Noynoy acted in August 23 but in a different way

By Al S. Mendoza

CHEERS instead of jeers!

That should be our reaction when Noynoy Aquino said he was also to blame for the bungled rescue of the hostage-taking fiasco at the Luneta in August 23.

Apologists —- and alas, there are lots of them —- ranted at people who cheered when Noynoy said he must also be blamed for his no-show when the crisis was on, and when it was immediately over.

It happens all the time.  They do it with the passion of one doing things at all costs just to achieve a dream.  By hook or by crook.

Oh, well, the newspaper apologists a.k.a. columnists get paid for that.  Some handsomely even.

That’s their job: To always beautify, if not sanitize, the image of the President.

But in so doing, at certain times if not most of the time, they cause more harm to than good for the president.

For example, they insist the president did right when he didn’t appear during the crisis.

To be sure, I know many of the apologists.  Some, I consider close to me; others, mere acquaintances.

As I keep saying here, a friend is entirely distinct from an acquaintance.

You know someone and that’s an acquaintance.

You love someone dearly and that’s a friend.

Even if one is an apologist, he will remain a friend to me even if he thinks I am not his friend anymore.

I will only stop treating him a friend if he shows concrete proof he won’t treat me like a true friend anymore.

The hardest, indeed, is to find a friend.

A friend keeps repeating:  You can count your friends with your fingers.  But acquaintances?  Include your toes in the counting and that wouldn’t even be enough.

I have argued with some believing we are friends.

Then they drift away.

Maybe I’ve come on too strong?

It’s those that sticky by you, no matter what, who truly deserved to be called your friends.

As Clinton said, when asked what he would do the first day he becomes a private citizen again:  “I will search for my true friends whom I had left behind while I was a public figure.”

True friends are the most forgiving.

As I said, I know some of Noynoy’s apologists.  A couple or two are my friends.

It is my friends who could take a rap when I dish it out.

They even thank me for it each time I do it.

Like when I told one, “Noynoy should have talked to the hostage-taker.  So what if Noynoy had been asked to give more concessions instead of the madman’s one wish of just being reinstated to his police job?  The true test of a president when he is thrown right there, in the vortex of a crisis, is how he would handle himself.  That would define the man; it would characterize the direction of his presidency for the next six years.”

He shook my hand.  Tightly.

I said, “Noynoy can talk, yes.  But can he act as well?”

Actions speak louder than words, right?

On behalf of the 90 million Filipinos, he didn’t act in August 23.

Oops!  Correction. He acted.

By not showing up.

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