(Photo: AP)
I am a Filipino, born and bred, residing in the USA. Due to the physical distance between Los Angeles and Manila, I was informed late of the recent hostage taking that has happened. However, thanks to the Internet, I am now up to speed.
Although the hostage taking in Manila is an isolated event—the results of a crazy man running amok—I sympathize with Chinese nationals. The Philippine police horribly handled the situation. Instead of us Filipinos repeatedly apologizing to the Chinese in the Internet, we should be asking questions and demanding answers. Our police force is plagued by corruption and incompetence. The recent police torture video, rampant bribery, extra judicial killings and this event all point to it. Have we been breeding and training morally skewed policemen or are we just seeing the bad apples in a big barrel of just defenders of the law? You know what, scratch that. Because it is clear that the police who stormed in weren’t properly trained. There is something wrong with our force and we should take all means necessary to correct it.
I also cannot blame the exasperation of Internet users when they saw the photos of students and police smiling, taking pictures etc. It was stupid, insensitive and uncalled for. I am not going to even try and rationalize what they did. They were actions of the immature. However, I am going to defend President Ninoy Aquino’s facial expressions during his press conference. I saw the press conference but I don’t believe he was “happily smiling”. Smiles can mean many things. In the press conference, the president was not cracking jokes—he was explaining to the press. When you are faced with a grave situation, you do not think about your expressions. I doubt, when president Obama is giving his speeches, he is thinking: “Oh, I better put on a musing expression,” or “Give a determined look… NOW!”
Even with these feelings of sympathy and embarrassment, I am going to defend my being Filipino. I am never going to regret who I am and where I am from. Actions of the few do not determine the character of many. The photos do not point to all Filipinos being insensitive. The Virginia Tech massacre does not point to all Koreans being mentally unstable. The 9/11 terrorist attacks do not point to all Muslims being terrorists. I am sad that this, and other events like this happen, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to be bigot or prejudiced.
With that being said, all we can do now is pray for the victims, their families and conduct a thorough investigation. We must do all we can to ensure that a mistake like this does not happen again. So let us all stop pointing fingers and hurling insults. It won’t do us any good.