US: Inverted RP flag an ‘honest mistake’

The United States has apologized for the inverted Philippine flag placed at one of the events attended by President Benigno Aquino III in New York, saying it was an honest mistake. "This was an honest mistake. The US treasures its close relationship and close partnership with the Philippines which were demonstrated this past week during President Aquino’s trip to the US, with the signing of the MCC Compact, the US-ASEAN meeting, and the meeting of our two Presidents that followed it," US Embassy in Manila spokeswoman Rebecca Thompson said in a short statement posted on the Official Gazette website Sunday night. The Philippine flag was inverted during the leaders' meeting of the US and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in New York Saturday morning (Manila time).

A photograph of President Aquino sitting beside US President Barack Obama with the inverted flag behind them was displayed on a government website Sunday but its caption did not point out the error. President Aquino attended the ASEAN-US leaders' meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York before addressing the United Nations General Assembly. He is now in California and is due to return to Manila at 3 a.m. Tuesday. Philippine foreign affairs department spokesman Ed Malaya said the government understood that it was "an honest error" that "should not detract from the true significance of the summit, which showed the unprecedented cooperation between the ASEAN and the US." It was not immediately clear who pointed out the mistake. During the summit, Obama discussed ways of bolstering economic ties between the US and Southeast Asia as well as Asian regional concerns such as territorial disputes in the South China Sea and Nov. 7 elections in military-ruled Myanmar.- with AP/KBK, GMANews.TV