The presidential advisers might have counseled PNoy against saying "sorry." For any Law freshman would tell us that saying sorry is, in effect, an admission of guilt. And the President believes that he was not guilty at all. He was not guilty of assigning a very difficult and highly sensitive mission to a suspended General. He was not guilty of allowing American troopers to accompany the SAF elements in the execution of a domestic task. He was not guilty of choosing to bypass the chain of command because it was the presidential prerogative to do so. And he was not guilty of keeping his own alter egos (Secretaries Mar Roxas and Voltaire Gazmin) in the dark. He has nothing to apologize.
The President firmly believes that he was not guilty of being insensitive when he chose to attend the opening ceremonies of Mitsubishi plant in Laguna, instead of meeting the dead bodies of forty-two fallen SAF troopers (two were Muslims and were immediately buried as Islam requires immediate burial of their dead ) in the Villamor Air Base. The President is not guilty of blaming General Getulio Napeñas and for accusing the latter of "pambobola," and accusing the general of acting incompetently or "tatanga-tanga." The President is not guilty of trying to exculpate General Purisima, while laying all the blame on a subordinate like Napeñas.
It is difficult for the President to apologize because he thinks that he did all that must be done as President and Commander-in-chief. He thinks it was not inappropriate to tell the widows and the orphans that "tabla-tabla lang tayo" because his own father, too, the late Ninoy Aquino was also killed. The President has nothing to apologize even if he and his Cabinet wanted to assuage the grief and sufferings of the victims' families by offering them houses and scholarships and many other "pa consuelo," even if some of those promises were not supported by any budget or legal basis. All these were reportedly rejected by some widows who refused to shake the President's hands. But who cares?
The President believes in good faith that he was not at fault at all, nor did he ever entertain any thought that somehow he did fail to exercise the appropriate degree of diligence demanded as a "bonum pater familium," or a good father of the family or the nation. It is very difficult for the President to apologize because most of his trusted family members and friends must have taken the view that it is well below the dignity of a head of state and head of the government to apologize to the people. Thus, apology has been eliminated as an option. The President's handlers will continue to weave tales of finger-pointing, hoping that when lies are repeated over and over again, it might sound like the truth.
We cannot expect from President Aquino what ex-PGMA did: to say "I am sorry" because of the "Hello Garci " controversy. GMA was, to the mind of PNoy's advisers, violating the law. PNoy was only trying to arrest an international terrorist. Even if 44 SAF troopers died, it was a mere collateral damage. The end justifies the means. And so, guys, we should understand the President. We need not forgive him because he did not do anything wrong. What is happening to our country, General?