Which should really come first: the people or the politics?
I came home late the other night, had a reunion-like date with two friends ive not seen for a long time. I wasnt able to catch primetime news, it was PBB on channel two when i arrived. I perched myself in front of the TV until 12:15 am... not really knowing what to watch after i ran out of good HBO movies. At last I caught one program, and I was a little disturbed at everything that has happened while I was commuting on the way home. people may be surprised that somehow, i DO care for this country.
The headline was the violent dispersal of rallyists around Mendiola that night. I became less interested in the news 'cause the new so-called 'calibrated preemptive response' thing by the police was not surprisingly making news everyday... not until I saw who was hit by the water cannon. @_@
It's startling how WE could tolerate this kind of situation in this country. that night, the peaceful prayer rally which involved nuns, priests, three bishops, and a whole lot of political leaders were dispersed with a raging cannon of pressurized water. do the policemen find SUCH joy in pushing, beating up people and even getting them wet? funny that i sometimes think foreigners would envy us for having women with torn up wet shirts running down the street... what a pity other countries would have to do "wet t-shirt" contests just to see females in their wet undies (maybe i should stop thinking like this... haha.)
this nation is definitely kicking its own butt. i dont know where else i could find police going against their former Vice President, their current Senators and Congressmen. while watching TV, i can't help wondering how Guingona came out of that chaos alive... I mean, looking at his frail condition and all. Madrigal said in an interview, she thought she would die. If she did, what a shame it would be that a public official would be killed in the hands of her own subordinates! Maybe I'm not in the position to criticize these methods since I know nothing about anti-riot SOPs, but hey... I dont understand why rallyists have to be shoved and punched even after they are handcuffed! And some of them are even held by the neck to their brutal death. Women are almost stripped of their clothes, and even senior citizens are beaten up...
Let me express a suggestion: shouldn't old people be escorted by police out of the commotion instead of being hit by canes and fists? and if they fought or threw stones... an arrest of offenders should be enough. there would be no need for fists flying in the air. plus, why are some cops not in uniforms? some were so professionally clad in sandos and slippers with towels tied around their foreheads ready to stop a riot anytime. we must really love our policemen, we let them work in pambahay clothes. and here's another, maybe next time... we should set up a fenced area in front of the palace and every other government institution which says: 'RALLY AREA'. Filipinos just wont stop complaining about every President, and every decree. a leader which WE elected ourselves, or maybe others helped to be in position. everyone seems to have a protest everyday. And the country has been a very noisy place.
I think street robbers and cons in Recto and Baclaran and the rest of the metro are enough for one nation to handle. and how much more now that we have even smarter and well-educated robbers and cons in our government? And if noisy neighbors are irritating, just imagine how other people are constantly irritated by rallies every single day.
Tonight, I am to watch more blaming and bickering. just more talking, and less action. and with this, the state is tearing itself apart. i wonder what will be left of it tomorrow?
