Manila Hostage Crisis: Tragedy Speaks to Pre-existing Tensions
September 8, 2010
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Manila Hostage Crisis: Tragedy Speaks to Pre-existing Tensions
By Camille Gutiérrez
4 September 2010
Just two weeks ago, one breaking story flooded every news station here in Hong Kong. On August 23rd, ex- policeman Rolando Mendoza boarded a bus in Manila took twenty-five passengers hostage – twenty-one of the Hong Kong tourists- and demanded his job at the police academy be reinstated. The footage reporters managed to capture shocked and outraged many. Despite their ability to capture the entire rescue operation on film, reporters took days to announce the final result that eight were dead. I remember I could actually see the inside of the bus on the television screen and thought this event was nothing short of an absolute disaster.
The Manila Hostage Crisis, as it has already been entered in Wikipedia, will create several long-term effects because of underlying issues that already existed. Already, changes are taking place. Although Bureau of Security in Hong Kong issued a travel ban to the Philippines only initially, Hong Kongers continue to cancel already purchased tickets. Just this past Sunday, Hong Kongers marched not only for the victims, but also to protest the Philippine government. Locals are criticizing Jackie Chan’s Tweets about the incident, meanwhile sports committees in the Philippines are taking measures so that Filipino athletes will not have to take connecting through Hong Kong to get to Guangzhou for the East Asian Games. Particularly anxious to remedy the situation are Philippine officials, who anticipate damage to the tourist economy and its effects on the country’s welfare.
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This event is a classic case of misplaced frustrations. The larger issues at hand are questions about the capability of institutional forces, like the police, in less developed or non-Western countries and pre-existing tensions between Hong Kongers and Filipinos. Southeast Asian countries, which many consider significant only as popular tourist destinations, will come under closer scrutiny. Locals are equally disappointed. G.k. Gonzalez, a reggae artist and radio DJ based in Cebu shares his perception of how the police responded: “To me, with all the high ranking police officials there, the military, the people, as well as politicians looking at their t.v., watching…that was the best solution they came up with?” Expressing the urgency of the aftermath he states, “We need a change. This can’t be happening and the people here in the Phils that are either tourists or foreigners thinking twice to see if they could have peace of mind being here in the islands.” Gonzalez adds, “I’m sorry for the families and loved ones involved in the tragedy…it’s unfortunate.”
In response to the circulating rumor that the Hong Kong government is blacklisting or blocking Filipinos, Gonzalez makes it clear that stereotyping can bring no good. “The act of one person doing bad or evil has become the act of all the Filipino people…its the Babylon system to me,” he says, referencing the Rastafarian belief that institutions can foster dishonesty and corruption. Emphasis should remain on Mendoza alone, whose actions are more than difficult to comprehend. Like many, Gonzales feels that in such situations the main objective should be to free the hostages. “Obviously, this is bigger than that and really that’s one thing they need to investigate because I’m one hundred percent sure that before the hostage taker did what he did…he really thought of it before doing so, you know what I mean?” poses Gonzales. Indeed, many news articles are attempting to get at that issue: circulating stories about what kind of policeman Mendoza was before his discharge, investigating the nature of his release charges and attempting to get at his moral character, if you will. Such an inclination is both natural and futile, because it will most likely do little to ease the pain of those who lost the victims.
When the answer to the natural question of how Rolando could do such a thing remains unknown, it is again both expected and detrimental for those hurting to point fingers in any direction possible. The coverage on the recent protest in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park has made a point of interviewing Chinese people who mention that they are not angry towards the local Filipinos. I do not dispute that many Hong Kongers are promoting tolerance. I have read countless facebook posts by my local friends and students condemning those drawing conclusions Filipinos at large and that discourage villainization in general. But it would be surprising to read the reverse in the papers. Filipinos comprise a substantial portion of Hong Kong’s population, over 140,000, and they are definitely aware of how other’s perception of them might change. What makes the situation delicate is that the majority of Filipinos in Hong Kong work for Chinese families as live-in housekeepers, or domestic helpers as they are referred to here, and thus lack a formal arena to speak on the matter.
Florence, Tytje and Mehel, who work as domestic helpers for the Central Sagada organization, were very willing to share their thoughts on Manila with the hope to apologize and at the same time remind others “not all Filipinos are Mendoza.” They agree that the “unprofessional and ineffective action” of the police force has “affected the Filipino community around the globe.” On the relationship between Chinese and Filipinos in Hong Kong, Florence states, “There is a feeling of indifference, anger, and frustrations among Chinese towards the Filipinos but it is very understandable in [sic] the part of the Filipino community because the event is still fresh in the hearts and minds of the Hong Kong people. It just so happens that the hostage taking was done in the Philippines but such [an] event can happen anywhere around the globe.” Their belief that “No one is to blame except the hostage taker. No one has to suffer the consequences of one’s wrongdoings except himself alone,” reminds me just how much power one man can achieve through a single action. I shudder when I think of other individuals who have executed similar feats throughout history.
Every time a tragedy occurs, we say change is necessary. But it is difficult to make a change when we are not fully aware of the before and after. I found it easier to learn how people felt about what happened in Manila than what actually happened. Various news sites report different facts about the number of hostages and lives taken, Mendoza’s former position, how the operation actually went down, and so on. By not taking one piece of information we come across at face value, we prevent the distribution of verbal chaos. In the meantime, we will hold our breath and watch the future of another country unfold, hoping it is for the best.
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