picture this: a 60-year old daycare school owner takes hostage 26 of his own students, inside a bus for 10 hours, demanding to get 'support for his school and improved housing for the poor'. at 7 PM Manila time, the guy, Armando Ducat surrenders, ending the standoff.
my first concern was: did the kids even eat during the whole ordeal?
the answer is, they got fried chicken at the end of the day (Jollibee? Max's?). so this means nobody ate during.
last night, while i was checking news wires as the crisis progressed, i read that Malacanang convened a luncheon meeting to discuss the problem. two things jumped out at me:
- that they were having a luncheon meeting. did they have krispy pata, lechon paksiw, pancit luglug, and puto, while considering options on how to get out of the embarrassing situation? since this is the Internet Age 2.0, news like this get picked up immediately - and i bet you some officials in that meeting were among the last to know. and while eating that crunchy krispy pata, a couple of them probably threw out suggestions to bomb the bus. bomb bus! wooohoooo!
- that allegedly, no one was panicking. that's what Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said - "who's panicking? we are hardly in a state of panic." that's true. i mean, how can you panic when you're having krispy pata and pancit? what, me worry?
other people didn't waste time having lunch, going for the media mileage and goodwill cachet instead - witness the distinguished Senator Bong Revilla acting on his moviestar instincts and negotiated directly with the hostage-taker. even Senator-hopeful and gambling lord Chavit Singson talked to the guy. are they all mahjong and pusoy buddies? c'mon, we need to know these things.
and how about this Ducat guy? alleged historical behavior of the sort notwithstanding (holding a couple of priests hostage because he was unpaid?), he demanded free education for his wards (whom he threatened basically by brandishing guns - an Uzi! - at keeping them in a bus without food for hours) and "unite with President Gloria Arroyo" to "dismantle a corrupt government" ... ehhh? didn't the instigators of the coup de'tat of 2003 demand the same thing? so instead of taking adults as hostages, we Filipinos try to prove a point alternatively by taking helpless kids hostages. if this doesn't work, look out for somebody taking a whole pet shop hostage next time.
so what was he thinking? he knows he's gonna face jail time at the least. jail time, if he doesn't go down shooting, taking a few kids along. really? was he really bent on shooting kids with his "fine" and "Israeli-made"* Uzi? he was allegedly a contractor. was he "contracted" to put distracting news on the headlines, and make a few people look good? everyone loves the Robin Hood type.
* that was the description of Senior Superintendent Danilo Abarsoza. is there an Uzi that's NOT Israeli-made? or are you just trying to impress the press? just asking, sir. and oh, make sure that fine firearm does not end up in someone else's private arsenal. or yours.
with the elections looming on the horizon, the only ones who will remember this down the line would be the traumatized kids. or maybe that ChickenJoy was enough to wipe away the bad memories. oh wait, somebody will make a movie first! i can see it now: "Manila Hostage Crisis: God Save Us!". or at least a "Maalaala Mo Kaya" episode. expect Kris Aquino to interview a few kids. some of them might end up Star Circle Search Batch 2010.
and then we all forget about this crap. until all the pet dogs in Ayala Alabang get taken hostage.
2 comments:
Such bitterness. Here, have a beer.
what can i say? you're the one who has a tropa to blow off steam with, Tony Soprano.
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