Friday, November 30, 2007
Exag.
Last Thursday, I was trying to laugh out the fear out of my system. My mom was updating me, calling long-distance, about the walk-out of Oakwood mutineers and stand-off in the Manila Peninsula. And then it was taking too long. Outside, while it was raining and we were having our ice cream, we saw two truck loads of military men going to the hotel.
At around 3.30 p.m., my officemates were saying that we could and should be sent home early. At around 4 p.m., we all had a Business Continuity Plan meeting in our division. At past 4p.m., we heard gun shots. I started panicking.
I got home, walked through the rain in haste. People were rushing out of the office and Makati City. I was texting people non-stop. Three or four at a time. "How are you's" and "I'm ok's". I stopped by at the TV at our apartment lobby and watched how a tank rammed into the Manila Peninsula, the Christmas decorations slowly falling from the door frame. A shame.
I was completely apalled. Obviously, people from the inside, although they were military personnel themselves, were not really showing real physical threat. Why the need for gun shots? Or for tanks? Why the extreme show of military force for a mere 30 to 50 people inside the hotel, some of whom were civilians.
It was an exaggeration on the part of the government. There wasn't really any reason for that much destruction. It was like a message even for those who were mere onlookers--US. Never TRY the government. Never try to question. It was military power in secret.
So probably there was no declaration of martial rule, but in essence we are under the pain of military attack every time there's a slight attack to the current administration.
I am not for any hasty actions. Honestly, I am against what the government is doing. How they address every bit of challenge to their power. I am against their standoffish attitude. I hate the way they think they can never be questioned, that they are always right no matter how they too make drastic actions. They do not respect due process or proportionate response. In whatever way, the attack was not appropriate. Did the people inside fire guns? Did they pose physical threat? In reality, the people at the side of the government were the threat.
I pity the men who stood for their beliefs, no matter how drastic their actions were. The fight did not last long for them. I pity them because they have to give way in order to lessen the destruction. I pity them because they do not have any chance against the government's machinery.
What of honor? A walk-out from a court of justice. People staring blankly at the invitation to join the rally. A PNP officer laughed at after failing to enter the sieged hotel. A tank unceremoniously rammed against a premier hotel. A senator handcuffed and being pulled by his waistband. Curfew imposed on Metro Manila.
The drama of the Filipino people. Both laughable and frustrating. Again to become the topic of a series of jokes. Again to be the topic of world news. The real curfew on our lives has not been lifted. We are all still tied to our seats until this political farce is ended.
Labels: political views
tweenkies_1106 at 10:32 PM