No more smiling PNoy on Facebook

A serious-looking photo of President Benigno Aquino III is now posted on his Facebook and Friendster accounts after he got flak over his “smile" following the Aug. 23 hostage-taking situation in Manila that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead. Several Chinese nationals had chided Aquino after he was caught on television smiling while being interviewed at the crime scene hours after the hostage-taking. Aquino, at a press briefing two days later, said he “might have been misunderstood."

“I have several expressions. I smile when I’m happy, I smile when I’m faced with a very absurd situation, and if I offended certain people, I apologize to them," he said. As this developed, Malacañang on Sunday said comments on Aquino’s Facebook page is slowly getting back to “normal" after being flooded by criticisms in connection with his smile and the deaths of the Hong Kong tourists. Interviewed by Radyo ng Bayan, Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma said there are still a few stinging remarks left in the Facebook account but there are more comments now supporting and defending the President. He said they are not deleting all the negative remarks, but only the “slanderous" and “profane" comments. “Iyung sa hate mail, may mga protocol na tinatawag na sinusunod ang ating website administration group, at ito ay para ma-filter iyung mga malalaswang salita, o sa ingles ay profanity, iyun ang ini-exclude na kategorya sa mga messages. Pero iyung mismong paglalahad ng saloobin kahit an negatibo ito ay hindi nating sinesesnor o binubura sa ating website dahil demokratiko ang cyberspace o Internet at pinapayagan naman iyung paglalahad ng iba ibang pananaw o saloobin," he said. (We don’t delete negative comments, only those with profanity. There’s a protocol that is being followed by our website administration group to filter profanity.) Coloma said everyone is starting to move on and get on with their lives after the hostage incident, with the government doing its best to improve the capabilities of its security forces while investigations on the incident continue. He said they expect a fact-finding report on the incident to be submitted to the President in three weeks. He said while they would welcome an early investigation report, they want to make sure that the probe would be “thorough, impartial and comprehensive." “Ang ating ginagawa na ngayon ay yung lahat ng mga hakbang para malampasan na natin iyung mga nakita nating kahinaan at kakulangan ng nakaraan lalong-lalo na sa hanay ng ating kapulisan. Aaikasuhin na nga iyung pagpapahusay sa kanilang kakayahan para sa pagsasanay nila, sa pagbuo nitong elite strike force na binanggit ng ating Pangulo, iyung pag-beef-up sa kanilang capability," he said. (What we are doing now is improving our police force based on the weaknesses we saw during the hostage situation. We will now exert our efforts to form this elite strike force that our President has mentioned.) - KBK, GMANews.TV