Asean tweet: Wine sucks

HANOI, Vietnam – A subordinate of Secretary Ricky Carandang who was among the 52-man Philippine delegation here has expressed her distaste - although over social networking site Tweeter - for the wine offered by the hosts while President Aquino was having a toast with his Vietnamese counterpart.

Assistant Secretary Mai Mislang, of the Presidential Communications Office for Strategic Planning and Development, sent a “(the) wine sucks” message as Mr. Aquino was the guest of Nguyen Minh Triet at the Banquet Hall of the Government Guesthouse late Tuesday. 

Mr. Aquino was on a state visit here from Tuesday to Wednesday, upon the invitation of the Vietnamese leader, who is chairman of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whom he first met last September in New York at the UN General Assembly.

The Chief Executive was apparently unaware of the Tweeter exchange between Mislang and Carandang, who acted as his spokesman in the state visit and ASEAN bilateral meetings here, much less the offensive remarks, especially since the Philippine government is just a visitor in this city.

Carandang, who was anchor of giant TV network ABS-CBN before joining government, has in turn posted his picture last Thursday with Trade Secretary Greg Domingo and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima dining at Lotus restaurant, which may be a relatively harmless one.

But Mislang, who was in Mr. Aquino’s staff during his three-year stint at the Senate, even commented that Vietnamese people, particularly the lean male ones, are not exactly comely and so lacking in sex appeal. She also said that if you want to die, just cross the busy streets here.

Mr. Aquino, Carandang and Mislang are all billeted at the Grand Plaza Hotel here, where they will be staying until Oct. 31 (Sunday), until after the 17th ASEAN Summit and related summits are concluded in the afternoon.

Sought for comment after Mr. Aquino’s talks with fellow ASEAN heads of state, Carandang downplayed the faux pas and defended Mislang.

“Mai is one of the hardest working people in our office. She is trusted by the President and this is just a minor issue. So, I don’t think it’s going to become anything more. As far as we are concerned, it’s a closed book,” he told Manila-based reporters at the National Convention Center here.

Nonetheless, he said he already reminded Mislang about the repercussions of her actions. “I told her that she should restrain herself next time. And she’s being more careful now,” he said, adding Mislang may have just been excited because this is her first state visit.

Mislang was among the 56-man Philippine delegation to Mr. Aquino’s US working visit last month.

When asked if Mr. Aquino had been apprised of the offending remarks, Carandang replied: “The President knows about it and he knows that I have taken the appropriate action. I just told him that I have talked to her already.”

The message on Tweeter had already been deleted, an act Carandang said Mislang did on her own.  

Initially, the Cabinet member, himself a techie, found nothing wrong with Mislang’s message. “I think it was a pretty harmless Tweet. I think obviously it might be potentially embarrassing. As long as people are careful about it in the future, I don’t think it will create any kind of incident.

“No offense meant to anybody. It was something that was spontaneous. We talked about it and we’re all being careful now about tweeting. We have already fixed it,” Carandang said.