PRESIDENT Duterte needs a set of assistants here and another set of assistants there to do his job well. And these people who work for the President are supposed to be the cream of the crop in their respective fields. The Chief Executive’s information people, for example, are there to feed him correct and accurate information. When they give the President something to announce, it is their duty to verify and double-check that information to ascertain its accuracy.
On Tuesday President Duterte publicly apologized to three people erroneously included in a “drug matrix” made public earlier. He said former Pangasinan governor and now Rep. Amado Espino, Rafael Baraan and Urbiztondo, Pangasinan, Board Member Raul Sison should not have been included in the matrix. “I think, somehow, we were negligent in counterchecking during the first report. So, to Espino, Sison and Baraan, I would like to apologize to you publicly, and I would say now, I’m very sorry,” the President said in a speech after inspecting a seized shabu laboratory in Arayat, Pampanga.
“I cannot be perfect, and sometimes you are correct when you say that life is never fair,” he added.
Although he opted for the “I’m responsible” approach and did not berate his people for screwing up big time, the incident mauled the President’s antidrugs policy. The erroneous drug matrix handed to the President by irresponsible underlings could adversely affect the administration’s war on drugs.
Those who prepared the erroneous drug matrix should suffer the consequences of their incompetence. What they have done, or failed to do, for that matter, has harmed innocent people. Had they revalidated their information, the President’s underlings would not have wrongly accused innocent people as drug personalities. Worse, they placed the President in a bad light on the world stage.
We understand the President taking all the blame for this serious blunder because, in his own words, “I was the one who announced it.” The Chief Executive’s mea culpa was premised on his desire to fulfill “my responsibility to let the Filipino people know who are the drug personalities that are destroying this country” through the menace of illegal drugs.
Will the President face a crisis of confidence in his leadership because of this faux pas? That’s highly doubtful. Mr. Duterte has shown that he is the kind of leader who is responsible not only for his own behavior, but also for that of his officials and men. As such, he made a public apology, because it is the right thing to do. It’s not as if the Duterte administration is flawless, without blame or sin.
On one hand, Mr. Duterte’s apology was refreshing in that it was unequivocal. No hedging. No defensiveness. The message was clear: Brave leaders don’t make excuses, they apologize. The mere act of saying “I’m sorry” on nationwide TV requires a good deal of courage. It’s a measure of character. The President did not point to his people for blame. He acknowledged that the erroneous drug matrix made public has caused others harm. And he took all the blame.
The whole nation saw on Tuesday that we have a President who is willing to admit to all and sundry when he is wrong. This is laudable, because Mr. Duterte is putting honesty and honor above personal comfort or self-protection. In other words, the President will take the blame for things that happen on his watch. Mr. Duterte could be a model for how presidents should own up to mistakes.
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A colour full personality Miriam Santiago passes away….I am sure she is
arguing her case at the Pearly Gates and will get in one way or another.
Salud – Vive La Republica