GMA Heckled On Stage by Gov't. Workers?

[chua_riwap]

The President suffered public embarrassment when she was made to appear and speak with the crowd, in obser-vance of Women’s Day, and where she was booed and heckled continuously by the people yesterday.

The current heckling incident happened at the 2007 Women’s Day celebration at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila at around 10 am where the theme of the program was on the micro finance project of the national government.
Believing that her crowd was composed of micro finance beneficiaries, Mrs. Arroyo asked her audience if they have enjoyed their benefits through the said program .

Mrs. Arroyo was startled and shaken when the crowd answered a loud voice “WALA!"! (None). She again attempted to ask if they have benefited from the project . The reply from the crowd was a big “NO.”

After a time, Mrs. Arroyo asked a representative of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to explain what happened and the latter explained on stage that majority of the crowd are composed of government employees who are non-beneficiaries of the micro-finance project. The said project was originally intended for jobless citizens as they will be allowed to borrow from the government and non-government organizations (NGOs) to be able to start a small business.

Upon learning of the blunder of the organizers, Mrs. Arroyo tried to win back her lost composure by asking the government employees if they had received their P1,000 additional allowance released last year. The crowd once again displeased her when they all replied, ”None!”

Mrs. Arroyo, however, showed no irritation over what happened and just made a promise to expand the micro-finance program so government employees could benefit from it.

It was learned that the supposed audience of the program — the micro finance project’s beneficiaries attended another Women’s Day celebration yesterday so the organizers hastily picked up government employees who could fill-up the crowd.

Mrs. Arroyo was not briefed by the organizers on what happened.

As of press time, there was no information if Mrs. Arroyo scolded the program’s organizers as she hurriedly went to Cebu City yesterday afternoon for another presidential commitment. She and the organizers had a closed door meeting after the booing incident.

Earlier, in a concert by an international pop group, Il Divo, the audience, made up mostly of the elite, booed her, just for being present in the concert, when the emcee announced her entrance, and again just as she was leaving


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I saw this incident in the news. He-he! Palagay ko "sabon sarado" yung program organizer na si Mrs. Yao. Napahiya sa event si Pres. dito. May mga foreigners pa sa crowd.

[Hanren]

I don't know what the word respect means to some pinoys nowadays. Free speech is not absolute. Whether we like her or not, she is still the president of the Republic. And she was an invited guest.

[niky]

What a stupid, stupid thing for the organizers to do... nanghakot na ng crowd, mali pa yung mga hinakot nila.

RE: Respect... must be earned. Too bad she got disprespected for the wrong reasons.

[Isuzoom]

Boooooooo!

[Galactus]

She may be the President of the republic, but she is not immune from booing. I don't think the crowd did wrong by merely answering in the negative, since it was true anyway.

What does she expect anyway?? For the "mindless minions" to sing praises and hallelujahs for every speech she makes??? Serves her right for getting a "hakot" crowd. Everybody has the right to express what's on their mind.

[vhenok]

Hehe Karma at its work

From the news:

After her speech, Mrs. Arroyo attended a closed-door meeting with Yao and DSWD officials.

Your guess is as good as mine....sabon to the max mga opisyales

[theveed]

Hanren: If you're a public figure (celebrity, politician, public speaker, etc.) there's no reason why you can't be interogated, questioned, or heckled if what you're trying to say doesn't match what you're doing or promising.

Heck, when Clinton was campaigning in our small campus back in 96, several students were criticizing and questioning his bills. The campus security was already trying to control the students and Clinton told the security not to interfere because those were genuine concerns and must be addressed coz it's his job.

Sa pinas kasi politicians view themselves as gods that are immune from the law, criticisms from the people whom they are SUPPOSED TO SERVE...

If she (or any political figure) wants the audience to just sit and listen, then start a dictatorship.

[shadow]

tama, singaot lang naman nila yun tanong ni GMA....hehhehe

[Altis6453]

Reminds me of the incident where she got heckled by a graduating student somewhere in Cavite. Aba, si Raul Gonzales sinabi meron daw krimen na naganap. The guy is seriously full of himself when it comes to interpreting the law.

[sentra98]

first post ko, about GMA pa!

Respect? Huhm...

You don't get respect. You earned that. Luckily the crowd are government people who have only answered the truth (from their conscience).

Micro-financing What? P1,000, what?

[empy]

hihihi....any good lawyer could have told her that to avoid getting blindsided, never ask a question that you don't already know the answer to. :bwahaha:

medyo agree ako sa comment about respect - it's not cool to not practice decent human behavior no matter who you disagree with

but then again - politicians and leaders should be questioned and held accountable by their citizens. it's the whole point of democracy

[pup2]

What's irritating is if, as expected, sinabon niya yung organizers. Ibig sabihin gusto talaga niya ng loyal na hakot crowd all the time and doesn't tolerate free speech. Kung walang kokontra sa iyo, good way or not, paano ka makakakuha ng ideas better than yours?

[niky]

If I got stones thrown at me during a speech because the organizer, who happens to be my employee, distributed rocks instead of pandesal, I'd be pissed, too.

It was very stupid of the organizer not to assure that the attendees for whom the speech was scheduled would be able to attend.

[Syuryuken]

"Who among you are conduits to microfinance?" WALA!!!!! BOOO!!!! HAHAHA!!!

Natatawa ako kahapon habang pinanonood ko.

[baiskee]

what else is new? sanay na yan...la na yan pakialam.

[gearspeed]

Cguro nagkakamot ng ulo si Yao at DSWD officials sa closed door meeting.
Sinasabi cguro ni GMA na ayoko napapahiya ako.

[morrissey_05]

i hate to admit this, but i derived a lot of pleasure watching that on TV. BEH! BUTI NGA!

what wa disturbing was that the crowd said they didnt receive their P1000 allowance last year. tsk tsk tsk mukhang na kupit na naman yun

[chua_riwap]

what wa disturbing was that the crowd said they didnt receive their P1000 allowance last year. tsk tsk tsk mukhang na kupit na naman yun

Yan ang nakakahiya.........mukhang di alam ni GMA ito. Ano ba'ng govt. agency in-chrage dito? Budget Dept.?

[Hanren]

Too bad I may have sounded like I was siding with someone against a number of Pinoys. But whether it was Erap, Cory, Marcos, or whoever that you want to name, I think respect should not just come in the form of admiring and singing praises for someone but rather, it should come by trying to elevate one's self above the need or opportunity to show disgust or disdain at someone in an occasion where people normally observe basic courtersy such as where GMA was. It was even women's day and yet, they heckled a woman!

IMHO, it does not matter also whether the person deserves it or not because respect comes from within us. I respect a person because he or she is a human being and not because I disagree with him or her.

I think you all made a good point but what would it do to heckle someone who is already in an embarrasing situation? It's like kicking someone when he's already down. They should have heckled her outside but not infront of guests (foreigners at that)! Its bad enough that a President gets booed (frequently). It's also bad when it it happens with some foreigners (and the media) as the audience. Its even worse when its done by the people who are supposed to follow her orders.

Respect should be earned. But if I were part of the audience, I should have kept quiet and left the venue because I cannot stomach the hypocrisy of what is being preached any further rather than show my ignorance of basic courtesy and the lack thereof.

Let's put ourselves in her shoes. Booing her will not make her change her mind. It would even strengthen her resolve to get tough on those organizers and her enemies.

Sorry po napabaha. But in times like these, it helps to create an atmosphere of peace. Peace po.

[theveed]

Hanren: hehe discussion lang naman nothing personal :D