Once more, without feeling

THE response of President BS Aquino 3rd to the ‘violent dispersal’ of the farmers’ rally was so sadly predictable, we could have written the news story about it as soon as the first shots were fired in Kidapawan City last Friday.

Once more, without feeling: Instead of displaying some empathy toward those who were injured or killed, Aquino had, at least as of midday yesterday, absolutely nothing to say. Instead of reassuring the nation that he does, in fact, understand that something went terribly wrong and that there is no circumstance in which people appealing for food aid should be met with gunfire, Aquino trotted out a functionary to offer an oblivious statement about the dangers of people “making hotheaded statements” and “rushing to judgment” about the massacre.