Aquino criticizes 'noisy minority' at Palace event

At a formal event attended by government officials and foreign diplomats, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III criticized the "noisy minority" who are allegedly out to bring back the "malicious practices of the past." "There will be challenges ahead—from an uncertain outlook for the global economy, to a noisy minority who want to rekindle the malicious practices of the past. But if we work together, we will overcome the challenges and fulfill the promise of the year ahead.," said the president during a vin d'honneur in Malacañang on Friday. The Oxford dictionary defines vin d'honneur as a "wine formally offered in honour of a special guest." Feeling alluded to, House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman described Aquino's comment as a "crude partisan tirade." In a statement issued after the event, Lagman said he asked members of the House minority to join the vin d'honneur as an "expression of cooperation with the Aquino administration in the advent of the New Year" only to be hit by a "derisive remark." Lagman said many who attended the event, including members of the House majority, were "utterly astonished and disgusted by the President’s uncalled for statement." "The minority is articulate, not 'noisy.' It is responsible and deliberate, and does not bask in the past. It is the President who repeatedly harps on the perceived sins of the past in a vain effort to project himself as a 'different and model' leader," Lagman said. Critic of Arroyo Aquino is a known critic of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her allies, and has even created a Truth Commission designed to investigate corruption scandals during the former president's nine-year administration. The creation of the commission, however, was nullified by the Supreme Court-- a decision that Aquino has formally asked the court to reconsider. Lagman said: "If the President is picking a fight this early in 2011, then the minority is not running away from a good fight. If the President asks for it, he will get it." Aside from Cabinet members, Congress leaders, and foreign diplomats, among those present were Vice-President Jejomar Binay and Papal Nuncio Edward Joseph Adams. In the message he delivered at the vin d'honneur, Adams praised Aquino for "manifesting the political will and tenacity to preserve the tenets of democracy." Also present at the event was recently-released Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, whose application for amnesty is currently being processed by the Defense Department. Trillanes, who had been detained for several years for leading coup attempts against the Arroyo administration, said he did not get the chance to talk to Aquino because their locations were far from each other and there were many people at the event. "Sadly I never had the chance to meet him personally," Trillanes said. "But I got to meet a lot of people." Trillanes said he is confident that "there will be time to meet" Aquino in the future. The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 under Judge Oscar Pimentel granted Trillanes temporary release primarily because of Aquino's Proclamation 75. The proclamation provides for the granting of amnesty to active and former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel and their supporters who figured in: