Chinese Vice Premier cancels Manila visit
By TESSA JAMANDRE
CHINESE Vice Premier Li Keqiang has cancelled his official visit to Manila, supposedly set for the first week of September. But the Department of Foreign Affairs clarified the cancellation had nothing to do with the hostage-taking incident that is straining diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Li was supposed to arrive for a three-day visit September 5 to 7. He would have been the first high-level official of any country to visit the two-month-old Aquino government and was hoping to reaffirm his country’s strategic partnership with the Philippines.
In the hierarchy of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Li is set to succeed Wen Jiabao as Premier in the “fifth generation” of the CPC leadership. Premier Wen steps down in 2013.
Postscript: How the media covered the Grandstand carnage
By TESSA JAMANDRE
DESPITE the criticisms hurled at the media for the way they covered last Monday’s hostage crisis, most of them observed journalist manuals and safety guidelines on dangerous assignments, and only a few seemed unaware of such guidelines. But one thing was clear. They all took their cues mainly from the police on the ground.
The problem: Many of the cops themselves knew no more than the media about the unfolding events and, seasoned journalists observed, police appeared to lack standard procedures in handling crises like the Monday carnage.
Aquino calls up Donald Tsang
BY ELLEN TORDESILLAS
PRESIDENT Aquino Tuesday called up Donald Tsang, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, to personally express his condolences to the families of eight Hong Kong residents who died Monday in Manila after they were held hostage by a dismissed policeman while on a sightseeing tour.
Malacañang also said it will be sending a high-level delegation to Hong Kong to meet with Tsang, who had demanded a “full account” of Monday’s tragedy.
Hong Kong newspapers carried Tsang’s statement saying had been trying to contact Aquino on Monday “since 4 p.m. ..but all efforts failed.” He said the way the Aquino government handled the hostage situation was “regrettable” and “disappointing.”
What is one big mistake that you’ve made in your life and what did you do to make it right?
(Reflections on Venus and the Miss Universe contest)
By MYLAH ROQUE
I WIPED my eyes after the Miss Universe 2010 host announced Venus Raj was 4th runner-up. Coming from watching the coverage of the tourists’ hostage taking the day before, I felt that we were a nation hungry for a break, for a spot of good news, that her loss was like a kick to one already down on the ground.
It was, however, not fair to pin so much on a woman who had already fought her own battle and won. She flipped what previously could have been a humiliating personal setback into an inspiring story. In the midst of mounting her successful challenge to retrieve her Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2010 crown, it was revealed that she is an illegitimate child born of a parent who was then an overseas Filipino worker in Qatar.
The question asked by the actor and pageant Judge William Baldwin was: “What is one big mistake that you’ve made in your life and what did you do to make it right?”
It was a textbook Miss Universe question. My knee-jerk reaction was it was also the perfect one for Venus, considering her personal circumstances.
Statement of President Aquino on the hostage crisis
MORE than three hours after the almost 12-hour crisis ended, President Aquino issued the following statement:
With the rest of the Filipino people, I wish to offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims whose lives were lost in the hostage situation at the Quirino Grandstand. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs has conveyed our deep feelings of sorrow to the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China and the people of Hong Kong through Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang. I have tasked Secretaries Soliman and Lim to provide everything necessary for the recovery and return home of the survivors. I have directed the fullest cooperation with the Hong Kong authorities on the part of our officials.
From the onset of this incident, the hostage-taker seemed to not be belligerent, as shown by the release of hostages. These were encouraging signs.
We were going to wait him out. The idea was to let the ground commanders who are the experts in this field handle the operation with minimal interference from people who are less expert.
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Ninoy assassination a closed book for Aquino sisters
By BOOMA CRUZ
TWENTY-SEVEN years after the murder of opposition leader and former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., his daughters say the search for the brains behind his assassination is over, and that the Aquino family has already achieved justice.
Ma. Elena “Ballsy” Cruz and Aurora “Pinky” Abellada, elder sisters of President Benigno Aquino III, say it’s time to move on. The two, however, stressed that their brother may not necessarily share their views.
“For me, that’s so long ago,” said Abellada. “We know who did it. Many of them are dead; let’s move forward. I don’t know if human rights advocates will get angry, but for me, you cannot hold these ill feelings for long because in the end it’s you who will suffer.”
“For me, it’s over. As far as I’m concerned, it is a closed book already because we know who’s behind it. I mean, I’ve made up my mind insofar as who planned it,” adds Cruz, the eldest of the President’s siblings.
Advocates renew call for peace in Mindanao
By KHRYSTA IMPERIAL RARA
“MY son wants to be an MILF commander,” said 38-year-old Abdulbasit Benito, a peace advocate based in Cotobato City. “He wants to fight soldiers because they are causing displacement and poverty.”
Benito’s son, Hareeth Djibril, is eight years old and likes to play war games with his friends and classmates, imagining they are fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Hareeth enjoys watching Star Wars, the Japanese manga series Naruto whose main character is an adolescent ninja, and TV programs showing aircraft carriers and war planes.
But Benito, executive director of Bangsamoro Center for Justpeace, is doing everything he can to help end the war in Mindanao so that Moros can return to a normal life. After all, he suffered from that war.
“I was a victim of war. I was born in an evacuation center. My mother and sister died of hunger in an evacuation center. I don’t want my children to experience that,” Benito said.
War hero or collaborator?
BY TESSA JAMANDRE
DAVAO.– Sixty-five years ago today, Juan Pascual was hiding in a foxhole in Guianga town, south of this province. He had been there for days as double-bodied planes of the Americans were shelling the abaca farm he was tending, clearing the area of the remaining Japanese forces that have already announced unconditional surrender two days before.
He was in there with a tiny bird that he had set free after the skies cleared of smoke and the air of gunshots. The flight of the bird signaled the end of the war but not his torment. Pascual for the second time became a prisoner of war, no longer by the aggressor—the Japanese—but by the liberators, the Americans.
Pascual was believed to be a “collaborator” and thus was denied his claim to the one-time lump-sum grant of the US for Filipino veterans. Pascual is among the 1,058 who received a notice of denial from the US Department of Veterans Affairs.