Nothing wrong with parties, but

I do not think it is fair to castigate Noynoy Aquino for attending the Christmas party of the Presidential Security Group last Sunday night in Malacañang while Mindanao was reeling from the effects of tropical storm Sendong in which hundreds of people were killed or remain missing.

Aquino is the president of everyone. On the other hand, no one has a monopoly of his time. I am sorry, but at the risk of sounding callous and insensitive, I do not think life stops for the rest of us, especially Aquino’s, just because life did stop for many of our countrymen.

Besides, I think the PSG party, and Aquino’s attendance in it, had long been arranged before the great tragedy happened. It was something that simply had to run its course and again I do not think it fair to condemn the president for his mere attendance in the PSG party.

Unfortunately for Aquino, his hapless spokesmen are being clueless as usual. They just do not know how to defend his principal. Instead of providing a brief and simple explanation of how his attendance was unavoidable, they instead chose to go into the nitty-gritty details.

One after the other, Aquino’s witless spokesmen uselessly split hair explaining how the president stayed for only this or that length of time, or that he did not sing a song or two, as if it really mattered.

I do not think it was wrong for Aquino to attend the PSG party, period. But to those who think it was wrong, and to whom the hapless spokesmen were trying to direct their explanations, it matters not what he did at the party or how long he stayed there.

To those who think it was wrong for Aquino to attend the party, it does not matter whether he stayed one minute or three hours. Or whether he sang a song or merely listened to the others sing. It was his presence at the party that is being criticized.

In fact, the clueless spokesmen missed a great opportunity to truly speak for and defend their principal. They could have, for instance, tried to make a distinction between attending the party and actually partying in it.

For there is a whale of a difference between merely attending a party and to be partying while in it. To attend a party specifically attends to mere presence. To be partying is to have a good time. 

Had the Aquino spokesmen focused on this distinction, they could have ably defended their principal better. People would have understood better the necessity of his being at the party without his having to really be enjoying it.

But the hapless spokesmen of Aquino are just being true to what they are. They are so very sensitive to criticism they immediately kick back without thinking. To them it is always a fight to be won instead of being explained.

In fact, the spokesmen of Aquino are in for a bigger storm once the critics start pointing out the fact that, yes, while Aquino had to attend that party last Sunday, it had to take him only yesterday, Tuesday, to go and show himself to his stricken citizens in Mindanao.

For this, to me, is the bigger issue, not the mere act of attending the party. To me Aquino needs to honor prior commitments, be they parties or whatever. But he should not have taken this long to attend to more pressing matters.

By waiting until yesterday, Tuesday, to schedule his trip to areas in Mindanao ravaged by the storm since Friday night, Aquino rendered himself vulnerable to criticism, including that of attending the PSG party which I have nothing against.

Aquino can attend parties if he wants. But he should get his priorities straight. When tragedy strikes, he should be there at once. Aquino can badmouth Gloria Arroyo for all he cares, except in this regard. When her presence was needed, GMA was there, come hell or high water.