Maybe because in two weeks time, there will be changing of the guards. The presiding president, Benigno Aquino III, is bidding goodbye and last Sunday’s Independence Day Vin d’Honneur was the last that he was hosting.
Aside from leaving the seat of power, Aquino is turning over the reins of the government not to his annointed, Mar Roxas, but to Rodrigo Duterte, the candidate that he warned the voters to be a danger to democracy.
At the Vin d’honneur, a traditional reception for the diplomatic corps and government officials on New Year’s Day and Independence Day, Aquino once again talked about his family’s sacrifices for Philippine democracy under the Marcos dictatorship to underscore that our much-cherished freedom can be taken away.