Stupid Excuse

The Philippine Government denies that it did not attend the awarding ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Ambassador (Elizabeth) Buensuceso’s trip to Denmark has long been arranged even before the identity of the recipient for this year‘s Nobel Peace Prize was known,” Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ed Malaya told reporters in Malacañang.

“We do not think there is any connection,” Malaya said.

But if you look at the Philippine Embassy's staff in Oslo, aside from Ambassador Buensuceso, there is also a Minister and Consul General, and a Third Secretary and Vice Consul. The invitations for the awarding ceremony (I assume) is not addressed personally to the ambassador but to the Philippines. If the ambassador cannot make it, then somebody from the embassy can represent the Philippines in her stead. Instead, we turned down the invitation.

I would rather the Philippine government tell us that we would rather not be in China's black list at this point in time rather than trying to feed us this bullshit. At least with the truth, I can be reassured that they are trying to protect the interest of the Philippines.

p.s.

Had this brainwave after finishing the post, maybe this is still realpolitik, the Philippine government does not want to embarrass China by admitting that it bullies weak governments so they are using this blatantly stupid excuse.