EDITORIAL - Noynoy needs good advisers

Whoever are advising President Noynoy Aquino right now are doing a very poor job of it. Most of the things the president has done so far, or failed to do, or said, or kept from saying, have largely done him more harm than good.

For instance, why did nobody stop Noynoy from publicly describing as "insulting" an official letter he got from the Hong Kong government? Jesus Christ! You do not go public with unflattering descriptions of official communications between leaders.

Hong Kong may just be a part of China. But it is a special administrative region whose status, under China's "one country, two systems" arrangement, gives its leader what may be the rough equivalent of a head of state.

If Noynoy did not like the tone of the letter, all he had to do was pick up the phone and call Hong Kong's Donald Tsang and clear up matters with him. He did not have to announce to the whole world what he thought of Tsang's letter.

Now, Tsang has responded in kind, publicly denying his letter to Noynoy was insulting. The denial effectively brought the matter to a "his-word-against-mine" situation, something that is not likely to go Noynoy's way after August 23.

But even granting that Noynoy found insulting what to Tsang was not, the fact of the matter is that Noynoy still did not have to go public with his private feelings about personal correspondences between leaders.

What was Noynoy thinking? Was he trying to court sympathy? Was he trying to whip up nationalistic fervor? Noynoy may have only been trying to be honest with his personal feelings. But personal feelings take the back seat when you are the president.

A president not only looks at the big picture, he is required to act with the demeanor and the dignity accruing to his high office as well. His every word and gesture carries the honor of an entire nation, a nation that is still struggling mightily to recover face after August 23.