The Poor as Propaganda
by mcg
Sorry pero hindi ko mapalampas.
Was it just me or this “hostage-taking” of 26 children seemed like an elaborate, although not necessarily creative, way of making puro-paganda of certain personalities? I didn’t see the TV news broadcast (thank God!) but as I’ve read in several sources, there were people running for office in there. Even Bong “Alyas Pogi” Revilla…sorry Senator Pogi acted as a freaking hostage negotiator. Hindi na pala kailangan ng training sa psychology and criminal profiling to be a hostage negotiator — you just have to play one in the movies.
Hey I’m happy none of the kids were harmed – physically. Let’s not mention the trauma and that firearms and grenades were waved around. There’s also that promise of a field-trip and not being let-off the bus for 10-hours. Can you remember when you were a child and stayed in place for 10 hours? (Now that I think about it, screaming kids might have prompted the hostage taker to release them).
And please who is this guy to take kids hostage and make this piss-poor demands?
Ducat, a 56-year-old civil engineer, freed a busload of children and teachers after a 10-hour standoff that he had used to denounce corruption in government and demanded free education for poor children.
Sounds like something from a bad movie script. Anybody seriously teed-off and wanting to do something about would not take kids as hostage. Specially with trigger happy cops in Manila. If he was serious about it, there are tons of way to do it. Did he seriously think, as in Seriously with a capital ‘S’ that the government would DO something about his demands? He is the most optimistic man I know living in Manila. Better education, better living conditions and health care are something we hope would be made available to the Philippines. I sincerely doubt the government would be addressing those soon.
Anybody still remember Mang Pandoy? That everyman exploited associated with the Ramos administration? How about those kids from Payatas and the infamous “bangkang papel” which PGMA exploited showcased as her promise to the poor and disenfranchised back in 2001?
Yeah thought so. I’m sure this particular incident would be milked and discussed thousand-times over in radio, TV, newspaper and blogs. But who ultimately benefits from this? I bet those kids would just like their 10 hours back from their childhood. Ducat said he just wanted to draw attention to the poor. Thousands of social and NGO workers work with the poor everyday. In his capacity as private citizen, he could’ve done more instead of participating in that stunt. He really shouldn’t wait for the government to answer all the problems of the country.
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Totally unrelated but which greatly affected me. This news item about Modern-Day Slavery in the US:
Last year, the Justice Department initiated 168 investigations, charged 111 defendants in 32 cases, and obtained 98 convictions involving human trafficking cases.
Two of those convictions in 2006 were for Jefferson Calimlim Sr. and his wife, Elnora, both doctors from Milwaukee, Wis.
In November 2006, the couple were each sentenced to four years in prison for “forcing a woman to work as their domestic servant and illegally harboring her for 19 years in their residence,” according to the Justice Department.
The Calimlims were convicted of using threats of serious harm and physical restraint against their victim, whom they had brought to the United States from the Philippines when she was 19.
Nakakahiya na, nakakainis pa. One, it’s disgusting what they did to the woman. Two, I can’t believe Filipinos would that to another Filipino. Instead of helping her make the most of her opportunities, they decided to keep her down. These people couldn’t bear to be without the yaya-lifestyle they’ve been used to back home. I’m sure their arguments ranged from “it’s a different country we’re trying to protect her” to “we invested our money bringing her here, she owed us that service”. Four years is not enough. They should be in jail for 19 years. Let them try to catch up with all that lost time.
Comments
hay naku. kahit gusto kong manahimik dito sa sulok e hindi ko mapalampas itong entry mo na walang say.
first, the hostage hoopla the other day. i saw it on CNN live. without the caption on the bottom of the screen, it couldve been a movie shooting – merong cameras, merong biktima, merong bida, merong kontra bida, merong artista, at maraming nanunuod sa gilid ng eksena. grabe.
pero ang masaklap, hindi sya pelikula. ang nakakaawa, yung mga bata. sa luob ng 10 horas, di kaya isa sa kanila e nagutom, na ihi, na tae? tsk tsk.
parang hinihintay ko sa huli na me lumabas sa screen ng tv ko at magsabing “joke joke joke!”
hindi pa ako tapos..
at tungkol dyan sa human trafficking naman..ewan kung nakwento ko na sayo yung nangyari nuon sa minnesota, 4 years ago.
merong isang dalagang ginawang alila ng kanyang mga amo. sa basement sya nakatira, at sya ang nag aalaga ng 4 na anak, isa sa mga bata ay may depekto. 24-7 syang nag aalaga, hanggang sa pagtulog katabi nya yung mga bata. maliban sa pag aalaga, sya rin ang all around katulong, kasama na’ng pag lilinis at pag luluto.
hindi sya pinapayagang lumabas mag isa. tinatakot sya ng amo nya na baka mahuli sya ng ‘pulis’. tinagong amo yung passport at paperworks nya. at di sya pinapagamit ng telepono ng walang permiso.
marami pang ibang maltrato ang ginagawa sa kanya pati na ang “physical abuse.”
umabot sa akin at sa isang kaibigan ko (na aktibo sa GABRIELA) ang pangyayaring ito at kinabukasan, nag pa escort kami sa pulis para kunin yung biktimang dalaga. nakontak na namin ang iba pang local pilipino para tumulong, kasama na ang duktor at abogado para matulugan si alila.
pag dating namin sa bahay ng amo nya kasama ang pulis, nag wala ang amo at pinag sisigawan kami sa harap ng pulis – porke wala daw kaming pake sa kanila. pinasok ng pulis ang bahay para hanapin si dalaga, pero wala.
sabi ng amo na ka hahatid lang daw nila sa kanya sa airport pabalik ng pilipinas. sinisi pa kami ng amo dahil laking kahihiyan daw ng dalagang “napauwi” sa pilipinas ng wala sa oras.
sabi ng pulis, wala daw sa kanilang jurisdiction ang sitwasyon, pero napuna daw nila na meron pang ibang mukang “alila” sa luob ng bahay. i rereport daw nila sa INS.
tuloy tuloy kaming pumunta sa airport na baka sakaling mahagip pa namin si dalaga. pina page pa sya at lahat, pero kaka alis lang daw ng eroplano.
tsk, sayang. duon nag tatapos yung pangyayare. ewan ko lang kung ano na ang progreso ng batas sa amo, pero sana na turuan ng leksyon.
ang masaklap pa sa lahat, yung amo ay pilipina.
G, grabe naman yun sa Minnesota. Buti hindi kayo binuweltahan nung amo. Hindi na na-follow up yung mga ibang alila dun sa bahay?
May nakilala kami dito — nagkwento na may kilala siya na nagpaparenta ng bahay sa mga TNT sa Daly City. Pero hindi na inaalagan yung bahay — para daw condemned building na. Tinanong namin kung ano ginawa nung nakilala namin nung nalaman niya. Ang sagot: wala. Siya pa naman yung tipong matrona na panay name-drop ng mga kilala niyang opisyal. Kaasar. Mabuti pa kayo kahit papaano nasindak yung Pinay na pinuntahan nyo. Hay naku.
Check mo email mo.
sinabi mo. sad to say, na sariling lahi pa mismo ang magiging mortal mong kasangga.
eto pang mga pilipino ang nag pa power triping sa mga TNT dahil konting kibo, babantaang isusumbong ang mga TNT sa INS.
meron akong kilalang TNT na gustong mag apply ng trabaho sa pilipino resto dito, pero takot na kung me munting pag kakamali e ireport sya sa INS.
tsk tsk.
Sad. I rear-ended someone going very slowly…no evidence on either cars (I was stopping at a light). I got a letter from an atty that I injured the lady. Pinay. Same with the atty. Of course, there was never any real case after the insurance co. did investigations.
While I know it’s abysmal to hear about the couple in MN, but nalang it’s not just Pinoys that do that. Some years ago, there was an article in People magazine about some Saudi royal who had a “yaya” (or whatever they call them there) from Malaysia with her. Buti nalang may nagpansin na may problema yung yaya and the authorities took care of the situation.
Phisch, sorry to hear about your accident. But you know what they say about ambulance chasers — it knows no color, race or creed. :)
It’s sad to hear about these stories. I mean I know Pinoys everywhere are being exploited but does it mean their fellow Filipinos would do the same thing too? Ano ba naman yung tulungan nila yung taong gusto lang magkaroon ng disenteng trabaho. I mean I don’t expect special treatment from other Pinoys just basic courtesy and that they do their job properly. But to go out of their way to exploit a fellow human being much more a fellow Filipino thousands of miles away from home is just despicable. Then again it happens in the homeland everyday, any way. But why do we have export that particular attitude you know what I mean?
I’m sure that sounds naive but people asking why Filipinos can’t have the basic unity and pride down could always point to this. It has to change at some point.
[quote post="1361"]Even Bong “Alyas Pogi” Revilla…sorry Senator Pogi acted as a freaking hostage negotiator. Hindi na pala kailangan ng training sa psychology and criminal profiling to be a hostage negotiator — you just have to play one in the movies.[/quote]
Bong Revilla only finished 10th grade in Los Angeles, CA — I’m not even sure if he finished 10th grade. I remember him declaring to anyone who would listen back then that he was tired of going to school, and that he was just going to go back to the Philippines to be an actor just like his dad. So at the end of the school year, he packed up, went back home to the Philippines, and became an actor thereafter. The rest is history.
It’s getting to be so annoying to watch the daily Philippine news.
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As far as the domestic helper scenario, I know of this Filipina who moved to Los Angeles from the Philippines when she was only 19 yrs old. This was back in the 1960s, and she arrived in the states at the same time when her employers migrated to the U.S. from the Philippines. She took care of her employers’ seven children, cleaned the house, cooked, did the laundry, and everything else 24/7. They only paid her less than $200 per month for all the years until she left the family in the late 1990s. She left because her employers eventually lost their mansion to foreclosure, and for a year or so before the foreclosure, she rendered her services without pay. All those years she was with them, her employers never even bothered to get her a green card. She was a TNT until someone helped her get legal status under Amnesty, and only after she left her employers. Now in her 60s, she continually helps the employers’ children who are now in their 30s and 40s — giving them extra money whenever they fall short of paying their bills.
Please, don’t get me started with Bong Revilla. My friends and I were at the receiving end of his security thugs at a public event in which he managed to attach himself (EDSA II, to oust his kumpare Jinggoy’s dad). That was *before* he became senator.
It’s really sad to read about this things. And I’m sure the woman still feels like her employer’s children are her children, despite what happened to her. She’s a much bigger person than I am for continuing to feel that way.