Noynoy Aquino's smile and sorry seems to be an empty word

The controversial "smile" of RP President Noy Aquino

Had an expert communications guy accompanied President Noynoy Aquino when he first visited the "crime scene" a few hours after the clearing operations at the Quirino Grandstand, Aquino would not have "smiled". That "smile" earned the ire of thousands, even millions of Hongkongers who were closely watching the story unfold in Manila. 

Aquino, the head of state of our government, would not have issued an apology later on. 

Compare Aquino's demeanor with that of Hongkong Chief Executive Donald Tsang. Tsang acts were presidential. Ours, well, is definitely wanting.

What is so humiliating are the acts of our government shortly after the incident. Our Communication secretary Ricky Carandang tried to justify the absence of his principal by saying that the President deemed it wise not to communicate with his Hongkong counterpart and just do it shortly afterwards.

Carandang said, a Malacanang aide failed to give Aquino the phone when Tsang called. Imagine that. The entire country was in the state of shock and in agitation, and the President is nowhere to be found. Fact is, during the crisis, Carandang issued a statement saying that Malacanang deemed it wise not to take part in the resolution of the issue, saying that it was just a "local matter". Wow.

What is also a letdown is this smile by the president. Some people were reminded of the vicious psychiatric reports which appeared during the elections, insinuating that Noynoy Aquino suffered from certain mental problems before. That "smile", as reports say, provoked those memories.

And again, that "smile" elicited another sorry statement. How many sorries do we expect to get from this administration? That each and every time this government says sorry, we will just shrug it off and continue on with our lives?

When presidential spokesperson Ed Lacierda said "sorry" for misintepreting the first official act of this administration, everyone forgave him. When Education secretary Luistro said sorry, everybody says it was just a neophyte blunder.

But when you're two months already in the job, and things remain the same, and a serious incident like this happen, sorry, it seems, is definitely not enough anymore.

Is this government sorry for still allowing smugglers and corrupt Customs men to do their illicit acts, as admitted by Finance secretary Cesar Purisima. Purisima admitted in national radio (DZMM) that there are still smugglers doing their thing at Customs. What is Customs chief Alvarez doing? And why is Purisima allowing Alvarez to still keep his job?

Are we just to accept the sorry of DPWH secretary Babes Singson for allowing corrupt DPWH men to still get hefty commissions from poor road construction of their preferred contractors?

There is a limit in saying sorry.

Fact is, we Filipinos believe that the more you say "sorry", the more you really do not mean that you're truly sorry.

We are in a very sorry state. Fact is, our government right now just issues sorries and then still do the same thing. How much harm do we have to take from this government before we really tell ourselves that we are really sorry for supporting it?