One leader’s couragous call for the end of … wang-wang?

Every day’s a school day when you’re the editor of Vital Speeches International.

For instance, in his State of the Nation address last month, Philippines President Benigno Aquino made 16 references to a term called “wang-wang.”

Here are some:

I stood before you during my inauguration and promised: we would do away with the use of the wang-wang …

Over the years, the wang-wang had come to symbolize the abuse of authority …

Abusing privilege despite promising to serve—this was the wang-wang mindset …

Do you want to see the end of wang-wang, both on the streets and in the sense of entitlement that has led to the abuse that we have lived with for so long? …

We have fought against the wang-wang, and our efforts have yielded results …

Having rid the DOE of wang-wang, we have revived the confidence of investors in our energy sector …

To and the wang-wang culture in government, we employed zero-based budgeting to review programs …

I wish we could say we had completely eliminated the wang-wang attitude, but in some parts of our consciousness, it still persists …

Even in agricultrure, the culture of wang-wang once persisted …

We have put an end to the culture of entitlement, to wang-wang …

The etymology of wang-wang, it seems, is this: “wang-wang” refers to the sound sirens make. Sirens are sometimes used illegally in non-emergency situations by government VIPs who want to move through cities without following traffic rules.

[Honestly, I am stumped for a closing quip here. A year's free access to Writing Boots to the reader who best helps me out. —DM]