Grace under fire
This is a repost, written by Sheryl Ebarvia Coronel
The Philippines faces a huge international public relations problem that if we do not resolve soon may increase the threat of retribution against our workers in HK and wreak havoc to our economy by destroying our tourism industry.
We had united to install an honest man as president and our shining victory held us in thrall for a time. President Aquino’s first actions showed an example of humility for us all. Then he set the ball running swiftly to reform our systems to be more transparent and soon we started to see changes happening in many areas of government. Our hope flourished with the positive interest that other countries began to show in the form of grants and proposals for mutually beneficial partnerships in infrastructure development. There was a new spring in our step, we were hopeful and together we thought we could face anything.
Such hopes it seems are easily dashed…
While it is true that the inept handling of the hostage-taking event by the police and the lust of media for a story was a terrible combination that led to a tragedy that could have been avoided, it is not fair to blame such tragedy on a government that has only begun. It appears that it will take years of mental, physical and tactical training for our police to be adequately skilled. I have never been a fan of our police, but in their defense, despite being ill-equipped, they tried to penetrate the bus and put their lives at risk in the process. They only lacked training and equipment, but not courage and courage is harder to come by. Perhaps sensitivity is also severely lacking, but I do not believe they have no compassion. Perhaps it is time to stop the jokes at their expense. When we can honestly claim that we have the courage to do what they did on that day then we would have license to ridicule them but not before.
The very first crisis that has come to our new government has scattered us. Instead of standing fast by each other, for our country, we have lost heart so soon. The tragic death of the HK tourists has left many of us wallowing in shame as if what happened were the collective fault of all Filipinos, and in our shame we have joined the chorus of blame and turned our backs on victories of recent months.
The HK Chinese are understandably grief-stricken and we must show compassion for their loss. However, to bash our government in an effort to show unity with the Chinese does not serve our interests. To prostrate ourselves before HK would only foster the racist tendencies some of them already have against Filipinos and allow them to treat us with contempt before the international community. On the other hand, trading invectives and being combative with them would only aggravate the problem and possibly cause them to maltreat our OFWs.
What we need is to rally together and help our country in pacifying HK’s bloodlust. How to achieve this? Social media is an ideal tool for peace-making. We must understand and communicate to the Chinese that this is not a fight between them and Filipinos. The death of their kin is a tragedy that none of us would have wished on our enemies so we must reach out in compassion and empathy, but never in shame. We must let no one mock the symbols of our State including our President. We must keep our heads up, reach out as fellow human beings that understand the pain of loss, while comporting ourselves with dignity and remembering that we must not lose sight of all that could be ours if we do not allow ourselves be divided again.
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reynz is one Uragon and a Filipino-American, has many years of public accounting & auditing, broadcast investments, housing tax credits and equity investments as his background. Based in the US, he maintains his personal and humor blog at reyna elena dot com. A graduate of Aquinas U, he went to GWU and Temple U in the United States.
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What grace? It was an incident that would inevitably blow up into a major, major international incident because our incompetent yellow president could not distinguish urgency and importance. Local executive budget meetings my butt. Whether he was president for 60 days or 60 months is irrelevant. There were a number of simple game changing decisions that a commander of chief can make in those 10 crucial hours that could have had significant impact on the crisis and minimize damage of the country’s image to our Chinese neighbors and the international community. Hostage situations are not new in the Philippines and the army does have a unit of elite commandos (that were never used because a more INVOLVED PNOY would have had quickly sought immediate alternatives to a bunch of poorly equipped local cops). Unfortunately the yellow duck has gone on to create a bunch of excuses ranging from “Oh I was in a meeting with local executives” (unable to distinguish urgency and importance) to “Don’t criticize us on Facebook” (Lack of maturity and humility; Mr. PNOY, criticism is a 2 way street so please don’t forget that it WILL happen to any administration. Nazi moderators on Facebook have since deleted several comments by HKers and Chinese). While it is unrealistic to expect Mr. PNOY to run into Quirino in broad day light with a shotgun, the yellow duck had a number of tricks up his sleeve that were sadly wasted.
tapos na campaign at election!
“it is not fair to blame such tragedy on a government that has only begun.”
What the hell are you talking about they aren’t new born babies new to this world for Christ sake!
“it is not fair to blame such tragedy on a government that has only begun.”
If our current government can’t be held accountable for what happened, then when? How many times will we have to hide them under the concept of the “honeymoon” period? If you think about it, we can find so many reasons for our current government not to be able to do their jobs (i.e. inherited debts, chronic insurgency, honeymoon period, misinformation, etc.). But a true leader doesn’t find reasons why they can’t do their job, but rather reasons why they can. And regardless of whether how much accountability the police and media had for the hostage crisis, the bottom line is that it happened under the current administration (and I very much doubt that it was out of their control), and thus the buck should stop with the president.
They only lacked training and equipment, but not courage and courage is harder to come by.
So I guess that when they suddenly retreated from the back of the bus when Mendoza started shooting; that was an act of courage. In times such as that, the SWAT are supposed to put their lives on the line for the sake of the hostages.
“However, to bash our government in an effort to show unity with the Chinese does not serve our interests.”
Actually it does. Criticism (or in this case constructive criticism) serve to point our errors and fallacies so that we can eliminate them to create a better government. A healthy democracy after all involves questioning your government. Otherwise you can get away with all sort of nonsense as in the case of North Korea as people there believes just about anything their hack communist regime spoon-feeds them.
… it’s so heart-warming to read notes like this… it makes me feel good to be reminded that nobody will truly and sincerely support and love our country but us.