Nothing to be sorry about

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK JAY PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Malacañang, through its spokespersons, had reportedly stated that it is not apologizing, nor is it sorry for having partaken of that $20,000 dinner at the posh New York restaurant Le Cirque.

So what more could be said about it?

Much, much more if one were to listen to so many sectors of the community, from the religious, civil society, civic clubs, the academe, political parties, militant groups, and, most of all, the media. After all, it was through a media report from a tiny item in the New York Post, that we all learned about the grand bash that entertained our First Couple and the selected members of the entourage who accompanied them to the United States, for that much longed-for meeting with its new president.

To the Filipinos back home, the cost of that dinner, which can be computed to about one million in Philippine pesos was, to Ilonggo-speaking people, “makagalaba,” or something that could bring down the wrath of heaven. Because, as they have analyzed it, the amount could have fed 37,000 people, built dozens of one-room houses for the homeless, sent hundreds of children to public schools, or paid several teachers for them.

The explanation that the amount did not come from government coffers, but from the funds of a wealthy congressman who must have his own reasons for cottoning up to the presidential company, still does not placate their kababayan. Many even recalled that this happened while the country was mourning the death of a beloved former president, who, although born to a very rich and landed family, had never placed herself in a situation that would appall her constituents.

It is also unfortunate that this happened just a few weeks after President Arroyo herself, in her latest State of the Nation Address, had slammed politicians for their lavish lifestyles. Was the hospitable congressman exempted from that reproach, then?

Now it seems as if she had been saying that others must do as she says, but not follow what she does. But, as the Palace mouthpieces have already said, nobody there is sorry, there is no need to apologize. And that’s that.*