Bloodbath in Manila

My condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in Monday's massacre in Manila. It really pains me. I want the Philippines to be a great place to visit and travel in. I want the people to be happy and prosperous. My interest: my wife is from the Philippines and our son is half-filipino. We visit regularily.

The simple truth in my humble opinion is this: the Philippines is a horrible, dangerous place to visit. My experience of being in the Philippines is that I am fair game. I am a "'cano", an "Americano", and I get screwed accordingly for everything. I have to be careful about how I react because there is a menace in the atmosphere, guns are never far away, MacDonalds, for instance, have armed security in their outlets. Most people live behind high walls, to keep intruders out. This place isn't just bad for "'cano"tourists, it is bad for Asian tourists and it is bad for filipinos too.

The aggressor in this bloodbath was a former police officer, a middle ranking officer, reportedly aggrieved for being dismissed for extortion. AFP report he had once been regarded as a model officer and named as one of the top ten officers in the country. There is a can of worms here that really needs to be opened and if need be painfully exposed. It is quite difficult to get fired from the police for extortion because unfortunately it is an unwritten part of the job description. Did this guy get fired because maybe he resisted extortion and was set up?  Something is badly wrong here. We need to be told the whole story.

South China Morning Post reports that the Philippine president could not be reached on Monday by Hong Kong's Chief Executive. Why not? I think we should be told why Mr Aquino was unavailable. I mean he is the President and it would hardly be unreasonable to expect him to take a courtesy call from someone with such a clear interest in events. Where was he? They also report that the gunman reacted violently because he saw his brother being forcibly arrested live on TV while onboard the bus with the hostages. This beggars belief.  If a sharp shooter could take the gunman out after the carnage began, why not earlier. There is a real sack of foul-smelling crapulence developing here.

I hope some good comes from this. I hope we really get to the bottom of it all. I hope the Philippines becomes a better place. It needs to become acceptable in this society not only to criticise institutions and condemn incompetence and corruption but also to actually out the wrong doers, name and shame them, and allow the overwhelming majority of decent Filipinos to live peacefully in their homes and for people to be able to visit the country and enjoy the real charm of the people and the place.