At Such A Time As This

The Philippines has just gotten out of an era where we could not care less about out country. The government was a bad choice to be company with. Now we have a new government. The Philippines is gaining its respect again. The Philippines is regaining tourists. The Philippines is getting back on track in its economy. Everything is going well. Apparently not. The hostage taker just had to do his "act" to pull down the whole Philippines in one single blow.

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Let us assume that he was framed about extortion and served injustice in the case. These are NOT reasons for Inspector Mendoza to result to hostage-taking. The sad part was, he had to result to killing innocent blood.

Blame it all on the police force. Was their capturing of Mendoza's brother wrong? I tell you, it was right in every way possible. The brother was going to the bus without authorization and had a gun with him. That is why he was arrested. Mendoza was outraged by it. So be it, still not the PNP's fault.

Blame it on the SWAT team. Say all you want, the sledge hammer went in the bus, the pulling of the hydraulic door was wrong, the tear gas was wrong, the flash grenades were wrong, the sniper team was wrong, and everything about the SWAT's operation was wrong. OK, FINE. They had done something wrong. However, we must not blame them for everything. Do you know their Rules of Engagement (ROE)? If not, then don't say anything rashly. Let us not forget that Mendoza was a police also. He knew how the force will handle things, and he planned it almost perfectly. I assume he had a good position inside the bus. This made for a more complicated operations than expected.

This is NOT A GAME that we play on the computer or a movie that we watch on the cinemas. I read many comments about how the SWAT should have handled the operations. They probably played too much Call of Duty Modern Warfare. Not everything we want to happen will happen in real life. The police cannot respawn themselves when they die. Therefore, utter care must be done, unless you want to be on the wrong end of the situation. We don't have modern equipments as well, so can we blame the police for that?

Blame it on the negotiators. Many suggested that they could have just tricked Mendoza into thinking that he will get everything he wants. This is wrong in every way. You actually want to result to lying? Christians and non- Christians share the same view, they don't want to be lied to. SO whatever happened to the Golden Rule? The negotiators respected Mendoza and gave him a fair treatment. It was apparently not returned.

Blame it on the media. I agree that the media is at fault for aggravating the situation. Fighting for "better" but unnecessary coverage jeopardized the whole mission. The police had a hard time because virtually all their positions are being covered by the media, and Mendoza had access to the coverage. This allowed him to plan everything to his advantage. What was the media thinking? Ratings is still more important to you?

Blame it on P-Noy. What? Come again? How could you always blame the President for something bad happening to the country? We did not see his face in media at those times. Why? Does it mean that he is not doing anything when we don't see his face on our TV sets? What is wrong with you? The President know better than how we portrayed him to be.

This is the sad part. A hostage- taking crisis revealed to us that WE DID NOT CHANGE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. I thought we wanted change? If we want change, we ourselves MUST CHANGE! The media should be ashamed of themselves. All the Usiseros and Usiseras present at the crime scene should all be ashamed of themselves. You are not at all helping the situation. In fact, you are slowing the whole rescue operation. We should be ashamed ourselves for pointing fingers. I also heard that there were FAN PAGES in Facebook for this hostage-taking drama. Pictures were taken with smiles in front of the crime scene. Text messages were also circulated as if making this a light dilemma. Could we be any more serious? The situation is far aggravated by our careless acts. It is probably in the culture of a Filipino already. Wrong answer still, a culture of a people is always changing. It is not constant through time. What are we doing then? While we are developing a good culture, we are not releasing the bad culture we possess. It's sad that after everything we had gone through, the same thing always happens. Blame everyone for a situation, gossip about it, and entertain ourselves with it afterwards.

How should we act? We should all be FURIOUS. Not to the police, not to P-Noy, not to ANYONE BUT OURSELVES. WE have shown that we are still not acting as one nation ready for change. Shame on us.

I cannot do anything, however, but to pray for the country. More importantly, I would pray for every Filipino to start reflecting on their own and start changing the way they reacted to the crisis. It was a great loss indeed, and I am grieving for the things that happened that probably should not have happened. But the truth remains that it can happen anywhere around the world. It does not mean that because it happened in the Philippines, all Filipinos are bad and worthless. It is just wrong to conclude it that way.

At such a time as this, what can we do? Move forward.

How many more eye openers do you want to happen in the Philippines before you start CHANGING? Start NOW!

The Country and I

The Country we love

Here we are, a new Philippines. Many days after the inauguration of P-Noy. I would start by boldly declaring that P-Noy has done a great job. Sticking true to his campaign is a fresh start to a budding administration.

The media and P-Noy

Transparency is key to a successful government, media, and citizen relationship. What did P-Noy do? Well, he formed a communications group that would answer most, if not all, of the things that the administration deal with. As stressed in my journalism class, information is the highway of democracy. It is even the oxygen of democracy. Without it, a democracy perishes. P-Noy has started out well. In stark contrast, President GMA is closed to the media. Basically, she does not understand that the media's role is to inform people of certain things. To take on both sides, however, Philippine media is unstable. One day it is very good, another day it is sensationalized. It's hard to balance things here. I don't know why, but it might be due to the readership they are trying to gain. As in television, profit is important that sometimes it gets in the way of professionalism. With that being said, I admire P-Noy for having an administration that is open to the media amidst its shortcomings. Again, information is crucial to the survival of a democracy. I am glad that we finally have a president who believes in that.

P-Noy's first few days as CEO of the Philippines

I have been following closely (mostly through the Philippine Daily Inquirer) P-Noy's first few days as President. Starting with the strict implementation of the "no WANG-WANG" policy, the Aquino administration is off to a good start! The only downside to it is that since P-Noy vows to follow the law, the traffic in Araneta corner Quezon Ave. has been altered. The route where P-Noy is passing through now has a left turn stop light! Pretty clever! Working within the framework of the rules. Too bad for the lane heading to Fairview though, it has to wait a few more minutes for the green light to shine. There were immediate bumps to the "matuwid na daan" that P-Noy hoped for, and P-Noy soon realized that the mountain he is climbing is way steeper than what he had first calculated. First he had to face a daunting task of managing the budget deficit. Apparently, the previous administration decided to just use up almost all of the budget. The calamity funds has almost been depleted as well. How about the MWSS bonuses? Christmas bonus, Christmas package, 13th month pay, pa-bahay, pa-kotse, etc. Incredible! I had to quote someone saying that they only stopped handing out bonuses because they have no more names to call the bonuses! All these and more are stated in his SONA. While many claim that his SONA is lacking, I believe it was a good start. He, after all, highlighted the things he wants to prioritize. Now, indeed, the Filipinos can dream again. The extra judicial killings started again under a young Aquino administration. Sad as it may seem, the killings seem to be an insult and slap to the face of P-Noy. We just hope that he has a solution to all these. What about the typhoon that killed many? The water crisis? The dams that won't fill even under heavy rainfall? The CARP and Hacienda Luisita problems also surfaced once again. As we all know, P-Noy's family is a majority owner of Hacienda Luisita. It is for this reason that we are very interested in what he will be doing. The developments seem to be good, though it is hard to say because even though a compromise was claimed by Hacienda Luisita, the farmers claimed otherwise (such confusion is a headache). The PAL problem is also another headache. I would say that though these PAL staffs had problems with the PAL management, they still have to respect the terms of their contract and the government condition. Boycotting the airline by resigning immediately instead of the SOP of informing the airline 6 months in advanced is a bad practice. It leaves a bad reputation to the Philippines however you want to see it. The ombudsman is also a headache. Suddenly springing to action on the fertilizer fund scam after a long state of dormancy, the ombudsman has been subject to impeachment. Lastly, all the government officials who earn more than the President? The figures go as high as 20 something million Pesos.

How I feel?

It pains me to see that while we make it look as if we are not a rich country, we have government officials here and there doing things to profit themselves, thus leaving the poor people to suffer. WE ARE A RICH COUNTRY! Our natural resources, our beaches, our environment are all world class! We have a lot of money as well, if you really think about it. It just goes to all the wrong places. Sad. :(

Conclusion

P-Noy has been in office for only a short time. Rallying everywhere about his "shortcomings" is NOT a help to the country. If we really want to help, we will not be rallying but be active in forming groups to help the new government do its thing. After all, what can a plumber fix in a few days when the whole country pipe system is damaged? Can you tell me? Would criticizing the plumber speed up the patching process? NO! It is then up to the citizens to help patch up the massive damage to the country pipes. By doing so, we would have been able to stop the Philippines from sinking down below the ocean. We have a choice. Use it to HELP this beloved country! :)