Group wants PNoy aide fired for anti-Viet tweets

As cyberspace bristles with negative reactions to palace speechwriter Carmen “Mai" Mislang’s controversial tweets about Vietnam, a leftist group has urged President Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III to fire Mislang for her conduct. Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said that Mislang’s statements on Twitter were “arrogant, insensitive and disrespectful of other people." Mislang reportedly tweeted that the wine at a state banquet “sucked," that there were “no handsome men" in Vietnam, and that it would be easy to die in the “motorcycle laden streets of Hanoi."

Mislang is part of Aquino’s presidential delegation to the Asean Summit in Vietnam. According to Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III, Mislang has apologized. "I apologize for my comments. If I offended anybody, please know that was never the intention. I feel extremely blessed to be in a beautiful country blessed with warm hospitable people," Mislang was quoted as saying on her Facebook page. Pamalakaya slammed Mislang for having “no sense of history at all," reminding Aquino that Vietnam has a rich culture and long tradition, like Filipinos, of resisting foreign colonizers like the United States. “Now we know why Mislang was picked as Aquino’s speechwriter. They belong to the same league of arrogant people and political wannabes. [Her] grave misbehavior in Vietnam is a product of this administration’s poor appreciation of the Vietnamese people," said Pamalakaya in a statement. “We believe [her] ugly manners and wrong conduct reflects the political attitude of current occupants in Malacañang, led by no other than President Aquino himself," Pamalakaya said. Malacañang, however, continues to downplay the incident. Mislang has been a “hardworking" member of Aquino’s staff since he was a senator, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said on state-run dzRB radio station. The case is a “closed book" as Mislang has already been advised by Communications Secretary Ramon Carandang to be “more circumspect" in the future, Valte added. — LRS/VS, GMANews.TV