. Or this is purely for sound bytes?”
Third, “Jennifer was murdered brutally, that is, beating and drowning in a toilet bowl by US Marine – part of VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement). Since he likes the VFA, at least he should sympathize with victim of VFA.”
Anne de Bretagne commented in Facebook: “To be perfectly honest, I don’t think the president should be expected to attend the wake of Jennifer – the deceased was not a member of his political family nor was a serving member of the military but if interviewed or challenged to attend the wake, he should mouth a less callous answer and show a bit of empathy, something expected of the president of the republic no less!”
I commented that being tactless seems to be an Aquino trait. The President’s sister is dubbed as “taklesa.”
This is not the first time that Aquino has made insensitive comments. Last year, in a post-Yolanda community meeting in Tacloban, a businessman complained about the breakdown of law and order in the typhoon-devastated city. Aquino snapped at him: “But you did not die, right?”
There was also his public humiliation of weatherman Nilo Prisco just two weeks after he became president in July 2010.
Movie Director Joey Reyes in a Facebook comment underscored two points: “First, some people mistake tactlessness with brutal honesty, insensitivity for frankness or even wit. Second, empathy is a quality that defines integrity in leadership and sincerity in the responsibilities that come with the position. Enough said.”
Being honest is being truthful.
Being tactless is being rude and inconsiderate.
It is a mark of a person’s maturity to be honest and truthful and still be considerate and mindful of somebody’s feelings.
Going around social media are pictures of the funeral marches of President Aquino’s parents: Benigno Aquino, Jr in 1983 and Cory Aquino in 2009.
The thousands of people who paid their last respects to his parents didn’t know them personally. But they lined up and marched. It said a lot of the Filipino people.
In the same way, Aquino’s statement why he is not going to Jennifer Laude’s wake says a lot about his person and his quality as a leader.
A very Tragic murder happened and it divides the nation…
Yesterday, a gunman shot and killed an innocent unarmed soldier guarding the War Memorial, and the gunman was also killed by the Parliament Sgt at Arms before he further violate our way of life and his Mother cried for his victims and the nation speaks with one Voice and with resolve that no terrorist act will intimidate us and give up our way of life…and here is the salute to the man whose life saving action is credited to have save the lives of the lawmakers…
http://www.680news.com/2014/10/23/raw-video-standing-ovation-in-house-for-sergeant-at-arms/
I have a totally different perspective:
http://joeam.com/2014/10/24/of-perverts-and-sovereign-states/
What the president said was he had no personal reason to go to Jennfer’s wake. If Jennifer’s murder was not played up in media, if the VFA and LGBT angles did not bury the tragedy that befell Jennifer as a person, then no one would be calling for the president to visit her wake just like no one is calling for the president to visit the wake of the transgender who was killed in a flower shop and the other who was just walking down the street.
Those who want the president to show up at Jennifer’s wake want the president to make a political statement i.e. to show solidarity with LGBTs and with those opposed to VFA and EDCA.
Furthermore, his not showing up the wake does not mean he has no sympathy for Jennifer or her family. It simply means he does not want to turn it into a political circus, something that certain individuals and groups seem to have no problem doing whenever an opportunity presents itself, even if it meant standing on the coffin of Jennifer and using it as their political soapbox.
Kelan pa ba naging obligasyon ng Pangulo ng Pilipinas ang pumunta sa lamay ng patay?
Eh kung pinagsisigawan at pinahiya si PNoy ng mga militante doon sa lamay? Walang pinipiling lugar ang mga militante.
Tama lang na hindi pumunta doon si PNoy.
@ #2 Sangayon ako sa iyong pananaw tungkol dito sa VFA. Para bang napakalaking pabor ang iniabot ng Pilipinas sa Amerika.
It’s hard to be PNoy; if he went to Jennifer’s wake, he could have been accused of using that for media mileage. If he did not, he’d be accused of being above the throng/arrogant/unsympathetic.
Not everything deserves presidential attention.
Please read the article. The issue is not the President going to the wake. It’s his statement. Pwede mo naman sabihin yan sa maayos na hindi bastos.
Kaya nga may definition ng “honest” at “tactless.”
Noynoy should have expressed his sympathy and then said that he cannot make it. I think Noynoy has the air of arrogance and has no empathy being an oligarch. What do you expect from a person who rose to power through the death of his mother? I don’t think Noynoy work at all. He only work when he has LUCID interval. He is always the LAST one to know what is going on. When there were tragedies, took days before he issued any kind of statement. I think he is MENTALLY challenged.
Obama is not expected to go to the wake of all victims of tragedy. Neither is Angela Merkel, of Germany, or other national leaders.
But the obligatory “Our hearts and prayers go out to the victim’s family,” has always been stated in all interviews.
The president is caught between a rock and a hard place. Damn if he does , damn if he doesnt. That id$#t reporter shouldnt have asked the President that question. Was he trying to trap PNOY into making a statement against the VFA? That is completely irresponsible of him. What if PNOY ends up beleaguered like the two previous presidents? All the gains down the drain.
Thanks, SnV.
From Ignacio Sugay, Jr.:
Reading your articles is one of my pleasant activities (now that I am totally retired). I love the punch line of your “Run PNoy Run” (“Not to interfere with the enemy while he is in the process of destroying himself.”)
Now I have just read your “And why should Aquino go to the wake of Jennifer Laude? Who he/she?” This reminded me of my two “disappointments” with President Cory Aquino, namely, her choice of people to trust, and her declaration, “My ears are closed to unsolicited advice.” I guess I do not have to explain why they are disappointments.
My point: It seems like in these aspects, like mother, like son.
By a strange coincidence, the day I read your mentioned article, there was also an article exposing the tremendous pressure brought on the Philippine government by the USA (involving even two US Presidents) to release Lance Cpl Smith who had raped a Filipina.
“I recall the Philippine government accommodated the White House because Obama called Gloria (after so many failed attempts on the part of Gloria to talk to Obama) “just to say ‘Hello’” and immediately thereafter, Smith was fetched by agents of the DOJ from jail (despite the court order to confine Smith in prison pending appeal) and delivered to the US Embassy. Then the drama of the Court of Appeals finding fault with the appreciation of evidence which is an area outside the purview of an appeal ruling, and acquitting Smith.
Is Pnoy afraid to incur the displeasure of his white brothers?
@Ellen #12, Obama is black. ahahahaha I think Pnoy has won considerable admiration among his “white” brothers, many of whom run outfits like S&P, because he does what is good for the Philippines, not what others want. The US for sure bowed to Philippine interests in the EDCA negotiation. It constantly surprises me that so many Filipinos can’t seem to appreciate how their nation has risen in the world’s eyes. Rather, they would prefer to undermine and nag for some special ideal world (of always “correct” decisions in their eyes) that even Jesus could not achieve . . .
I would also explain to Ignacio that most large American cities are far from “white”. And he diminishes the 3.5 million Filipinos who live, work, and vote in America when he puts America in some 1898 context of racial bigotry.
noynoy aquino can say whatever he likes, even it hurts the feeling of his always mouthed bosses. the ordinary people who voted for him in 2016 are hoping his campaign promises and eventually during his proclamation as elected president would be realized and enjoyed but what they always get afterwards are his no different from gloria’s self praises if not blame on his mentor’s administration whenever he fails on something he himself knew cannot be achieved being far from reality.
he is not only arrogant. he is an immature spoiled brat who became president only because of people’s sympathy to his dead parents and the thirst for real change in governance he also fails to deliver.
“………a businessman complained about the breakdown of law and order in the typhoon-devastates city. Aquino snapped at him: “But you did not die, right?”……”
such a heartless and insensitive way addressing a calamity victim, whatever his social stature was. and as always, yolanda victims are always painted in the background as if others who are still homeless and with nothing left but self pity despite an iron will to survive do not deserve any assistance from this government.
huwag naman ninyo kaming kalimutan, KAMING mga hanggang ngayon ay wala pa ring matawag na disentendg tahanan dahil sa panununog sa aming lugar sa zamboanga city at ‘yung mga naging biktima ng lindol sa tacloban at ilang bahagi sa visayas.
tao din kami, PILIPINONG KATULAD NINYO!
sino ba ang nagpapalaki ng isyu tungkol sa pagkamatay ni JEFFREY LAUDE @ jennifer? kung may papel dito ang media, MAS grabe ang pag-iingay na isinasagawa ang mga kaliwete as if meron silang ginagawa UPANG magkaroon ng ganap na pagbabago sa ating lipunan at pamayanan.
sa katotohanan, ang mga makakaliwang ‘yan ay WALANG matinong agenda para sa ating bayan. hangga’t meron silang nakikitang hindi nila gusto, hindi sila mapapanuto at mkukuntento. gagawa at gagawa sila ng hakbang upang makapanggulo at maging sentro palagi ng isyu. wala silang hindi sasakyan MAGING ‘yung kung alin ang nauna sa mundo – ang manok o ang itlog!
meron na ba silang maaaring masabing maipagmamalaki at pinakinabangan ng taong bayan mulang ang leftist groups ay kilalaning legal ng gobyerno at pinayagang makilahok sa lahat ng politcal exercises at makapagtayo ng partido?
‘yung DAP, ang PDAF nakakalimutan na ‘ata O sinasadyang huwag nang matalakay upang walang mga kaalyado ni noynoy ang maisalang sa imbestigasyon.
huwag namang puro kontra administrasyon ang hanapan ng butas at kaladkarin sa kaso. ‘daming mga KKKK ni noynoy ang sabit din sa maanomalyang paggamit ng DAP at PDAF, ah?
bilyon bilyong piso ang kanilang kinurakot, HUWAG pabayaang mabaon na lamang ito sa limot!
That is one very Good reason that the provision on limits of terms be lifted so the Electorate can decide..If they believe that Pnoy is Rude and Arrogant, then do not return him to power…but one termer, Pnoy can be Honest of himself and speaks of what he truly is and nothing the Electorate can do…he does not have to ask for another mandate.
One very Nice example of that when PM Harper thumbed his nose to the Media due to many of his encounter with the media where taken out of Context, so he believed and the Media was trying to hit him where it hurts..the Electorate…and sensing that he could bring the Party down if he continues his Personal dislike with the Media, he surprised the Media during one of his personal appearance by Serenading them with his Rendition of the Popular Beatles songs accompanying himself on the Piano and Next Election he won the Majority…
Arrogance is nothing compared to PNoy’s predilection for sticking by his friends, no matter what. He should remember that running and leading a country goes beyond and must not be hampered by friendships.
It’s too stupid to even point that out.
@ #15
Maaring di pa gaanong nahimay kung ano ang mga paninindigan ni President Aquino sa pagpapatakbo ng pamahalaan. May artikulo ang Foreign Affairs, tunghayan at ng maunawaan ang kanyang posisyon sa iba’t ibang isyu.
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/discussions/interviews/the-mission-for-manila
The comparison between Ninoy and Cory’s wake and funeral to Jennifer Laude is inaccurate. There is a big difference.
The public saw Ninoy as a martyr and Cory as a hero. Spontaneously. Crowds, public support did not have to be manufactured.
But in the case of Jennifer, the tragic victim of a heinous crime, people with political agendas are trying to manufacture popular support for their causes.