Comedy of Errors Continue:“Nakakahiya”

Hurts “Only when I Laugh”


There is total consensus that the tragic death of 9 tourists at the hands of dismissed, and eventually slain, policeman/hostage taker Rolando Mendoza involved many major errors on the part of the police forces handling the incident.

For example, there is the full, uncontrolled TV coverage that enabled Mendoza to see exactly what was happening at the site and wherever the cameras went thus undermining the police’ ability to manage and control the negotiating process. This inanity is compounded by a member of Congress who reportedly stated that he was filing a bill to prevent media from future coverage of similar incidents. “Earth to Congress: The police already have this authority and power!!”. The problem is we have incompetent police, the result, in large part, of the massive and endemic corruption in the police organization from top to bottom!!!

The jokes keep piling on!! Here is Mayor Alfredo Lim saying that Mendoza’s brother, also a policeman, was not ordered arrested by him but that he only ordered to have him handcuffed. Mr. Mayor, when a person is dragged out of his house by policemen and then handcuffed and brought to the scene of the ongoing hostage crisis he is by all definition “arrested”. The distinction you are trying to make is asinine, to say the least!!

But wait you, Mayor Lim and our Congress, are not the only jokers. There is Mayor Sonia Torres Aquino of the town of Tanauan where the deceased Mendoza resides, sent a Philippine flag to be draped on the coffin of the murderer!! And what’s more the whole world saw this because the media showed images of the flag draped coffin on TV. Needless to say the Chinese government went bonkers that a mass murderer is treated like a fallen hero!! But wait maybe Sonia Aquino has a point here: our people are so used to corrupt policemen that when one is killed it means there is one less extortionist in uniform and is indeed a cause for hero treatment. Excuse me but this is so pathetic and comical. I'm being sarcastic, of course.It hurts only when I laugh.

Message to Congress and President Benigno Aquino III: Stop the Zarzuelas that you call “investigation”. Close this circus down. Find someone you can trust who has impeccable credentials and credibility and have him or her conduct this investigation out of the public eye and once completed release the results first to the Chinese government, and then to the nation. I know it is a challenge to find someone who enjoys this kind of trust and credibility. Perhaps you can ask former finance secretary Jesus (Jess) Estanislao to head such an investigation.

Concurrently, try and look for a few ex-US Marine drill sergeants and have them whip up the police force into fitness. Contract an international team of hostage experts and have them train police and military on the handling these types of crisis so that future ones are better handled. Training must be an ongoing, perpetual process, in all aspects of law enforcement and crisis management such as fires, floods and typhoon catastrophes’.

Then focus attention on cleaning up the country’s peace and order infrastructure and rid it of corrupt elements. This probably means most of the police and military hierarchy as it is strongly rumored that up to 80 percent of all policemen are beneficiaries of graft money from such elements as jueteng operators smugglers, drug lords and corrupt politicians. Those who are not in on this level of corruption are involved, like the late Mendoza, in such rackets as extortion or other forms of tong.

The corruption circle is not limited to police or military. Many judges and prosecutors (fiscals in Philippine parlance) are also in on the take. So the approach that needs to be used Mr. President and Congress, is a total systems overhaul of the establishment. You promised the Filipino people an end to corruption, start with the police and military. If you can clean those two organizations up all other corrupt outfits that populate all levels of government will fall like the proverbial house of cards, because you can then trust the police and the military to go after grafters vigorously. You might then be able to even sic a corruption free police and military establishment to go after the biggest thieves of all: those governors, mayors, members of Congress who are embroiled in all kinds of “businesses” and get them all to jail. Wouldn’t that be something!!

In the meantime, please keep all the jokers out of the public eye.
“Nakakahiya"

Comedy of Errors Continue: "Nakakahiya" !

Hurts “Only when I Laugh”


There is total consensus that the tragic death of 9 tourists at the hands of dismissed, and eventually slain, policeman/hostage taker Rolando Mendoza involved many major errors on the part of the police forces handling the incident.

For example, there is the full, uncontrolled TV coverage that enabled Mendoza to see exactly what was happening at the site and wherever the cameras went thus undermining the police’ ability to manage and control the negotiating process. This inanity is compounded by a member of Congress who reportedly stated that he was filing a bill to prevent media from future coverage of similar incidents. “Earth to Congress: The police already have this authority and power!!”. The problem is we have incompetent police, the result, in large part, of the massive and endemic corruption in the police organization from top to bottom!!!

The jokes keep piling on!! Here is Mayor Alfredo Lim saying that Mendoza’s brother, also a policeman, was not ordered arrested by him but that he only ordered to have him handcuffed. Mr. Mayor, when a person is dragged out of his house by policemen and then handcuffed and brought to the scene of the ongoing hostage crisis he is by all definition “arrested”. The distinction you are trying to make is asinine, to say the least!!

But wait you, Mayor Lim and our Congress, are not the only jokers. There is Mayor Sonia Torres Aquino of the town of Tanauan where the deceased Mendoza resides, sent a Philippine flag to be draped on the coffin of the murderer!! And what’s more the whole world saw this because the media showed images of the flag draped coffin on TV. Needless to say the Chinese government went bonkers that a mass murderer is treated like a fallen hero!! But wait maybe Sonia Aquino has a point here: our people are so used to corrupt policemen that when one is killed it means there is one less extortionist in uniform and is indeed a cause for hero treatment. Excuse me but this is so pathetic and comical. I'm being sarcastic of course and It hurts only when I laugh.

Message to Congress and President Benigno Aquino III: Stop the Zarzuelas that you call “investigation”. Close this circus down. Find someone you can trust who has impeccable credentials and credibility and have him or her conduct this investigation out of the public eye and once completed release the results first to the Chinese government, and then to the nation. I know it is a challenge to find someone who enjoys this kind of trust and credibility. Perhaps you can ask former finance secretary Jesus (Jess) Estanislao to head such an investigation.

Concurrently, try and look for a few ex-US Marine drill sergeants and have them whip up the police force into fitness. Contract an international team of hostage experts and have them train police and military on the handling these types of crisis so that future ones are better handled. Training must be an ongoing, perpetual process, in all aspects of law enforcement and crisis management such as fires, floods and typhoon catastrophes’.

Then focus attention on cleaning up the country’s peace and order infrastructure and rid it of corrupt elements. This probably means most of the police and military hierarchy as it is strongly rumored that up to 80 percent of all policemen are beneficiaries of graft money from such elements as jueteng operators smugglers, drug lords and corrupt politicians. Those who are not in on this level of corruption are involved, like the late Mendoza, in such rackets as extortion or other forms of tong.

The corruption circle is not limited to police or military. Many judges and prosecutors (fiscals in Philippine parlance) are also in on the take. So the approach that needs to be used Mr. President and Congress, is a total systems overhaul of the establishment. You promised the Filipino people an end to corruption, start with the police and military. If you can clean those two organizations up all other corrupt outfits that populate all levels of government will fall like the proverbial house of cards, because you can then trust the police and the military to go after grafters vigorously. You might then be able to even sic a corruption free police and military establishment to go after the biggest thieves of all: those governors, mayors, members of Congress who are embroiled in all kinds of “businesses” and get them all to jail. Wouldn’t that be something!!

In the meantime, please keep all the jokers out of the public eye.
"Nakakahiya"
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Mendoza, Team Were Rouge Cops

Special News Report

Shuddering pangs of fear and apprehension has been gripping a segment of the student population in Manila, all thanks to the deceased police officer Rolando Mendoza and some of his colleagues.
So palpable is the fear in fact that the information in this report is shared only on condition of anonymity not only of the actual source but also the friends of the source who passed the information on to me. I am filing this report nevertheless because the information contained herein can be verified with Manila police and city officials as well as the office of the Ombudsman.
Here’s the story:
One balmy night in 2008 a student drove to his school location to return a small office instrument by dropping it off at the school’s lobby. He found a parking space in an open, unoccupied lot right beside the school campus. Upon his return he found several policemen hovering over his car.
The “leader” of the police contingent, later identified as Rolando Mendoza, accused the student of “illegal” parking. When he queried how the policemen could say he was parked illegally since there was a car parked in front of his, as well as another car parked in the back of it.
“Uy pilosopo ka pala” (Oh, so you are an argumentative type) Mendoza said, and forthwith ordered him to open his car’s trunk. Mendoza immediately threw in a small packet into the trunk, which he then established as marijuana and pills in the possession of the student.
There was a crowd that had gathered at this point and the student, hopeful that the presence of witnesses would deter the policemen from any further action, shouted to the crowd, “kita ninyo na nilagay”( you saw that he planted it).
Mendoza then shouted at the crowd in a louder voice, “ Sino and nakakita?”
(Who witnessed this?) at which point the crowd, fearing the angered policemen could turn on them, meekly dispersed.
He then instructed the student to get on the driver’s seat. As he sat, Mendoza then used the seat belt to choke the student’s neck, pulled his head back by grabbing his hair making the student gasp for breath and at which point one of the other policemen shoved shabu down his throat.
“O, yan may shabu sa sistema mo, “ Mendoza said. At this point the police group got in the car and instructed to student to produce his ATM card. They drove to the nearest bank ATM outlet and withdrew an undisclosed amount from the account. This transaction was caught on the bank’s security cameras.
They then drove to the precinct at which point Mendoza reportedly instructed the student to call whoever he could to get them the amount of money they wanted. The student called his father, then travelling and out in the provinces, and handed the phone to Mendoza. The latter demanded that the father give him 200,000 pesos that night as his son was in jail for possession and use of illegal drugs. The father said he did not have access to that amount of money. Ultimately one of the friends that the student had contacted brought over 20,000 pesos in cash and with this the policemen let the student go.
As the story goes, Mayor Lim, travelling in San Francisco, California learned of this incident as one of the people in the audience he was addressing at the time read aloud a report written by one of the student’s classmates describing the incident. Needless to say the Manila mayor was flushed with embarrassment at this report and upon his return to Manila reportedly sacked the entire group and Mendoza was reportedly transferred to Mindanao.
The Ombudsman then investigated the incident, obtained details and used the bank security film to convict Mendoza resulting in the latter’s removal from his post.
The student has expressed a desire to leave the incident behind. He learned from others that at least 5 other students of the same school were similarly victimized by this group of police officers. When asked by a tv reporter to comment on the aborted hijacking that led to the death of Mendoza, the student reportedly said that as he had nothing good to say about the deceased officer and preferred to remain silent.
Reporter’s Comment:
So fearful are large segments of the Philippine population of the police and military establishments that only people outside the country can feel safe reporting stories like this one.
http://ldq1944.blogspot.com
ldq44@aol.com

US Filipinos and Racism

Victims, but also Perpetrators

The issue of racism was splattered on the face of America this week. A right wing conservative blogger, Andrew Breitbart, had posted a film clip in his blog and on You Tube that turned out to be a false, yet incendiary charge. Even after it was clarified that the official involved, Shirley Sherrod, did not discriminate nor claim to do so, the incident still caused a major stir in the media.

The events of this week serve as a stark and numbing reminder that the issue of race continues to be an explosive component of the American landscape. The election of a black man, Barack Obama, did not end the racial divide; in some instances it has actually exacerbated the conflict.

Filipinos in America are very much an integral part of the race conversation. Perhaps unbeknownst to many of the recent immigrants and/or the offspring of earlier immigrants, the Filipino race was at one time anathema to the white population especially in the western states of California, Washington, Oregon and Nevada. Filipinos, like other Asians were prohibited from marrying white women, as an example. It was only after the California Supreme Court ruled in 1948 that miscegenation laws violated the Constitution were Filipino men no longer prohibited from marrying white women. Many other forms of discrimination, including restrictions on travel from one location to another, or confinement to live only in certain enclaves of cities, were common prior to WWII.

While Filipinos in the US were at one time victims of overt racism, over the past few years evidence has also surfaced that in many cases Filipino immigrants tended to identify more closely with the white majority and in fact adopted, if not mimicked, white racist attitudes towards blacks, and, in some neighborhoods, Latinos as well.

This was evident in the last election cycle as many Filipino Americans freely and gleefully circulated email trails depicting President Obama in various black and African images including that of a witch doctor.

This prejudice against blacks, and, in some areas, Latinos , is quite widespread within some elements of the Filipino American community. I once found myself in a suburban city in northern California where a majority of the population was white. A Filipino American couple that I visited openly and with seeming pride said, “…gusto namin dito kasi walang itim…” ( we like it here because there are no blacks). There are, thankfully, many leaders in the Filipino American community organizations who have actively participated in actions and conversations that promote a “oneness” with oppressed or discriminated minorities and in the process help to diminish racially driven antipathies toward blacks and Latinos.

And this ought to be the case. Filipino Americans need to be at the forefront of efforts to promote racial harmony. We are uniquely positioned to be the catalyst for positive racial interaction. We know the pain and bitterness of being looked down upon over the simple and basic fact that we look different; we should therefore be committed to see such discrimination disappear. And the first step is to not engage in it. There is another element that ought to help us become the bridge that narrows the racial divide. We are mostly held in high esteem by both the white and minority populations because of our reputation for hard work and the fact that most of us who arrived in the past 50 years are generally well educated with degrees in various disciplines. We also are naturally friendly and have the ability to blend with any group. We ought to use this “capital” and the goodwill we have generated over the decades, as an effective tool to help combat prejudice and racial hatred. Harmony and peace will benefit all, Filipino Americans included. We all need to be a part of one America.

And while on this subject, I do want to note that racial discrimination in the Philippines itself, has begun to abate. I remember while growing up in the 1950’s how, in school, children of Chinese or Spanish lineage were often taunted and harangued. That seems to be no longer the case. Even incidences of “tribal” antipathy has diminished. In the cities of Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao, internal immigrants from other provinces or regions have been successfully accepted and embraced making these cities the country’s new melting pots of the 21st century. It seems we have matured enough as a people to accept and even celebrate our differences. It is hoped that we are able to transplant the spirit that bring us together as Filipinos to the wider global population. And America is as good a laboratory as there to prove that it can be done.
ldq44@aol.com

Tennis - of Pride, Prejudice and Bias

Earlier today Serena Williams issued another statement expanding her apology over her Sept 12 meltdown at the US Open women's semi-final match versus Kim Clijsters. The revised apology was contrite and humble enough for TV's tennis commentators to once again restore Serena to the lofty status accorded grand slam champions.

What we have not heard throughout this 3 day cycle of incident replays and pundit commentaries is a reference to, and comparison between Williams' behaviour vis-a-vis that of John McEnroe who was notorious for his on court tantrums directed at what he considered erroneous calls against him. Some have asked for her suspension and other stronger sanctions.

Somehow, I come away with the impression that, as far as the commentators are concerned, McEnroe, a white male champion, gets a pass for unbecoming behaviour, while Williams, a black female champion in the same sport, gets excoriating criticism. McEnroe's transgressions have, in fact, been viewed and now treated as amusing much like parents viewed their toddlers antics.
Smacks of hypocrisy?

The other thing that I've had a chance to dwell on is the imbedded prejudice that orientals, or people of Asian descent, have against blacks. The linesperson who called the 2 footfaults on Serena Williams appeared to be a middleaged Asian woman. Since no other player in most of the televised matches ever seems to have gotten a footfault called ( and experts as well as the commentators have openly admitted a difficulty in positively identifying this transgression) the question of predisposed bias on the lineperson's part needs further exploration by the USTA before passing final judgement on Serena Williams.

This Asian prejudice towards blacks is well known within the many Asian communities in the US. even though it is seldom discussed outside of their respective enclaves. As an Asian immigrant myself I have had to caution some of my compatriots against making outright racial comments about blacks and to seriously rethink their inherent prejudice and bias. Many of them do not even seem to realize that they harbor these sentiments until are openly pointed out.

That and all the USTA, and more specifically, the US Open can rightfully point with pride to its vigorous and vibrant pursuit of harmonious diversity. After all, the center is named after an accomplished female player - Billie Jean King, and the main venue itself after an the history setting Arthur Ashe. That is not to say, however, that human prejudice and bias can and will still filter thru and need to be guarded against.