Display of humility, not disrespect

Your editorial of Dec. 30 lambasted the President for skipping the Rizal Day celebration at Luneta.

You concluded that as a show of disrespect.

He did not say he will not commemorate Rizal Day and he did not claim to honor instead Gen. Gregorio del Pilar on that day.

There are hundreds of Rizal monuments he can visit to celebrate Rizal Day, not only in Luneta.

It is his prerogative to select which monument he wants to give respect to on that day.

Ironically, your paper’s front page the following day showed the President bowing before the national hero’s monument in Davao City.

It is a display of humility and not a show of disrespect as you claim.

Why editorialize something that has yet to come? That was a pathetic editorial.

CARL SOL, sol_carl@yahoo.com

(The editorial “Show of disrespect” was written in response to the Malacañang announcement on Friday, Dec. 27, that President Duterte was, as in 2018, skipping this year’s Rizal Day rites. Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo’s explanation as quoted in this paper’s report was: “He will not be attending the Rizal [Day] rites, he’d rather go to some place. I think this year he wanted to give treatment to [General Gregorio] del Pilar.” From Friday to much of Sunday, no change in the President’s plans was announced. It was only late Sunday, Dec. 29, that Malacañang said Mr. Duterte had decided to lead the Rizal Day rites in Davao after all; the news was carried by Inquirer.net at 5:55 p.m., the Manila Bulletin website ran it at 7:21 p.m., while CNN Philippines’ report—titled “Malacañang backtracks, says Duterte will attend Rizal Day rites in Davao City”—was posted at 9:56 p.m. Unfortunately, by late Sunday, the Inquirer’s Opinion pages and certain other sections for the next day’s issue were already under printing—the editorial overtaken by the last-minute change in plan in the President’s schedule.ʖEd.)