23 August 2011

Manila Bus Siege

Columnists opined that it was the president’s first challenge as head of the country. Some eight Hong Kong nationals died this day last year during their trip onboard the Hong Thai Travel Services tour bus supposedly only around Manila.

Truthfully, the 22 Chinese and three Filipino tour guides did not get beyond Manila. They just reached the Quirino Grandstand when Rolando Mendoza, 55, announced a bus siege to scare the government until the latter give him his job back.

Mendoza was a former police officer. He was also recognized as one of the top 10 policemen in the country 24 years ago. He joined the police force in 1981, and became senior inspector in 2005.

But he was dismissed in February 2010 because the Office of the Ombudsman found him guilty of extortion. He allegedly asked for P20,000 ($443) from a drug suspect in 2008.

Early on the day-long siege, Mendoza was negotiating calmly with the police, organizing food and fuel for the air-conditioning of his hostages. He was even coaxed to free nine people.

Tensions grew, however, when Mendoza saw on TV that the Manila Police District (MPD) SWAT team were creeping on the bus. He also saw his brother being ‘treated like a pig.’

Furious, Mendoza shot two hostages and told the Radio Mindanao Network that he will kill the rest of the passengers if his brother would not be released.

The cops pumped the bus’ tires with bullets, broke the windows with sledgehammers, rip the doors off with a rope and forced the rear emergency exit open. At last, they thought of firing tear gas inside the bus, and a sniper managed to shoot Mendoza in the head.

Seven Chinese were already killed and eight Chinese were rushed in a hospital.

Tragic and deadly

Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim labeled the incident as ‘the deadliest attack on visitors in Philippine history.’ “It was the mishandling of the situation that caused this to happen. It is really tragic for the country as a whole,” Lim said in Bloomberg Television.

Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang criticized the handling of the standoff, too. How come the large group of police was just able to surround the vehicle for nearly half an hour?

It was "badly prepared and risky," according to Frederic Gallois, former commander of the elite hostage rescue unit of France. The police operation "visibly lacked adequate equipment and tactical competence."

“It’s not a terrorist act, but it will show how incompetent our police force is,” Toto Hilado, treasurer at Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation-Manila, was reported saying. It “was just diabolical,” Ian Bryson, a Singapore-based analyst for Southeast Asia and the Pacific at Control Risks, added.

A police officer was injured

Manila police commander Leocadio Santiago admitted that they had blundered amidst the dozens of bullets fired into the bus.

Police superintendent Nelson Yabut also claimed the tourists were being used as "human shields." An officer was shot and injured, too, causing his men to retreat.

"We did everything to negotiate and end this peacefully, but [Mendoza] gave us no choice."

Consequences

The deaths cast a shadow on the government’s plan to double the size of the tourism industry, President Benigno Aquino realized. “One of our avenues for job generation is tourism. We intend to double the tourism figures from 3 million to 6 million. This obviously does not help.”

The Philippines had 3 million tourists last 2009. During the first four months of 2010, 107,708 tourists from Hong Kong and China arrived.

But because of the incident, the Hong Kong government advised its citizens to leave the country. It flew its flag at half-mast the next day, and its stock exchange observed a minute of silence at 9:50 a.m.

Questions

Why didn’t former ombudsman Merceditas Guitierrez listened first to the expelled police officer? Wasn’t saving 25 lives a valid reason enough for her office to grant Mendoza the benefit of the doubt and review his case?

Why didn’t authorities discuss what led Mendoza to risk the country’s tourism appeal until the next day? Was it the media’s fault that the rescue operation was criticized? Shouldn’t it be the police’s job to find out that there’s a television set in the bus? (Let alone an official regulation on how media should behave during hostage crises.)

How the police officials involved then were treated today? What should the country to improve on its rating with the Global Peace Index?

References

16 August 2011

The work of art in the CCP

Pilipina Ako believes there was a reason why Mideo Cruz chose to exhibit “Kulo” in the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Cruz had considered that the Philippines is the third largest nation in the world believing in Catholicism, as well as the only other country in Asia aside from East Timor that is predominantly Catholic. That’s why he featured his work in the CCP, ‘the premiere institution for culture and the arts, embodying the highest standards of excellence and the service responsive to the Filipino and the world.’

From this description, the Filipino contemporary artist is in the right place. Cruz had only intended his installation to be ‘about the worship of relics and how idolatry evolves through history and modern culture,’ which was first seen in 2002 at the Loyola School of Theology in Ateneo de Manila University, then in the UP Vargas Museum, Kulay Diwa in Paranaque, and in a music video of Stonefree, a Filipino four-man band.

“I never go out of my way to offend; but I do like to provoke debates and critical thinking. Art is a way of expressing one’s views about the world, culture and history, and this is what I do in my work. The audience is free to make their own conclusions and interpretations about the images I create,” he had said.

Poleteismo, a part of Cruz’s exhibit, loosely translates into ‘many beliefs’ or ‘many deities.’ “Throughout history, humanity has grown to create new gods and these are not always religious figures but concepts and objects. Some have taken to worshipping money; some see politicians as godsend. People create idols and these idols whether or not they’re deserving of idolatry or worship affect our lives and how we function and see the world.”

Cruz ascribed the phallus as a symbol for patriarchy and power. “There are those who worship power, who put their faith in men who wield power even if the power is used against women, or against the whole of society. The fight for sexual and gender equality continues, doesn’t it? But the balance continues to be tipped in favor of the phallus. Is this good or bad? You decide.”

“Everything around us can be considered as symbols, some are actually only symbols more than anything else. How we understand these symbols, how we use them is what gives them power and meaning.”

“This is how I see the Filipino way of life—colorful, varied, full of conflicting beliefs and values. Can’t you just see these same images pasted on the walls of houses in the urban poor communities? And Filipino society, its racked with economic and political turmoil, and then there’s religion which frequently involves itself in the entire conglomeration of issues and developments.”

A former student of the University of Santo Tomas (UST), Cruz had exhibited in Switzerland, Italy and in the United States. He had been recognized in the Ateneo Art Awards, too, in 2007, as well as in the institution spewing him now in 2003.

References

REFERENCE LIST

23 Aug 2011
Manila bus siege
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11055015
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305605/2-British-tourists-escape-Manila-bus-siege-8-holidaymaker-hostages-killed.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11066656
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3107646/Manila-hostage-bus-siege-ends.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-24/manila-bus-siege-mishandled-philippines-tourism-chief-says.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/08/23/us-philippines-hostage-idUSTRE67M0DJ20100823

16 Aug 2011
The work of art in the CCP
http://www.culturalcenter.gov.ph
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/scph1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholicism_in_the_Philippines
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_Philippines
http://www.pinoyhalo.com/2011/08/11/mideo-cruz-artwork-poleteismo-at-ccp/
http://interaksyon.com/article/10524/who-is-mideo-cruz-and-why-are-people-baying-for-his-head

01 Aug 2011
Naming businesses with tourist spots
http://www.philippinesinsider.com/legal/applying-for-a-business-name-in-the-philippines/
http://www.philippinesinsider.com/legal/philippine-business-name-registration-requirements/
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/226622/lifestyle/boracay-hailed-as-4th-best-island-in-the-world

01 August 2011

Naming businesses with tourist spots

The Business Name Law in the Philippines (RA 3883) requires businesses in the country to register with the Department of Trade and Industry (in case of a sole proprietorship) or with the Securities and Exchange Commission (in case of a corporation or partnership) before starting operations. Owners just have to fill out a form, submit their tax identification number, and think of at least three business names before paying the corresponding fee.

Yes, foreigners can establish a business there. The Foreign Investment Act (R.A. 7042 and R.A. 8179) mandates and/or guarantees interested foreigners a 40% ownership in domestic corporations, and 100% in retail trade enterprises and export businesses.

In Dubai, however, its law requires its locals to have a hand on every business undertaking. Locals--a company or an individual--must hold the majority interest of the business and have the option to ‘control’ it even without an initial investment.

That and a knowledge of the region are the two things necessary to establish a business in the said emirate. Owners just have to register and prove to its ministry in commerce that they have about $10,000-$50,000 guarantee.

Given its regulations, there really is no problem if a certain night club name its establishment with the world’s fourth best island (Travel+Leisure Magazine) found in the Philippines. One of the island’s hotels, Discovery Shores, was also listed among the 10 best hotel spas worldwide.

But Boracay is a tourist spot. Whatever happens in the night club that bears its name could reflect to the original home of the Ati tribe, a Negrito ethnic group in Panay. Filipinos must be cautious in using its repute especially since they cannot control things.

References