Shortly after more than 1,200 people were killed in one of the worst disasters in recent Philippine history, the glamorous starlet Valerie Concepcion cooed about President Benigno S. Aquino III, who is affectionately known as P-Noy.

During a party at the presidential palace on the night after the disaster, Ms. Concepcion posted on her Twitter account: “It was nice to see Pres. P-Noy laughing at my jokes and enjoying my performance.”

One Manila newspaper reacted with the headline: “President Parties as Thousands Suffer.”

Athena Gardon, a leader of the left- leaning student group Kabataan, expressed similar indignation.

“It smacks of utter insensitivity on the part of the president to merrymake while hundreds have been killed and thousands struggle to survive,” she said in a statement, referring to the tropical storm that caused flooding in the southern Philippines in the early morning hours of Dec. 17 and left more than 1,200 people dead.