There appears to be a lot of truth to what Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez said about President Aquino’s seemingly lack of concern for the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.” The mayor claimed that the President, even before seeing a full picture of the devastation caused by the typhoon, immediately blamed local city officials for being unprepared.
I don’t know Romualdez’s true character, but his recollection of the events immediately following Yolanda seems fairly accurate: Mr. Aquino blaming others was in character with the President who walked out of an important meeting on relief operations just because he didn’t like what he was hearing.
A leader of a country doesn’t walk out on the survivors because he doesn’t like what he hears. And when his people are suffering the effects of a destructive typhoon, he doesn’t go visiting to blame them or their city officials.
Everything Mr. Aquino did in the aftermath of the typhoon just revealed his true selfish and self-involved character. He cares not about the people he is supposed to lead, he cares only for his own interests. Proof of this: At one point, he left the survivors upon hearing the Supreme Court ruling on the unconstitutionality of the pork barrel system which is one of his main tools in manipulating lawmakers into doing what he wants.
—KYLE XAVIER ORTEGA,
kylexyortega@yahoo.com