Needed: Finesse EDITORIAL 06/09/2010

Needed: Finesse

EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 06/09/2010 What Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, who is set to be proclaimed president-elect by the Congress today, needs is a lot of finesse in his ways. And so do his supporters and incoming Aquino executives. From all indications, however, finesse is not in their vocabulary, but humiliation of their perceived non-supporters is. What reason was there to keep on humiliating Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Delfin Bangit, by continually demanding his resignation at this time, especially when he had already made it public that he was ready to hand in his resignation to the incoming president and commander in-chief by June 30, 2010? There are just a few days left before Noynoy takes on the presidency and time enough for him to appoint a new chief of staff. There certainly was no reason for Noynoy and his spokesman, lawyer Edwin Lacierda, to keep on pounding on Bangit’s resignation. If Bangit does resign now, Gloria would have to appoint — even on an ad-interim appointment — another chief of staff, in which case Noynoy and the yellows would no doubt scream another “illegal” midnight appointment. Why can’t they wait to do all that once they have the power and authority to do so? Irked by the constant calls from the yellows for him to resign immediately, Bangit took the hardline stance and said he was not going to resign and was willing to be fired by the incoming president, pointing to a provision in the Articles of War saying to the effect that resignation would be an abdication of his duties and functions, for which he can be penalized. In the same manner, there is too much of vindictive politics being played by Aquino and his camp, even to the point of virtually not wanting outgoing Gloria Arroyo to be anywhere near him during his inauguration. He really should start learning about protocol and a lot more about healing and uniting a still divided nation. But then again, all of it could be an act, as there is strong talk that he and Gloria forged a deal prior to election day. But he must remember that even as he won the presidency, there were more who had not voted for him and he still must earn the people’s trust and confidence.... MORE     Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100609com1.html

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