First off let me start by saying, here at The Jungle Restaurant we serve many Chinese and Hong Kong Guests. I would like to say from The Jungle and all Filipino's, we are very sorry this tragedy occurred. We condemn this act of taking of human life, by a crazy mad man. We can not control the acts of one deranged man. Our heart felt condolences go out to the family and friends who lost loved one in this horrific event. Although our police force tried with the best of their ability, it was not good enough to secure the situation in a proper time frame. We again apologize for not being able to protect your countrymen properly while they visited us here in Philippines.
We do hope that as your disappointment and anger eases, you will know that this was one man, and a isolated instance, and not all Filipino's are like this. Nor, is this country unsafe for you to visit. China, Hong Kong and Philippines has had a long history of traveling, working together. I feel like that can continue for many years to come.
What really happened? What went out of control ? I will not get into all of the fine details of who did what, who should have done what, or how the event was handled. It's all on the videos, not really a lot of excuses can be made. The thing I wanted to discuss here, is what brings such a event as this to happen? I think we are so wrapped up in the horror and the not handling correctly the situation, in these early stages, that we still have to take time to think about why this happened. Before I go further, I will say, they is no reason for any person, no matter what happen to them, to act in this manner. That is not what I am after here. What I am after is what makes these things happen. I am firm believer you can bandage a problem, but you never really solve it unless you can get to the root of it, and stop it there.
What has went through my mind here lately is, what if the gunman was really innocent of his charges? What if he did not extort money from anyone, and he was railroaded by a corrupt system? ( Very Possible ) What if he actually did the crime he was accused of, but because of the Cultural acceptance of these kinds of acts, he feels he done nothing wrong ? ( Very possible ) Something was for sure really wrong here. He did not take this action for no apparent reason, he did not seem to be a real mentally disturbed person. So to get to the root of the problem, we have to wonder why he would do this ? What outcome did he think would happen ? Surely he did not think he would get his job back, everyone would say sorry, and he would return to a normal life. Ohhh. wait, maybe he did....... Maybe from the culture of The Philippines, from the weakness to catch murders, corrupt politicians, and the culture of excuse making, killing, and many who are never brought to justice. Or, if they are brought to justice, they are let go. Some rule with fear, killings, and blackmail... Maybe he actually thought since he was a high level police official it would all be washed under the rug somehow.
Think about it, Marco ruled with a iron fist, and never spent a day in jail. Thousands of Political killings, and force used to control elections are never punished. Arroyo accused of wasting and hording millions and millions. She will probably never see a day in jail.. Kidnapping for ransom, using a organization as your cover, never go punished. Rampant police corruption, exhortation of money, clubs paying cops off, politicians taking bribes, buying votes, fixers. We see it everyday, we all know who they are, they are never punished. I know and see daily and openly illegal activity's being done by high ranking officials and police. Everyone knows it. No one punished, even if caught, the culture has a forgiving attitude. Could this have played a role in his thinking???
Then you have the other side. Maybe he did the crime he was found guilty of, but because of culture and attitude which has run rampant here in Philippines for so many years, he felt he done nothing wrong. Maybe he felt he was being treated unfairly, because everyone does it. It common practice, its lets say ""acceptable"". Maybe the culture has molded his mind that he really, really thinks he has done nothing wrong. Now being a foreigner here, I can tell for sure, that I have seen this in almost everyone I know here. I know it to be a fact that one of the biggest mind blowing experiences I have witness here is the cultural values of taking or extorting, or scamming money from foreigners, dating a foreigner and having a Filipino boyfriend, not paying back a debt because you are poor, throwing trash onto a property owned by a rich person that can afford to have it cleaned, is all acceptable and nothing at all wrong with it... Even a young lady who works for me, has a Filipino boyfriend which she fights constantly with. I asked her why she does not leave him and go with another Filipino boy who likes her very much. She says " It will make me look like a easy girl or a bad woman." This same girl, many, many times has gone out with foreigners on a date, two or three a week sometimes for gifts, money, and free foods, ect... But she says they is nothing at all wrong with that. Everyone understands that. Could these be some of the issues in which has caused situations like the horror in Manila.
For sure we have to agree, something more than just being a mental case caused this to happen. I often wonder, what he really thought the outcome would be? What did he really think was going to happen? Maybe we will never know. The culture of the USA, where disgruntled employees do things such as this a lot more than here in PI. Do they face the same thing??
For what ever reason, it should have never happened. But these are the day and times we all live in. Here in Philippines and all around the world. To be harsh on The Philippines for this, is just unfair. This happens all over the world daily, in some form, in some way, in every country. Unlucky I guess it was Philippines turn... I started thinking about all this from reading a comment on a blog from a Hong Kong resident that said , " I have fond memories of my time in the Philippines. I hate that this happened, but the police should have done better. Since my last trip 20 years ago I have seen no change in Philippines. Other countries move on, prosper, move forward. Philippines has stayed the same for 20 years with no improvement" ( quoted from Facebook by Hong Kong resident. )
Now we all have to wonder, why is that....... What can we do to improve??? This is my home now, even I am not a Filipino, I have a stake in what happens here.
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