Assistant Secretary Mai Mislang, an aide and speechwriter of Philippine president Benigno Aquino who belongs to the president’s communications group, should resign from her position. Or Aquino should fire her post-haste.

Mislang was with Aquino in Vietnam for the ASEAN summit. During a banquet hosted by Vietnamese premier Nguyen Minh Triet at the Banquet Hall of the Government Guesthouse on Tuesday, Mislang and Ricky Carandang, the head of the communications group and the immediate boss of Mislang, exchanged Twitter messages. At one point, Carandang apparently asked how  the reception was. Mislang replied “the wine sucks.”  Carandang, based on this tweet that is still on his Twitter account, apparently asked back: “The red or the white?”

(Mislang has since deleted her tweet. But it landed on the “wine hate” site at Amplicate, where it remains).

Facebook and Twitter has since been abuzz with Mislang’s comment.

But based on this story in the Philippine Star, Mislang did not stop at the wine. She also tweeted about some things she did not like in Vietnam:

But Mislang, who was Mr. Aquino’s staff during his three-year stint at the Senate, even commented that Vietnamese people, particularly the lean male ones, do not have good looks that could attract women. She also said that if you want to die, just cross the busy streets here.

Mislang’s derision of the Vietnamese was reflected in this exchange, also on Twitter, with her friend @heyessa:

@maimislang:

Lovely. Just lovely =) (@ Wild Lotus restaurant & Lounge) http://4sq.com/95orh1.

 @heyessa:

@maimislang Note down address for future date venues! *saucy wink* I hear Vietnamese chaps are quite cute, with a dash of French and all…

 @maimislang:

Hell no. The only cute guy I found here was French. Wild Lotus and Angelina #cantmissinhanoi

I get it that Mislang is a young woman and she and her colleagues deserve some fun. But they probably forgot that they’re working for the president of the Philippines. Tweets like these, while they show that these people working for Aquino are human, expose a juvenile behavior that can threaten relations with other countries.

After reading this, what would the Vietnamese think now of Aquino and his people?

Carandang has told reporters that the case is a closed book, that he had had a word with Mislang and that her behavior can be excused.

I’m not so sure. These people represent the president and the republic. Unless the president agrees with and approves of what Mislang did, Mislang doesn’t deserve to be around him, no matter how hard working she has been in the past.

The Aquino presidency simply does not have room for juveniles. That is if we take seriously Aquino’s promise that he would fix this country.

 

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