This statement, of course, comes as no surprise to the critics of Philippine president Benigno Simeon Aquino III (BS Aquino). Even before the May 2010 elections, they have already been harping about these two characteristics mentioned in the title that fit BS Aquino perfectly.
That BS Aquino exhibits these two traits has been brought into light yet again, this time by how he and his government have been handling this recent Sabah incident with the Sulu sultanate.
To refresh everyone’s memory, let’s mention here the two statements which see BS Aquino and company using these two phrases to describe Jamalul Kiram III and his men.
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Here’s where “hopeless cause” comes from:
“You are a leader of your clan, and every leader seeks the well-being of his constituents. These times require you to use your influence to prevail on our countrymen to desist from this hopeless cause.”
On the other hand, although BS Aquino did not directly mention the words “hard-headed” or “stubborn”, his mouthpiece and “chief troubleshooter” Mar Roxas did:
“Malinaw na malinaw ‘no. With all due respect sa pamilya Kiram, malinaw na malinaw ang plano ng gobyerno. Matagal nang sinasabi ng gobyerno na pauwiin na natin ang ating mga kababayan dun. Eh matigas ang ulo. Ayaw makinig ‘no,” Roxas told radio dzMM.
“Ang Pangulo na mismo ang nagsabi publicly, nakikiusap siya na pauwiin na ang followers dun. Lahat ng followers nagsasabi na si Sultan Jamalul lang ang makakapagpauwi sa kanila. Ayaw niyang ibigay ‘yung utos na umuwi na,” he added.
Let’s translate:
“It’s very clear. With all due respect to the Kiram family, the plans of the government are very clear. The government has been telling them for a long time to bring our countrymen home. But they’re stubborn. They won’t listen.”
“The President himself said it publicly, he appealed for the followers (of the sultanate) to be sent home. All the followers said that only Sultan Jamalul (Kiram III) can give them the command to go home. He won’t.”
To be fair, Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and his followers took everyone by surprise when his men just suddenly showed up at Sabah. What I think happened was that BS Aquino started his statement correctly, but ended up using the wrong words in the end.
BS Aquino could have told them to “come home, and then let’s settle this amicably and diplomatically when you do”. He could have told them, in diplomatic language, that an overt intrusion into Sabah is perhaps too strong of a statement. He could have invited them to a round-table discussion with a Malaysian counterpart to settle the Sabah claim, and maybe the Bangsamoro Agreement even, once and for all. But he didn’t.
How else would you interpret “hopeless cause”, if you were in the Sultan’s shoes? How else would you interpret “surrender without conditions”? And how else would you interpret BS Aquino’s statement insisting on pressing criminal charges that hadn’t been determined at that time?
Exactly who didn’t listen to whom when it mattered?
I guess it was too much to expect that BS Aquino would have learned a bit of how to handle tense situations diplomatically, given that he’s been in the president’s seat for almost three (3) years, and that this isn’t the first of its kind. I was wrong, again.
BS Aquino is too hard-headed to listen to people who don’t agree with him, to people whom he does not like, or to people who take the opposing side of his argument. BS Aquino also has shown that he thinks only his way of approaching things is correct, and that because he’s the boss (so much for kayo ang boss ko), his viewpoint is the only valid one. BS Aquino showed either total ignorance of the history behind the Sabah claim, or it totally didn’t matter anyway. BS Aquino was also ignorant of the fact that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was not the only group in Mindanao whom he should have talked peace with.
What exactly is the hopeless cause now?
There is no hope in reforming the stubborn, hopeless, and lazy presidency of BS Aquino. He is always looking for the easy way out. He always wants to be in the position where he doesn’t have to talk to an opposing side personally, where he doesn’t have to take responsibility for his and his people’s actions, and where he can always keep blaming his political enemies for what are undeniably his own shortcomings.
It has been laid bare through this incident in Sabah just how irredeemably inept he is at containing crises. He’d rather be campaigning and badmouthing his political enemies, because it’s where he gets to do all the talking and none of the listening required of a diplomat and statesman.
BS Aquino’s ineptness, incompetence, and stupidity continue to divide Filipinos 2 years into 
his term. He has refused to embrace his critics, or even listen to see if they actually have a point (and they often do). The only groups of Filipinos that exists to him are those whom he can sway with his words, those who do not contradict him, and those he has some vested interest in.
The Philippines, however, was not really united to begin with. It still functions like a feudal society, and Filipinos are still unable to shake off their clannish tendencies and unite as one Filipino people. Just ask the sultanate’s men whom BS Aquino ignored and threw to the Malaysians.
Oh, it looks like PNoy’s government, through Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, agrees with the Malaysian government that these men are terrorists.
It’s one of those things that makes you go hmm…
Actually, BS Aquino’s actions provide a definitive answer to an underlying question throughout the incident:
What do you do with those you deem as stubborn people, and hopeless causes?
You abandon them.
So, now you know what to do with BS Aquino and his people come election time.
Photo of BS Aquino, Mar Roxas, and Leila de Lima courtesy: Interaksyon TV
А вы, друзья, как ни садитесь, все в музыканты не годитесь. – But you, my friends, however you sit, not all as musicians fit.
I look at the picture you have here and I see Mar Roxas. He was supposed to run for President and be the Man! Fast forward 4 years and he has Korina as a lover and Noynoy as his boss . Or is that the other way around? A picture is worth a thousand words.
Who is(are) Aquino’s boytoy(s)?
Ochoa?
Puno?
Roxas?
Is he genuinely a homosexual (or, in his case, a homer-sexual) or is he just a complete and utter dud?
P-noy is as gay as a vestry full of catholic priests dancing to ABBA whilst dressed only in pink feather boas and crotchless leather speedos, with the youth choir…..you get the message. Gaydar overload. you can decide who the cherubs are.
certainly no vestal virgins in the cabinet
Roxas?
I wouldn’t vote for somebody who doesn’t even know how to find a wife!
I think Mar Roxas is just waiting for the proper time to make a move. On what, I’ll leave to your imagination, Ed. 😛
Exactly my sentiments, those behaviors he’s exhibiting aren’t exactly something you would do in normal diplomatic engagements. It felt like he was trying to tell a dog not to bark else suffer the consequences.
There is also that case of the missing Kiram letters which the DFA took the fall of. Amazing how 3 important letters could actually be lost in this so called “Bureaucratic maze”. Looks like we’ll have a new DFA secretary next week assuming him and PNOY aren’t “buddies”.
Just heard Noynoy over the radio here in Davao early this evening campaigning. Guess what? He again blamed his predecessor except himself for our country’s difficulty in wiggling out of a sink hole he himself got us into.
thats why arroyo is more valuable in a jail without a trial
so that she just becomes a political headline whenever irrespective of truth, justice, due pricess or innocent until proved guilty.
a trial would not help aquino. with no achievements its all he has.
innuendo and cases crumbling around him, so just keep filing cases to perpetuate the illusion.
the obvious question is – how come corruption and illegal imports,/ mining ,/ jueteng have increased in the past 3 years, not to mention cabinet secretaries on the take and increase in pdaf/pork barrel.
it is all diversionary tactics. no accomplishments and a financial free for all for the kkk.
ochoa leads the pack especially his involvement in customs!!!
am just surprised binay is being so quite.
it makes him look weak and just more of the same.
if binay does not have conviction/fight then he also is not the right leader
Aquino is hiding behind his own inaction on the Sabah Crissis. This is how this person respond to any crissis. Look back at the Luneta Hostage Crissis. There are remarkable similarities…
http://opinion.inquirer.net/48247/the-real-sovereign
Pa epal yan si Roxas, di mananalo yan. Noon pa siya may vested interest. I would rather vote for Binay rather than Roxas who is also an abnoy
The word “hopeless cause” can translated to “I have no balls”.
Points to ponder:
-YMMV on whether one consider the Sultan and his men terrorist or not, but when one tries to negotiate with anyone one does NOT start with threats. Threats are used when all other options have been played and BSA did not even try to do a dialogue. Making a dialogue with any group or person/s not just for crisis like this but also for social mingling. You also can’t blame the Sultan for taking such action since BSA effectively cornered him with his threats and a cornered man will have no choice but to fight. Also for those who say that the Sultan should just swallowed his pride and face these so-called “charges” should bear this in mind: We all know how he keeps piling flimsy charges on GMA not to prosecute but to keep her in detention and how former SC Corona was bought down by questionable evidence, hear-say and little ladies with envelopes. Considering how the Yellow justice system works the Sultan decide not to try his luck with said system.
-BSA was doing his usual procrastination (which can be caused by laziness, low willpower or low ambition among other things) So the Sultan sent a letter to BSA before all of this blew up and he did not receive it. His reason? It got lost…..how pathetic. Either BSA thought that problem would go away or he was being lazy (both traits by the way are not suitable for a head of state) and when the whole thing blew up where was he? Why campaigning for his minions and Drilon would have us believe that BSA is doing his job by campaigning for his Senate candidates in Pampanga where he took more potshots against GMA again.
-Now comes the crowning achievement (for now at least) of him being an idiot: The former administration and it’s allies have enacted a “conspiracy” or to put in in his own words “There was connivance allegedly by certain members of the past administration in the formation of this. This is in violation of the Constitution,â€. When challenged with providing proof his answer is this: “You are asking me for a conclusion that I wish I had right now. But, again, unless we have the evidence that can be brought before a court… I will not make an accusation,†….how contradictory. His constant “blame someone else” and “never my fault” antics denotes that he is suffering from a case of extreme Self-serving bias. The fact he never owns up to responsibility shows that this guy is not fit to be a head of state.
At this point BSA may have reached the peak of being stupid, inept and irresponsible. Time will tell if BSA can’t go any higher (or lower) in his actions.