MANILA, Philippines - A tweet from actor-host-politician Edu Manzano about President Benigno "Noynoy"Aquino III and Grace Lee sharing a "leisurely stroll" on Thursday afternoon was immediately dismissed by Malacanang as gossip.
Palace spokesperson Edwin Lacierda clarified via his official Twitter account that the President and the Korean TV host and radio disc jockey were not spotted walking along the famous shopping district in San Juan City as Manzano claimed.
“Ur tweet is tsismis (gossip),” Lacierda said at around 3 p.m. “The President is presiding over a NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) Board meeting. It started at 10, the meeting is still ongoing. ”
Deputy Palace spokesperson Abigail Valte even dared Manzano to support his claim with photos. The NEDA meeting ended shortly after 4 pm.
Manzano, the losing vice presidential candidate and running mate of Lakas-Kampi-CMD Party presidential bet Gilbert Teodoro in the 2010 polls, later apologized for his tweet, admitting it was a mistake.
“Sorry for the confusion, everyone. In local parlance, 'nakuryente' ako, and I was foolish to tweet unconfirmed chismis,” he said on his Twitter account. “And to those who have posted personal attacks against me, I sincerely understand. Lord knows I've given you a lot of material to work with.”
Emerging from the NEDA meeting, Aquino didn't let the incident pass, quipping that he should probably give jobs to people with nothing better to do than spread gossip.
“There are really some people who do not have anything better to do," he said at the 115th founding anniversary of the Office of the President. "These are the people whom we should find jobs for because they have a lot of idle time to spin gossip. But I just laughed it off.”
Aquino is dealing with some negative publicity lately after militant group Anakbayan spawned a lazy or laidback form of protest, which it named after the President.
The protest gimmick called “Noynoying” was used by activists to call the attention of Aquino over his alleged inaction to economic problems such as the continuous increase in fuel prices. The Palace cried foul over the latest protest action and asked the public to disregard it.
Some tweets on Thursday attacked Aquino for his alleged “strolling” with Lee, saying he was "Noynoying".
"Shouldn't he be doing Presidential things? Or is he NoyNoying?" asked @annaria. (with a report from Chichi Conde, InterAksyon.com)
source: interaksyon.com
