President Aquino listens to the updates on the rehabilitation efforts given by Guiuan Municipal Mayor Christopher Sheen Gonzales at the Guiuan Public Market in Barangay 6, Poblacion, Guiuan, during his visit to Eastern Samar Nov. 7, 2014, the eve of the typhoon Yolanda anniversary. He skipped Tacloban, which suffered the brunt of the super typhoon, due to, what many people suspect, political considerations. Photo by Gil Nartea/ Malacañang Photo bureau
Whatever reasons President Noy may have had in skipping Tacloban City for the commemoration of the first “Yolanda” anniversary, the people, especially the victims, can never forgive him.
Long after he’s gone, they will be cursing and vilifying him for seemingly being petty and vindictive.
Tacloban City in Leyte province suffered the brunt of the massive destruction and mayhem wrought by the world’s strongest storm ever to hit land.
Even if he didn’t visit Guiuan in Eastern Samar province, the first to be hit by Yolanda, people would have understood because the town didn’t suffer as many casualties as Tacloban City.
The city has become the symbol for the wrath of Mother Nature with the large-scale destruction and victims’ indescribable suffering reported by international media.
The President’s absence was noticeable and, of course, tongues must have wagged all over the world.
We have a chief executive who puts more value on his emotions—the Romualdezes are his political enemies and the city mayor is a Romualdez—than the significance of an event.
He probably forgot that as the President, he is the father of the nation and is not supposed to quarrel with some of his children no matter how recalcitrant they may be.
By skipping Tacloban City but visiting other places hit by Yolanda—Eastern Samar, Palawan, Cebu and Aklan—he emphasized all the more that he favors some of his children over others.
It’s surprising why no one among his Cabinet members, especially Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, was brave enough to advise him to rein in his vindictiveness.
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I beg the indulgence of my readers if I sound like a broken record about how retired Maj. Gen. Pons Millena became one of the best commandants of the “fightingest” unit of the Armed Forces, the Philippine Marine Corps.
Millena became the object of defamation because of his strict adherence to discipline, the hallmark of a Marine.
He was a victim of “militics,” or military politics, that nearly caused him the much-coveted post.
When he became commandant, Millena forgave his detractors and asked for their cooperation.
He resisted the temptation to get back at them because he was already the “father of the Corps.”
Why doesn’t P-Noy do a Millena?
P-Noy has plenty of time to mend his vindictive ways until 2016.
If he does, he may become one of the best presidents of this country because of his clean image and his anticorruption campaign.
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Former Ambassador Antonio Cabangon-Chua, a business tycoon, was humiliated by Cathay Pacific Airways when it seated him and his companion in economy although he bought business class tickets for his recent trip to Hong Kong.
He was told that the airline had to change to a smaller plane and he could not be accommodated in business class as priority was given to Marco Polo members or the airline’s frequent flyers.
Cabangon-Chua, a humble man, let the slight pass but asked that he be refunded for the difference in the downgrade which amounted to $1,420, or P63,900, at the current exchange rate.
However, he was given only P3,000.
Unwittingly, he signed a “quit claim” absolving the airline of any liability.
Calling the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
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