starshadow_rivaulx (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
starshadow_rivaulx) wrote2010-08-25 10:41 pm
starshadow_rivaulx) wrote2010-08-25 10:41 pm
On recent tragic events in the Philippines
By now, most everyone in the world knows the debacle that was the hostage incident in Manila. It is a national shame and scandal, and as is usual after such a tragedy, there is a loud chorus of voices expressing opinion on what went wrong, finger-pointing, blame-casting, apologies, accusations after the fact.
The internet in particular is alive with commentary.
Myself, I'm still processing the whole thing. I know what I was yelling at the TV from the moment Gregorio Mendoza started meddling in the negotiations. Yes, meddled - the way I understand it, he wasn't there as a police officer, he was allowed on the scene as next-of-kin in the hope that he could persuade his brother to calm down. As per tonight's news, the hostage negotiators said everything was pretty smooth until Mendoza saw the Ombudsman's letter. Then Gregorio put in his two bits, someone called Mendoza's cell phone and put in *their* two bits, and shit hit the fan (there is no other way to describe what happened next).
I will gloss over my sentiments regarding a police force that sends men into the field expecting them to throw tear gas, and then not giving them GAS BLOODY MASKS. Minimum. I mean, WTF? What all did you authorities do with the budget for such things - did you even HAVE A BUDGET? The mind, it boggles at the possibilities...
As expected, Hong Kong is in an uproar, is indignant, is demanding answers. Had the situation been reversed, I am confident in the power of the Filipino voice to be as strident in equal measure on behalf of fellow citizens. It is to be hoped that the answers we give, can pass muster, or definitely things will hit the fan yet again.
It is devoutly to be wished that those stoking the fires of prejudice and hysteria - for there will always be such on both sides of the fence - will soon hold their peace. No one is served any good by the circulation of innuendo and insults and general bad karma.
The President is catching his share of the firestorm, as he should, given that he *is* the President. Initial feedback is not encouraging. Time will tell if opinions will be revised.
Media - oh wow, everyone and his mother-in-law has two bits to say about the role of media in all this. No need to add to *that* chorus.
I said on Twitter, that now is the time for Pinoys to suck it in and *deal* - enough wailing about what happened, let's kick some butt! We can't bring back the dead, restore peace of mind or health to the injured overnight. But damn, we can do better than this. We can find ways to make sure positive change happens; aren't we the people that made "People Power" a global byword? What, was that just a fluke? I don't think so. I hope not.
Lots of worry about how the tourism industry will suffer as a result of this incident. Hm. I suppose that is the immediate concern. But I remember when soldiers took the entire city of Makati hostage in an attempt to oust President Cory Aquino. Tourism survived that - and so did business, by the look of it. Then came soldiers taking over Oakwood in Makati (now The Ascott), and tourism survived that - as it did the follow-up takeover of the Manila Peninsula. (Seeing as how these events happened literally outside my doorstep, and my first ever experience of evacuating home was during the coup attempt, you can understand why I particularly remember them as illustrative cases.)
There are still deeper, older problems to deal with in addition to loss of revenue and good will from tourism. Poverty, corruption, annual flooding, annual lack of classrooms, the sad state of...well, make a list and stick a pin in it. The tourism industry's losses are just the cap on a long list - and I have every hope we will survive this as well. (No thanks to our politicians, but that is a whole other rant.)
Have spotted comments about how backlash over this incident might affect Filipinos working in Hong Kong. Hopefully not as much as is being suggested in some quarters, but if Hong Kong residents are cancelling trips to Manila, so are Manila residents cancelling trips to Hong Kong for the duration in a "better safe than have vacation ruined by backlash" mindset. Wait and see, as usual.
Am not sure I have made much sense with this. But I figured it was time to try and talk to myself via blogging. So have some virtual tea and shortbread for your time, and I hope to post a more normal entry in the immediate future.
The internet in particular is alive with commentary.
Myself, I'm still processing the whole thing. I know what I was yelling at the TV from the moment Gregorio Mendoza started meddling in the negotiations. Yes, meddled - the way I understand it, he wasn't there as a police officer, he was allowed on the scene as next-of-kin in the hope that he could persuade his brother to calm down. As per tonight's news, the hostage negotiators said everything was pretty smooth until Mendoza saw the Ombudsman's letter. Then Gregorio put in his two bits, someone called Mendoza's cell phone and put in *their* two bits, and shit hit the fan (there is no other way to describe what happened next).
I will gloss over my sentiments regarding a police force that sends men into the field expecting them to throw tear gas, and then not giving them GAS BLOODY MASKS. Minimum. I mean, WTF? What all did you authorities do with the budget for such things - did you even HAVE A BUDGET? The mind, it boggles at the possibilities...
As expected, Hong Kong is in an uproar, is indignant, is demanding answers. Had the situation been reversed, I am confident in the power of the Filipino voice to be as strident in equal measure on behalf of fellow citizens. It is to be hoped that the answers we give, can pass muster, or definitely things will hit the fan yet again.
It is devoutly to be wished that those stoking the fires of prejudice and hysteria - for there will always be such on both sides of the fence - will soon hold their peace. No one is served any good by the circulation of innuendo and insults and general bad karma.
The President is catching his share of the firestorm, as he should, given that he *is* the President. Initial feedback is not encouraging. Time will tell if opinions will be revised.
Media - oh wow, everyone and his mother-in-law has two bits to say about the role of media in all this. No need to add to *that* chorus.
I said on Twitter, that now is the time for Pinoys to suck it in and *deal* - enough wailing about what happened, let's kick some butt! We can't bring back the dead, restore peace of mind or health to the injured overnight. But damn, we can do better than this. We can find ways to make sure positive change happens; aren't we the people that made "People Power" a global byword? What, was that just a fluke? I don't think so. I hope not.
Lots of worry about how the tourism industry will suffer as a result of this incident. Hm. I suppose that is the immediate concern. But I remember when soldiers took the entire city of Makati hostage in an attempt to oust President Cory Aquino. Tourism survived that - and so did business, by the look of it. Then came soldiers taking over Oakwood in Makati (now The Ascott), and tourism survived that - as it did the follow-up takeover of the Manila Peninsula. (Seeing as how these events happened literally outside my doorstep, and my first ever experience of evacuating home was during the coup attempt, you can understand why I particularly remember them as illustrative cases.)
There are still deeper, older problems to deal with in addition to loss of revenue and good will from tourism. Poverty, corruption, annual flooding, annual lack of classrooms, the sad state of...well, make a list and stick a pin in it. The tourism industry's losses are just the cap on a long list - and I have every hope we will survive this as well. (No thanks to our politicians, but that is a whole other rant.)
Have spotted comments about how backlash over this incident might affect Filipinos working in Hong Kong. Hopefully not as much as is being suggested in some quarters, but if Hong Kong residents are cancelling trips to Manila, so are Manila residents cancelling trips to Hong Kong for the duration in a "better safe than have vacation ruined by backlash" mindset. Wait and see, as usual.
Am not sure I have made much sense with this. But I figured it was time to try and talk to myself via blogging. So have some virtual tea and shortbread for your time, and I hope to post a more normal entry in the immediate future.
no subject
1) No police hostage negotiator
2) The only person actually negotiating with the hostage taker was the VICE FRICKIN' MAYOR OF MANILA??!?!?! WTF?!?! Lim had the good sense to stay out of it. He knows the chain of command and knows that this is way outside of his jurisdiction. The Vice Mayor made all sorts of promises that are not his to make and he is obviously not trained in any way to be a hostage negotiator. He just played with the lives of 15 people to try and advance his political career. What a jackass.
3) The Police shot up the bus from ground level with no clear ability to see the gunman, smashed the windows with sledgehammer and then had to WAIT for a tool to open the bus? Giving plenty of time for the remaining people inside to bleed to death from the wounds INFLICTED BY THE POLICE!
4) Injured and dead were broadcast across the world with no respect to anonymity or dignity, victims were openly showed with no drape, carted out in the rain with no cover, clothing stripped/cut off with hundreds of people in the room and film cameras capturing everything.
Is this the way you would like to find out that your relative was killed? By seeing his/her lifeless face on the news?
5) Police antagonized the gunman by broadcasting the arrest of his brother and EVERYTHING THAT HE SAID over the airwaves.
6) The president was completely absent for 12 hours. What was he doing? Off stealing more farmland from farmers?
7) No representative from Hong Kong was brought to the scene as an advocate for the foreign hostages until everything turned to shit.
8) The bus driver ran out of the bus screaming "They are all dead!" before a single shot had been fired. Hasn't anyone wondered how he was able to get out of his handcuffs (which he reported to have been put in) and run out of the bus in the first place? Let alone screaming false information...
The list goes on really.. but these things really stick out in my mind.
When these kind of events happened in the USA, there were mass riots and police were assaulted in public.
Yesterday while commuting I saw two men being harassed by a PNP officer and the men were shouting in broken English (I believe they were Korean nationals) "What do you harass us for? You run out of Chinese to kill so you want to shoot me now?"
There na, it's starting... the police are not going to be respected anymore, they lost that small sliver of respect.
I'm outraged, as a resident alien I expect the police to be able to protect me; but now I know that I'm just as likely to be murdered by a man in uniform as I am to be assaulted by a hold-upper.
no subject
Then who were those two guys - Yebra and whats-his-face? Weren't they the official negotiators from the start, as per TV reports? Granted, they totally disappeared after Mendoza's brother started his ranting, but...I understood them to be the original negotiators.
but now I know that I'm just as likely to be murdered by a man in uniform as I am to be assaulted by a hold-upper.
Now you know it. This is something a lot of Pinoys have known since before Marcos was president, and probably even more during the martial law years. And we put up with it. I have no idea why - or maybe I do, but I can't put it into words right now.
8) The bus driver ran out of the bus screaming "They are all dead!" before a single shot had been fired. Hasn't anyone wondered how he was able to get out of his handcuffs (which he reported to have been put in) and run out of the bus in the first place? Let alone screaming false information...
Bus driver says he picked the handcuff lock with his cuticle nipper, according to interview on last night's TV Patrol. I...I don't even know. As for the "all dead" bit? My ceiling is still recovering from the screaming I did when I saw the graphic on my TV screen: "O HELL NO! UNTIL YOU SEE THE BODIES, THEY'RE NOT DEAD! EDIT THAT GRAPHIC NOW!"
There's all kinds of commentary about media's role in the debacle. My two bits: they can say all they want, but their own video convicts them. It's pretty much a given that any bus has a TV and radio...how can anyone say "We didn't know there was a TV on the bus at the time" to justify LIVE REPORTING? Surely in the US there are protocols like keeping the media at a safe (very far away) distance, delayed telecasts, no cameras, stuff like that?
And to say that they would have obeyed any request from government for a blackout - oh, PLEASE! Surely common sense and decency would have dictated a certain amount of prudence in what to broadcast. Didn't need government for that! But then again...were you here for the Manila Pen takeover? It was almost exactly like that, only with more casualties. It appears common sense and decency are trumped by immediacy and ratings.
There now, I'm getting off the soapbox, before I muddy the waters with ranting. Thanks for your observations, I do appreciate the time you took with them.
no subject
They were not trained police hostage negotiators. They were filling a role but had no training and therefore made comments and actions which aggravated the situation.
Surely common sense and decency would have dictated a certain amount of prudence in what to broadcast.
We discussed this with my group the other day. I was waiting for more people to arrive for my migration seminar and we talked about the image that this sends to the world about the Philippines.
The contrast of a population of people who will go out of their way not to offend or cause discomfort for another person compared to the callous and uncaring method of reporting that the world got to experience during this fiasco.
Worse yet, imagine the families in Hong Kong seeing their relatives dead bodies on the news... THIS is how they learn of the death? In a spectacle of self-serving clodhoppers attempting to elevate their careers on the backs of victims?
Media persons fail to step up to the plate and recognize that they frequently act as cultural ambassadors to the rest of the world and may be the first impression of the Philippines that some people will receive. To report in such a manner with an international incident is shameful in the highest order.
But then again...were you here for the Manila Pen takeover?
No, I've only been here for 3 years.
I've been told about it and other incidents over the years.
There now, I'm getting off the soapbox, before I muddy the waters with ranting.
Hey, it's YOUR journal! Rant away!
Thanks for your observations, I do appreciate the time you took with them.
No problem... you probably don't want to hear my observations on the most recent Beauty Queen fumble.
:D
no subject