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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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THE stampede of about 30,000 people at the PhilSports Arena (formerly ULTRA) in Pasig City which led to the death of about 74 has brought to light two naked truths that have persisted in the Philippines.
The first is the fact that in our beloved native land, nobody seems to be in charge; the second is the reality of massive poverty. As the ULTRA tragedy has shown us, these two form a deadly combination.
With the way the police, the ULTRA security, the Department of Justice and even ABS-CBN have been pointing fingers as to who is culpable for the tragedy, one can’t help but ask: “Who’s in charge here?”
In reality, however, all of them are responsible for the 74 deaths as a result of the stampede. The police, the ULTRA security, the local government, ABS-CBN and show organizers could have acted and drawn up security or safety precautions as soon as it became public knowledge that the crowd waiting for chance to win cash prizes has swelled to several thousands days before the scheduled show.
They could have sensed trouble and not waited for a call for help. But none of them took action.
In a way, it was a microcosm of the larger society: millions of masses wallowing in poverty, ready to do whatever it takes to survive. Yet authorities just ignore them.
With no one willing to take charge, and with no help from the government nor from any other entities who could but who wouldn’t help, the masses of great unwashed had no recourse but to resort to chance and luck as their way out of poverty. That is why jueteng, lotto and other forms of gambling refuse to die in most communities. That is why almost 30,000 people camped out for the chance to earn a small fortune or turn their fortunes around.
It is these realities that gave birth to the culture of “swerte-swerte”. Rather than work hard -- if it’s possible to find one-- which won’t be rewarded anyway, the poor then cast their hopes on one-shot, get-rich quick schemes or games of chance. Like “Wowowee”.
In the final analysis, what happened that Black Saturday that is now known as the ULTRA Tragedy is the logical consequence of the interface of easy money and an impoverished populace.
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A reason, a season or a lifetime
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NEW YORK --- When you’re downtrodden, something always comes up to cheer you up and brighten your day.
Maybe it’s James Taylor’s “You’ve Got a Friend” or any other song that keeps your spirits up; a call from someone you haven’t talked to for a long while; a simple letter or e-mail from someone you least expect to send you one; or a quiet time – like what I enjoy most – and reflect on some spiritual verses.
About two weeks ago, as I was pressed with work that was way above my head, I received an e-mail from a friend, which contained a poignant message about people. The power point presentation, which was entitled “To The People In My Life,” drew my attention immediately and made me ponder upon the message it conveyed.
The point of the message was: “People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime” and for whatever manner they’ve come to you, you should be thankful that they have become a part of your life.
When there is an expressed need to have someone help you go through trouble times, provide you with guidance and aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually, that is the time, the message says, people come into your life for a reason.
When the relationship ends without your own doing but the other person’s – “either he dies, walks away or acts up” – the message says, it is time to move on. After all, “the need has been met; desire fulfilled and work is done.”
It is for a season, the message says, when people come into your life to share, grow or learn. These people bring you an experience of peace, teach something you never knew before, or make you laugh. You experience peace, love and joy, and believe it, the message adds, it is real but only for a flitting moment – a season.
Lifetime relationship is the ultimate experience. It teaches you “lifetime lessons and thing you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.” The message suggests that we should be open-minded to embrace lessons learned, love the person, and apply whatever you’ve learned “to all other relationships and areas of your life.”
The message was very touching and made me feel good that I was considered by a friend to be a reason, a season or a lifetime part of his life. The question is: How many of us think of others the way it was described here?
You see, one thing that I did not understand in the message was the mention of “love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.” It is the influence of the Shakespearean’s mind that makes some people say it, but love is real and we must not only believe in it with our eyes but also in our hearts.
We love others not only because we are obliged to but also, we ought to look at others like ourselves. But we must not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Truth, as the third epistle of apostle John tells us, is the foundation of love in a Christian fellowship.
If love is a manifestation of friendship, how could friendship be clairvoyant? I don’t get the point. Nonetheless, I am reminded of three typical members of a community in Ephesus, which he described in his epistle. In John’s third epistle, it deals with power struggles.
This, to my mind, is a recurring problem in our present day community. I see the three characters – Gauis, the beloved believer; Diotrephes, the domineering disciple; and Demetrius, the complimented Christian – manifested in some community leaders in New York.
John loved Gauis because of “the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth.” Truth, in our hearts, as I interpret it here, liberates us from the enslaving passions of life. And just as Gauis gave John “no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth,” wouldn’t it be inspiring for us to see Gauis in the person of our community leaders?
On the other hand, I see the domineering Diotrephes personified in some of the folks that lead our community. Like Diotrephes, some of them seek “to have the pre-eminence,” in everything they do. They like to assert their authority above the authority of the truth and they cause a power struggle within the organization.
By contrast, Demetrius is held up as an ideal disciple, having a good testimony from men and “from the truth itself.” Like Demetrius, there are leaders who serve the community not for the title, prestige or perks but also for the simple belief that “service to humanity is the best work of life.”
Can you tell from our current crop of leaders whether they fit the character of Gauis, Diotrephes or Demetrius?
But even when everything is said and done, somehow, we need to pause and reflect upon ourselves and ask: Are we part of somebody else’s life for a reason, a season or lifetime?
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Why GMA called off her NPC power lunch
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Chicago, ILLINOIS --- When newspapers in Manila broke a news story two weeks ago that President Arroyo would like to speak at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., I believed it was merely a publicity stunt.
Imagine traveling 15,000 miles just to speak at a luncheon dinner. What benefit will she get out of it? Polish her broken image? Why take that very looooooong trip?
If she wanted to make an earth-shaking statement, Mrs. Arroyo can do it right from Malacanang and still she can get the same media mileage in US newspapers she craves to be covered.
Yes. With the magic of digital communications, you can be anywhere in this world in split second.
Marcos did it first
Even before the Information Age, President Marcos did it from Malacanang when he agreed to appear in the New York-based television talk show, “Nightline” with Ted koppel in November 1985, when he announced he was cutting short his term agree to hold a “snap” presidential election.
He promised the doubting Thomases access to election precincts by allowing observer teams, setting February 7, 1986, a year before his six-year presidential term ran out, as the date for the election. Marcos was confident he would be re-elected for the third time and his re-election would be his strong argument for the US to support him. He would also neutralize his critics and would stop the ghost of Benigno Aquino from haunting him.
With a slick and well-oiled political machine and the splintered opposition, his re-election was a shoo-in. But it was Marcos’ monumental mistake!
At the time that Mrs. Arroyo announced her plan to accept a long-standing invitation to speak at the NPC in Washington, DC, the burning issue of the day was the long-running and unresolved issue of which government has the right to take custody of the four US Marines who were accused of raping a Filipina at the former Clark Air Base in Angeles City in the Philippines. Is it the Philippine or US government?
It was also the time that calls for her by her predecessor, Fidel V. Ramos, to cut short her term was fading. Ramos even challenged her to run in 2007 parliamentary elections in case the Filipino people would approve a charter change.
2007 elections a referendum for arroyo
The 2007 elections, should she accept the challenge, will be a referendum for Arroyo’s right to stay in power. If majority of Arroyo’s candidates wins in the 2007 parliamentary elections, she can extend her term as Prime Minister.
If her party loses the majority, it will be the end of her political career and she should have the “Hello Garci” tapes and the jueteng scandals, among others, to thank for.
At first, I had a sneaking suspicion that she wanted to go the Washington, DC to explain how she will undo the stalemate on the custody of the US Marines.
But as the issue of the US Marines dragged on, the attention of the public warmed up to the upcoming Pacquiao-Morales boxing match – an event that would dominate the attention of the Filipino people for a week.
But as the Pacmania dissipated, another headline -grabbing incident – the tragic death of 74 fans who were trampled to death during a stampede in Pasig city – buried deeper the US Marines issue.
As the email exchanges between members of the NPC-Phil. U.S.A. and broadcast journalist Rose Tibayan boiled over the weekend about the possible participation of our press group in the NPC luncheon engagement of Mrs. Arroyo, it suddenly came to screeching halt at the start of this week when Rose sent out a terse email, saying, “NPC events coordinator just confirmed that Arroyo has postponed her trip.”
GMA can do it from Malacañang
I know Mrs. Arroyo is not really serious in making it to the NPC. In her last trip to the United Nations last September, she called a press conference at the end of the trip on the pretext that she wanted to enumerate the list of her accomplishments for that trip. But Mrs. Arroyo called off the press briefing at the last minute under the flimsiest of excuse.
If Mrs. Arroyo decides to cancel altogether her NPC luncheon engagement, she can always make an epochal announcement from Malacanang by either announcing that she is cutting short her term until 2007 and running for the parliament or she is cutting the Philippines diplomatic relations with the United States for the US’ refusal to hand-over the four US Marines to Philippine authorities.
Anything less will not be worth the thousands of the poor Filipinos’ taxpayers’ dollars to bankroll her trip to Washington, D.C!
(lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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ARMED conflicts have fueled a little-noticed diaspora of Muslim Filipinos and reduced athriving Mindanao city, where people of various faiths once lived harmoniously, into a bitter “ground zero” for insurgents.
Today, “from one-fifth of one-third” of major ethnic groups, like the Maranao, Maguindanao, Tausug, Yakan and Iranon, “live in areas outside their ancestral homelands,” notes Philippine Human Development Report 2005.
Many drift into “virtual Muslim ghettoes” in mainstream settlements such as Metro Manila, Tanay and Bagiuo, the United Nations-sponsored study reports.
Routinely shut out from better jobs, migrants are made scapegoats for crimes in host communities. “A particular source of resentment lies in the insensitivity of majority Filipinos to cultural needs of forced Muslim migrants”, PHDRobserves.
The exodus has spilled abroad. Many work as illegals in Sabah, “exposed to harassment, crackdowns and deportation”.
Marawi City reflects this tragedy, PHDR states. From the genteel “Dansalan”, explored by Spaniards in 1689, the place evolved into a bustling commercial peaceful center. It’s traders attracted businessmen from Cebu, Manila and beyond.
In 1956, the Lanao del Sur capital’ was renamed as “Marawi” -- after “ravi” or reclining lilies at the Agus River. It’s now the only chartered city with a predominantly Muslim population.
Primarily because of Mindanao State University, 34.7 percent Marawi’s population are college graduates. That’s much higher than any other Mindanao city. The Philippine average of only 13.3 per cent. Accounts by non-Muslims, Chinese and other foreigners, reveal relatively harmonious relations prevailed in Marawi, Yasmin Busran-Lao and other PHDR researchers found.
“We called the ‘hilot’ who helped our mother, during her deliveries as ‘ina’ – the Maranao term for mother,” an interview respondent recalls. “Our families exchanged bowls of soup during meal times.
“Our playmates and classmates were all Maranaos... and we went caroling during Christmas to both Christian and Maranao homes. During Ramadan, we fasted. We were not conscious of these two occasions as exclusive religious practices...The same excitement was in the air during Valentine’s Day.”
The onslaught by lowland vigilantes known as “Ilagas” shattered that world. Damage spread with the October 1972 Muslim National Liberation Front-led uprising.That spiraled into armed forces suppression.
“All those years of being so close together suddenly turned to mistrust and hatred...Our Maranao friends told us we had to leave for our own safety. Things were no longer normal.”
Both Muslims and Christians were traumatized by the conflict of the 1970s and subsequent “all out wars.. Muslims hid Christian friends from rebels. And Christians spirited Muslim friends from vigilantes.
“Now in their 40s or 50s, children in the 1970s conflict still break down in tears when asked to recount the incidents”, PHDR notes. Trauma from recent “all-out war” is no less severe. The generation that lived in peace has now been replaced by a generation that knew nothing but conflict.
Vigilantes and rebellion ‘sucked the soul of the area’, PHDR notes. This marked the beginning of the ‘decay and death’ of Marawi.
Once a “stunning, vibrant melting pot of diverse cultural community in Mindanao, Marawi “never quite recovered. One contemplates a city with the best-educated population of all Muslim cities but with paradoxically the worst standards of living.”
Life expectancy in Lanao del Sur, for example, is 58 years – almost 24 years shorter than that of 72 set by Cebu,Batangas or Pampanga. The city’s 80 manufacturing enterprises are dwarfed by Davao’s 740. It’s nine pawnshops and banks appear puny beside Cagayan de Oro’s 169. Marawi’s revenues of P4.98 million are overshadowed by Iligan’s P220.8 million and Zamboanga P435.4 million.
“One of the world’s 15 ancient lakes”, the 34-square kilometer Lake Lanao, today is severely depleted, notes the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
About 28 percent of fish in Marawi’s markets today come from elsewhere: from Sultan Kudarat to Zamboanga del Sur. Another 43 percent were netted in Iligan Bay and surrounding seas. Premium priced species like carps have disappeared. In their place “trash fish” are sold.
(E-mail:juan_mercado@paci-fic.net.ph)
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Wowowee: Hope amidst tragedy
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IN THE aftermath of the tragic stampede in Pasig (ULTRA) that resulted in the deaths of at least 74 persons, and injuries to hundreds more, some are calling for the end of the popular noontime TV show “Wowowee”, and the dismissal of its popular host Willie Revillame, because the show somehow “exploits the poor.” While I respect these points of view, I would like to humbly offer my own opinion about a person who really has a kind heart, and a show that brings hope and joy to so many.
Preliminarily, I offer my sincerest sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families. It is a tragedy that no one wanted to happen. I see that Willie and ABS-CBN are stepping forward and addressing the needs of the victims and their families. But I would also feel sorry for the millions of viewers who will lose the chance to be entertained and the hope of striking it big if Wowowee is pulled off the air.
While I have had the privilege to work with many celebrities, the thing that struck me most about Willie was his sincere passion and desire to help people in need.
When I accompanied him to the US Embassy in Manila for the processing of his entertainer’s visa for a series of Wowowee shows in the United States, people approached him to narrate their problems and greet him. He listened to each one of them, and gladly accommodated all those wanting autographs. Each eager fan was treated like a close friend.
In New York, Filipinos also came to him in droves, despite the bad weather, hoping to solicit help for their personal problems. Not only did he listen, he followed through with solutions, when he could. One contestant, Daniel Costes, had not seen his daughter for nine years. Willie asked me to help, and we are assisting Daniel in bringing his daughter to the U.S. But that would have never happened, without the help of Willie.
This intense desire to help people in any way he can, has endeared Willie and Wowowee to millions of Filipinos all over the world, who watch his show through ABS-CBN International and The Filipino Channel.
It is not surprising then that so many Filipino balikbayans have made it a point to watch Wowowee live when they are in Manila and gladly give $10, $20, or more as prizes to the poorer members of the audience. Willie’s spirit of “giving” is contagious to others. He loves his audience, and would never dream of bringing harm to them.
Entertaining people and offering them some hope should be commended, not condemned. It is heartwarming to see people having fun, smiling and laughing at Wowowee, and some going home with bundles of money or goodies that they have won at the program.
I do not believe that Wowowee exploits the poor. The show (or its format) is really not the issue in this case, but instead how crowd control was handled and who may be responsible. (On that issue, I take no position and have no opinion. I leave it to others to resolve that point.)
While everyone agrees that the tragic deaths are something no one wanted to happen, game shows such as Wowowee, offer “hope” to people. Saying we should end a show because it offers hope means that shows such as American Idol, Star for a Night, Night of Champions, and even beauty contests should likewise end, because they also offer hope and promise of fame, fortune, and a better life.
But isn’t it hope that keeps us going? It enables us to bear the unbearable, all because of a chance, however small, of raising one’s self up from their present condition.
Using the same logic for canceling Wowowee, doctors should stop practicing medicine for the terminally ill, as it gives them hope. Lawyers should turn away clients with problems too difficult to resolve, as it may give the person “hope”. But if turning away the hopeless is to be commended, how many of my own clients would still be in despair? Many had hopeless cases, but we offered them hope. And for those clients who believed, many were able to achieve their American Dream.
While not everyone would win a house, tricycle or money, all fans of Wowowee find the hope and inspiration it offers to give them strength. In the end, we may all learn from this tragedy, but shows such as Wowowee should be allowed to continue to entertain and offer hope and inspiration to viewers, audience, and contestants.
WEBSITE: www.gurfinkel.com
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219 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, California 91203
Telephone: (818) 543-5800
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966 Mission Street
San Francisco, California 94103
Telephone: (415) 538-7800
NEW YORK:
60 East 42nd Street
Suite 2101
New York, NY 10165
Telephone: (212) 808-0300
PHILIPPINES:
Heart Tower, Unit 701
108 Valero Street, Salcedo Village
Makati, Philippines 1227
Telephone: 894-0258 or 894-0239
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