The Manila Bus Hostage Crisis: One Year After

Tomorrow, the 23rd of August, marks the first anniversary of the terrible hostage-taking crisis at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. 

The hostage-taking, which was carried out by former police officer Rolando Mendoza, lasted for approximately 11 hours and ended in a shootout which killed eight tourists from Hong Kong, as well as the hostage-taker. The poorly-handled crisis was watched by millions of people around the world, especially during its final moments, when police officers and members of the SWAT team stormed the bus. 

The way the assault team handled the final moments (which resulted in the deaths of the eight tourists) was severely criticized, and the days following the crisis was marked by tension between the Philippines and China. Some Filipinos in Hong Kong reportedly experienced discrimination, while would-be tourists to the Philippines canceled their trips as a precautionary measure. The Philippine president, Noynoy Aquino, was criticized for not handling the situation properly and not taking proper action (Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang also complained about having a difficult time reaching the President by phone at the time) and calls to improve the training of Filipino police officers were made.The hostage crisis was indeed humiliating for the Philippine government, and the country as a whole, and strained the Philippines' relations with Hong Kong, one of the Philippines' partners in terms of tourism and trade.

Members of the SWAT team surround the body of Rolando Mendoza after he was killed in the shootout which also killed eight of the tourists on board.

While the family members of the tourists killed and the people of Hong Kong continued to grieve, many Filipinos appeared to have moved on rather quickly--just a few days after the incident, beauty queen Venus Raj ended up in the top five during the Miss Universe Pageant held in Las Vegas. diverting the Filipino people's attention who seem to like these beauty pageants a lot (I mean, we have Binibining Pilipinas, Ms. Philippines-Earth, Ms. Earth, Ms. International, Ms. World, etc.--a Filipino would probably be able to memorize Filiipina beauty pageant winners faster than the chronological sequencing of Philippine presidents). As I have mentioned in an entry in the old LiveJournal blog (http://fdmt.livejournal.com), Filipinos love having something to distract them from the misery they are in. As in the case of poverty, many of the Filipino masa use these evening drama shows on local channels to make themselves feel better (since, in these programs, the impoverished protagonist usually triumphs over the smart, rich, clever antagonist.). In the case of this hostage crisis, Filipinos were able to use the Miss Universe pageant as a diversion. Instead of tackling the problem, Filipinos would just refuse to acknowledge it--while they may have forgotten of the problem because of these distractions, the problem has never actually been resolved. The problem still remains. 

Many Filipinos also seemed to have moved on rather quickly because no Filipino hostages were killed anyway. A lot of Filipinos wouldn't care about an event of global concern unless other Filipinos were hurt or involved or praised (see the earlier entry "The Local Media--Influencing the People in All the Wrong Ways" for you to know what I'm talking about). However, if a group of Filipinos suffered the same fate as the eight Hong Kong tourists in a similar incident in another country, I'm pretty sure that everyone would be all over that--condemning the government of the country where the incident happened, and holding protests left and right--pretty much what was happening in Hong Kong after the incident, while many Filipinos chose to look the other way and pay attention to the Miss Universe pageant instead. Tch! "Filipino Christians" indeed!

The woman on the right lost her husband and two daughters in the siege, but Filipinos didn't seem to care much and paid more attention to the woman on the left.

The same Filipinos who are too quick to ride along a Filipino's popularity abroad (by saying the ever-annoying phrase "proud to be Pinoy" or  "galing ng Pinoy" even though not all Filipinos are great chefs like Cristeta Comerford or great singers like Arnel Pineda) are likely to be the same ones who were too quick to say "Not all Filipinos are like Rolando Mendoza" last year. Are you only willing to call yourself a Filipino when something good happens? Do you choose to ignore what is wrong with Filipino society, instead of tackling the problem head-on, to resolve it and ultimately get rid of it? How long must our country stay this way? Are you willing to live a "soap opera" lifestyle where good fortune just keeps pouring in  (as it always does)? 

Filipinos need to WAKE UP--this is the real world, where the prosperity we want our country to have requires effort and patience. We need to acknowledge the problems we are facing instead of having to resort to these "distractions" all the time--before we know it, we may find ourselves out of distractions and we would eventually end up drowning in our sea of problems. Now, are you willing to wait for that time to come, or are you willing to act now? It's your call.