Separated Wives

This could be happening in many countries around the world.  There are ex-wives who are not able to find another partner in life after the first one. A good number find themselves creating or leading  some organization or club for obvious reasons.  Their members or prospective members are a few "ex-s" like them but most of the other members are still good with a partner or husband.  The ex-wives who are not able to find another partner try to prove to their members that they did right.  Thus, they influence those still with partners to be like them.  The ex-wives 'snatch' their members time from their families.  They orient them to be like them, a "happy" ex-wife, destroying other families that have stuck together through thick and thin.

Bus Hostage taking Results

The bus hostage taking results are as follows:

• 8 hostages perished
• Ground commander on indefinite leave
• Autopsies show that shots fired on hostages were fired from more than 3 feet
• Shots on Rolando Mendoza: Forehead; two near base of neck; both hands and both feet; all with traces of powder burns except for the shot in the head
• Raiding squad leader sacked
• Some other raiding members either sacked or re-assigned

Theories:

1. Rolando Mendoza knows that if he had locals as hostage - results could be whitewashed; any survivor could be threatened if anything improper is said against authorities.  Foreigners can not be threatened by authorities in the same way.  This can not be be doubted because as a police officer he knows how they work around incidents like this.
2. Those responsible were given due actions because it is somewhat like an international incident where they could not hide the facts from Interpol.  If the hostages were locals there will no international intervention and local authorities could juggle the investigation as they wish.
3. Ground commander accuses Gregorio Mendoza of encouraging his brother not to give up.  The statement can only be testified to by the negotiators and the bus driver.  Whose side are they on?

An Open Letter

We, the Filipino people, ask if not demand for change.  Our fingers point almost always point to the elected powers in our country.  The news media, especially television, cover incidents like the tourist bus hostage incident.  They see, comment and record almost all that is happening.  After all the fuss, they come up with one news choosing only one side to the story.  In spite the fact that it was seen on TV, some analytical minds interpret what they see and that's not what comes out in the newspapers and news bulletins.

Is this the result of what they call "debriefing"?  To guide witnesses and survivors to tell only what authorities want to be made known to the public?  The cover-ups, the shielding or whatever they call it, has caused many tragedies to many people.  They want to make something right out of what is wrong.  Is that the correct way of debriefing?

Maybe the best thing to do is to retire all those in authority.  Change them with people who have no relation or affinity to them.  Put brand new people in government offices.  Retire old government 'dependents' to their whims.  Whatever the cost is, it will be easily recovered by well-meaning people in government.

By the way, there many non-blood related people who are Kiss-A**!  They should be included in the list of not qualified for a government position and transact business with the government!  Lastly, let us Filipinos do away with convenience at the expense of many.  That's where corruption starts to no end.

To this, I say, "Mabuhay ang Tunay na Pilipino!"  To the "fake" Pilipinos, start licking your wounds and a**es and get back 'on stream'.  The next 'flash flood" might get you into the sewers!

Very respectfully yours,

JUAN TAMA (Tama = correct) (Tamad = lazy)

Hostage taking of a Manila Tourist Bus

This is one hostage situation that reminded me of Manila Bulletin columnist Joe Guevara’s interpolation of the SWAT acronym for the Philippine Police and military.  He said it should stand for, “Simple Weapons ‘Alang ‘(no) Tactics.  This is what exactly what the police displayed when they decided to storm the tourist bus held hostage by a lone hostage taker.  The hostage taker is a dismissed captain (chief inspector) of the police force.

The hostage taker, former police Chief Inspector Rolando Mendoza, is a respected person/officer and interviews of people who know him say he is a nice and kind person.  News coverage showed that he received many commendations and was one of top ten outstanding policemen a few years back.  So he is a Rambo-like disgruntled police officer and his only demand was to be reinstated or retired with full benefits.

The story of negotiations started with ‘expert’ negotiators.  The only thing they were able to do is provide some fuel and food as demanded by Mendoza.  With that, he released a few hostages.  Then, out of nowhere, man approached the hostage bus who the police immediately arrested.  He came out to be the brother of Rolando Mendoza, also a police officer.  They used him also in negotiations but to no avail.  Not long after, a commotion came up with the hostage takers brother running out from where he was confined with policemen.  He claimed that he was being charged as accessory to the crime and fears for his life!  A drama ensued with members of his family surrounding and embracing him so he could not be taken by the police.  All the time, the drama was being shown on television which was also being watched by the hostage taker!

Let’s say the police used this strategy because the hostage taker is a nice and kind person who would not want his brother to be in the same mess.  Authorities were looking on the soft side of the hostage taker to give up.  The problem is they did not look at the other side of Mendoza!  They should have considered there is a Rambo in him!  What he saw and watched on television was exactly the same what authorities had done to him!  Anyone, maybe just about anyone, who sees the same injustice being done to a blood relative, will be enraged!  He fired some shots but maybe not to injure or kill a hostage.  Some time after he fired the shots, the bus driver was seen running from the bus.  He claimed to have escaped because “no one was longer alive in the bus” as quoted by some reporter on television. (Belated news:  According to a survivor Mendoza went berserk but did not mention at what point it happened)

This could have been the point the police decided to storm the bus.  The scenario of police approaching the bus was ridiculous!  It simply showed they had no plans on how to gain entry and neutralize the hostage taker!  They used heavy sledge hammers to smash some windows and the bus door.  They were only able to punch holes in them!  They did not even know how to open the bus door!  It was hours before they learned that the bus door is hydraulically operated!  They even tried to pull the door open with a rope pulled by a vehicle.  The rope snapped.  In between these attempts, there some shots fired from inside the bus but there were more coming from snipers.  The event looked like “hide-and-seek” by those storming the bus.

Going back to earlier shots, if Mendoza really shot some hostages, the others would have panicked after the first ones were shot, right?  Anyone in that imminent danger would do anything – shout, wave, bang on windows – anything to save them from the onslaught!  There was no commotion at all inside the bus when shots were fired inside.  It is possible that the bus driver’s message was just a ploy by the hostage taker to make authorities aware he was not giving up in spite of what they were going to do with his brother!

With the calm and quiet in the bus, authorities presumed that all the hostages were dead and no further harm could happen to them.  It was believable, adding the message of the bus driver to that!  The televised event showed police hurling tear gas and flash bang inside the bus.  Nothing happened.  Some of them even threw those carelessly and immediately bounced back to them!  OMG!  What incompetence!  When police were able to open the emergency doors, their attempts to enter were unsuccessful.  Mendoza would give them a burst of rapid fire.  He could have easily shot and killed some of the policemen but he did not.

In the end, probably when Rolando Mendoza was overcome by tear gas, he was seen by a sniper near the front door and took him out.  The hostage taking was over and there were still some hostages that survived.  Yes, the bus driver gave a message probably relayed by Mendoza, if not, an excuse of abandoning the ship of which he is the captain.

The demands of Rolando Mendoza were simple and could have been easily arranged with him or maybe even given.  The question is: Why were tactics and strategies used without studying them?  There was no deadline to be met!  Why did not even one of the authorities know that the bus had hydraulically operated doors and had an emergency door?  Why did they punch holes in so many windows?  A single hole where tear gas and flash bang would fit is enough and the effects would be much quicker without the ventilation they created!  They had to throw in so many!

To give justice to victims as the rescue done has many questions, there should be ballistic tests done on the bullets that killed the victims.  It is possible that sniper shots, before the last one that took out Mendoza, would have hit the hostages instead.  With the accuracy of the last sniper, there is no question that the earlier snipers also hit their targets but not Mendoza.

2010 Philippine Election Results

Sorry about the title, it's not about voting results.  It is about those who lost, especially in the top positions.  This is my first time to see losing candidates conceding to those leading in the race.  They did not even mention anything about being cheated!  They also gave reassuring words to help the winner.  That's more like it!  Finally, they realize they are not in a sporting world where helping the winner could mean more defeat on the losing party's end.

Maybe if Noynoy Aquino and Jejomar Binay win the two topmost positions, the losing candidates will be behind them to support the government.  In doing that, they will clearly show and display what they have been campaigning for.  They should realize that it is not only in winning the elections that they can contribute to the nation's needs.  The winning candidates should show flexibility wherein they could integrate the losing candidates' campaign promises with that of their own.


Filipinos will not mind at all if all of them will be appointed in critical positions in the government.  All of them have great ideas and objectives for the Philippines.  If they all could work on it altogether, I do not see any reason why the Philippines will still be suffering difficulties with that.  With all their campaign promises and pledges, the Filipinos need all.  It's just not possible to vote them all for a single position.

Family Christmas Reunions

Until the early 2 years of 1990, we were having family, if not a clan, Christmas reunion every year as far as I can remember. We were still ten (10) sibling surviving until the 3rd quarter 2000 when my sister to whom I am next to passed away due to cancer. Except for her, all 9 of us were married and each had at least 2 children. Some of their older children had their own families too! So you could almost imagine how many there were of us in one house from Christmas eve to the following day. Same is true for New Year's eve and the following day!

As early as October or November of every year, plans are made on how Christmas festivities would go. Who would prepare or bring food, pot-luck style. Then, you could imagine the number of gifts under the Christmas tree. With gifts coming from each family to all the children. With 9 families giving around 27 gifts that would be a total of 243, more or less! Every year one among us would stand as an emcee to announce who gets each gift and from whom it came from. It takes about an hour to give those gifts to them.

By around 1995, when many of the children were grown ups and some of my brothers and sisters have moved abroad, we had smaller reunions until to none when our parents passed away in 2000 and 2001. The bad economy had also caught up with most of us that we could no longer afford festive occasions like that. My brothers and sisters who reside more than 250 kilometers away from our hometown Baguio City, could not longer afford to come and stay for the two holidays.

It was obvious that when my father still had a good memory until the early 1990s, he was the factor for those reunions. He would remember those who were not around. He was a strict disciplinarian and put much value for those once-a-year reunions. It was our mother then who would be coordinating the coming reunions. That's how our parents were until old age and memory gaps caught up with them.

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Observations while Walking

When you reach the age of late 40s and above, there are many things around you that reminds of the past. In a city, now appropriately called a "concrete jungle", you'll find tall buildings and edifices that were not once there. In its place could have been a plain lot with bushes, trees, grass and other plants.


Our city would be no different from others 30 to 40 years back. The City of Baguio is also known as the City of Pines because of the predominant Pine Tree growth. The city used to have that fresh air scent of pine and that is what you experience when walking around town during those days. Hardly would you notice public transportation stop because of traffic. They would only stop to pick up passengers. Walking up or down the main street Session Road, you practically know everyone or looks familiar. It was rare to see a stranger but it was easy to detect a tourist. Sidewalk or street vendors were even a rare sight to see except, of course, in the public market.


Police officers were very respectful in their navy blue uniform as they were respected highly by the civilians then. There was a very low incidence of violence and crime then that the police had their eyes more on jaywalkers and littering! Concern for vehicular traffic and traffic violations was almost nil. Even with vehicular accidents. Drivers then were so disciplined and everyone was willing to give way to another. You could even call a taxi cab company for taxi service! They would not even flag down their meters from their point of origin! That's made taxi signs, " ON CALL" in our city famous.

Lunch Break

Since the late 1980s, it was no longer convenient to go home for the one (1) hour lunch break. Both for those who go to work and go to school. It might be only convenient for those who live just a stones throw away from school or workplace. What has caused this? Traffic. It has made travel longer and inconvenient going home for an hour of lunch break. Vehicles should make life easier but it has caused some inconveniences. Only a few families could afford to live close to the central business district these days. They would probably be those who own a commercial building or a business in the area.



Until the mid-1980s, our city, the City of Baguio was a pleasant place to go around in a car or just walking. The cold early mornings could still be felt and the refreshing smell of Pine trees was still much around. Taking a ride home was still easy especially for those who live not more than a 15-minute ride away. It was usual then that someone would be at home who has prepared lunch. So, some 20 to 25 minutes could be used to eat and watch some TV and still be on time to go back to school or work. Many people were still residing within the central business district. When the city needed more office or business spaces, rentals within the business district went high for commercial use. This meant people had to reside farther away and had started having difficult time to go home for lunch breaks. Living farther calls for a need of vehicles - more vehicles caused traffic. And that is how it is now in our city.