Palace press office should have done its job
It’s too late for terrorists who attacked Marawi City to negotiate for peace or a truce, President Digong has indicated.
And why should the government agree to negotiate after the death of 59 soldiers and 26 civilians in over four weeks of fighting? The terrorists after all were given every chance to talk peace.
The New York Times, which said in its editorial that the President displayed braggadocio when he said he would not negotiate with the group, did not take this into consideration.
The President had pleaded with the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups to stop fighting government troops because Filipinos were killing fellow Filipinos.
But he was consistently rebuffed.
Anyway, so much for parachute journalism or foreign reporters who write about the problems in the country without knowing the background or root causes.
Those journalists mainly interview opposition figures because their statements make good copy given the controversial nature of the President.
The President was right to reject the offer of Maranao religious and political leaders to negotiate with the Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists.
Some religious and political leaders tolerate, even abet their followers or constituents who rise up against the government.
Let’s call a spade a spade: When a Muslim gets into a fight with a non-Muslim, his fellow Muslims side with him.
Speculations that the President was sick would not have come about had the Malacañang communications office clearly stated he was resting after a very emotional week of talking with the bereaved families of soldiers killed in the fighting.
Emotional exhaustion — empathizing with the widows and orphans — took such a toll on the Commander in Chief’s wellbeing that he had to take a rest.
Emotional fatigue is much more taxing than physical fatigue.
The President would have been spared the time to explain his disappearance had the presidential communications office did its job.
* * *
Why the House of Representatives had to investigate the leadership crisis at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is beyond the comprehension of citizens in the know.
The move can be considered interfering in the internal affairs of an office within the executive department which is a co-equal branch of government.
But then, Executive Secretary Bingbong Medialdea didn’t do anything to resolve the crisis between SBMA Chair Martin Diño and Administrator Wilma Eisma.
Medialdea, supposedly the “little president,” practically relinquished his sole prerogative to resolve the crisis to the legislative branch.
