Manila Hostage Crisis: Pandora's Box Opened

If you have followed the August 23, 2010 hostage-taking crisis which ended with 9 fatalities including Rolando Mendoza, you will be surprised with all the scum that is coming out of the issue. Let me do a rundown of keywords you can easily spot on the first page of all the newspapers here in the Philippines these days:

• Mayor Alfredo Lim's Alleged Order  and his Denial
• NBI Team Investigates
• RMN or Radio Mindanao Network
• Radio Station
• Miscommunication within PNoy's Communication Group
• Hong Kong Hostage Victims
• Bus Driver Escapes and Lives to Tell
• Incident Investigation and  Review Committee
• Secretary De Lima  
• Michael Rogas
• Media self-regulation
• S.W.A.T. Defined in 1001 Ways

And more to come out in the next few days. What is not given air time, publicity and emphasis by the mass media is the reason behind the hostage-taking. Ain't it juicy enough? Or is there a hand behind the scene controlling what will come out?

Please visit Opinion: The Dirty Trail Leading to the Death of Rolando Mendoza if you want to have a glimpse of what my mind is trying comprehend out of the mess of August 23.

I could very much remember watching on TV the "loud" Kris Aquino discussing her marital issues with James Yap, how the Aquino sisters have dined out with their only brother and agreed they will take turns in attending social obligations so that PNoy can attend to more important matters. Where are they now? I have not seen or heard from any of them lately. It's unbearably quiet from the elite, rich side of the Philippine Society these days.

So Tito Noy, what are we suppose to do now? Announce and issue public statements owning up on the bloody incident?

Why not do something different like giving up your family-owned Hacienda Luisita to the poor and be an example to other businessmen who control the lives of many poor Filipinos?
 
I, them, we, everybody except the well-connected Filipinos always end up at the raw end of the deal each time we try to make our lives better.

Did you know that Rolando Mendoza was one of the policemen who seized what was to be smuggled out of the country thousands of US dollars hidden in coffins when the Marcoses left the country in 1986?

Now why would a sane and decorated cop ruin his name, career and pension benefits for Php 20,000? The man died believing an injustice was done to him by an Ombudsman, by the PNP, by the influential Filipino family, by the Philippine Society.

Tito Noy, can we really, truly believe in what you want us to believe in?