Twit the Twitter sucks! - Palace

The “wine sucks” comment sent through “Twitter” by presidential speechwriter, Assistant Secretary Ma. Carmen “Mai” Mislang pulled her out from anonymity to infamy. If her budding singing career did not take off, Mislang’s fine taste for wines spurt her overnight to ignominy.

Hate postings in Facebook were even put up to twit MIslang for her undiplomatic tweet during the state banquet hosted by Vietnam President Nguyen Minh Triet in honor of visiting President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

The Mislang pillory campaign in Facebook came out in the so-called social networking accounts. The Palace aides of President Aquino have been into heavy promotion of social networking as one of their chief modes of reaching out to the public through cyber space. 

Ironically, the chief promoter of this is the much vaunted Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office headed by former ANC news anchor Ricky Carandang who was also involved in this controversial Twitter exchange with his subordinate Mislang.

The bashing of the errant Presidential female aide flowed in torrents in the aftermath of her irreverent remarks about the wine served by their Vietnamese host. Carandang, all the way to P-Noy are now crying out loud: Twit the Twitter sucks!

Taking up the cudgels for Mislang, P-Noy and his Palace aides deplored the raging hate campaign against her. Carandang tried to dismiss the faux pas of Mislang as being “blown out of proportion.” Subsequently, the President mouthed the same line upon his arrival from Vietnam in defense of the errant Palace aide.

The Chief Executive also brushed aside calls to fire Mislang. In so many words, P-Noy cited he was convinced that Mislang has already realized the dire implications of the snide comments on the wine served by their host in Vietnam made public on her Twitter account.

It is rather unfortunate and misplaced for P-Noy to keep on defending his subordinates. At the rate his bungling close Palace aides continue to stumble from one booboo to another, P-Noy would have nothing to do but defend them.

Actually, Carandang also figured with Mislang in this exchange of controversial comments in their respective “Twitter” accounts while with P-Noy as members of his official delegation in the state visit to Vietnam last week. Carandang even replied: “Red or white” (wine)? Obviously, the exchange was done through their hand-held Blackberry mobile phones.

Methinks, the bigger issue here is the misuse of state privileges. As government officials, both Carandang and Mislang were allocated with public funds to support their communications requirements. They enjoy taxpayer-paid international roaming mobile phones through which they obviously had their “Twitter” exchange using their Blackberry units. I just don’t know if these Blackberry units of Carandang and Mislang were also procured through taxpayers’ money.

Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla rightly questioned the travel expenditures of Carandang and Mislang since their newly created office does not even have a budget yet for this year. A neophyte Congressman, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo filed a House Bill that seeks to ban access to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter in all government offices during office hours. Quimbo pointed to Mislang’s caper as the best argument to push the approval of his proposed legislation to regulate the access and use of such state-paid privileges to all government officials.

Mislang immediately deleted her Facebook and Twitter accounts following her booboo. Carandang disclosed he has already reprimanded Mislang. And he announced having imposed a temporary suspension on the use of social networking sites by his subordinates until such time they could come up with guidelines of Do’s and Don’ts. May I suggest to Carandang to lead by example on a Code of Conduct against such flippant, bordering on trash talk exchange of messages.

No amount of Palace downgrading this Vietnam incident could detract from the fact that we, taxpayers pay the burden for these traveling Palace Twitter addicts. Carandang’s ally at the Palace, Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda and his deputy Abigail Valte defended Mislang one after the other, albeit miserably missing the point.

Valte was quoted as saying the 29-year-old Mislang deserves a second chance. After all, Valte pointed out, Mislang has already apologized and expressed her deep remorse in her Facebook Account before she closed it down in shame.

For his part, Lacierda sought to downplay that the “wine sucks” comment by Mislang does not constitute any offense. A lawyer by profession, Lacierda added: “This is a learning experience and it’s not conduct unbecoming of a public official.” So it was okay for the President to let Mislang off the hook with just a slap on the wrist?     

No matter how Valte and Lacierda tried in vain to help out their embattled Palace colleague, netizens retorted in short replies: LOL (Laughing Out Loud). OMG as in Oh Mai gad! Mislang has turned P-Noy’s much-vaunted Matuwid na Daan into Ma-Twit na Daan!

If there is one Cabinet official of P-Noy who is putting into good use his Blackberry privileges, it is Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima. He was the first to send the good news to us at The STAR editorial office about the much bigger amount given by the US on the Millennium Challenge Account that was granted to the Philippines. Purisima was in Washington, D.C. at that time in September as advance party to the US visit of P-Noy.

While he was again a member of the Presidential delegation in Vietnam last month, Purisima posted in his Facebook a photo of P-Noy listening to the remarks of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev during the Asean-Russia summit. Obviously, it was Purisima who took the photo during that closed-door meeting. Unfortunately, Purisima has to learn a lot more about photography on how to get a good angle of his subject.

The point is these government officials who are entitled to taxpayer-paid privileges to have international roaming mobile phones and internet services should use them judiciously.

These Palace aides learned their lessons well that to twit the Twitter sucks!