By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS
WEARING black arm bands emblazoned with “44”, apl.de.ap of the international hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas and one of the judges of The Voice PH, led the performance of one the group’s hits, “Where is the Love?” in last Sunday’s episode of the singing competition.
The lyrics were sharply apt: “Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism/But we still got terrorists here livin’….
“Madness is what you demonstrate/And that’s exactly how anger works and operates/…
“Father, Father, Father help us/Send some guidance from above/’Cause people got me, got me questionin’/Where is the love (Love)…
“Makin’ wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends/Not respectin’ each other, deny thy brother/
A war is goin’ on but the reason’s undercover…
“The truth is kept secret, it’s swept under the rug/If you never know truth then you never know love/
Where’s the love, y’all, come on (I don’t know)”
Apl said the performance was a tribute to the 44 Special Action Force commandos who were killed in an operation to arrest terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir alias ”Marwan” and Basit Usman in Mamasapano, Maguindanao by combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
It was a powerful and moving performance which showed that behind the garishness of showbusiness, there are those who have their conscience and heart in the right place.
Click here to view performance: http://entertainment.abs-cbn.com/tv/shows/thevoiceseason2/videos/2015/02/01/be-where-is-the-love-by-apl-de-ap-abra-looney-ka-rit-le-nino-jason-f-monique-daryl-suy .
Social media was also a venue for celebrities with substance to express their condolences for the 44 fallen heroes and disgust over the way the Aquino government handled, rather mishandled, the operation and its aftermath.
Movie director Joey Reyes deep sorrow was felt in his Facebook posts: “My heart bleeds for the loved ones of those who yielded their lives in uniform, images of their bodies mangled on the muddy ground as they expired helpless and outnumbered.
“My being rages at the ineptitude, clumsiness, stupidity and lies, lies, lies that are shoved down my throat under the guise of explanation and demented logic.
“Like so many, I love my country but I am outraged by this perfidy.”
Movie and TV star Judy Ann Santos posted in Twitter her disappointment over President Aquino’s decision to attend the inauguration of a Mitsubishi Motors plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna instead of being on hand to honor the 44 when their remains arrived at the Villamor Air Base.
Malacañang said the arrival honors for the 44 was not in the schedule of Aquino. As if one schedules a tragedy.
Juday posted the 2011 dramatic photo of U.S. President Obama President Obama arriving at Dover Air Force Base after he cancelled his schedule to condole with families of the 30 Americans that died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
Juday’s one-line photo caption was most eloquent: ““Just saying…Obama knows his priorities.”
A certain Ellah de Castro scored Juday: “Unfollowed. Wrong move.Ang isang public personality ay di dapat nagpo-post ng patama against sa ibang tao lalo na sa Presidente ng Bansa. Kung me opinion kang ganyan, sarilinin mo na lang. Di mo naisip magko-cause pa yan ng issue! Epal tawag jan.”
Juday stood her ground. She told de Castro: “I respect your opinion. Lahat tayo ay nagbabayad ng buwis. Kaya lahat tayo ay may karapatang magbigay ng sarilinng opinion at saloobin sa mga bagay na goyerno ang involved. You might want to check other accounts of othe r public figures as well. We all share the same sentiments. Tao lang kami. Kaya may karapatan kaming sabihin kung ano ang naramdaman naming. It is an issue already to begin with.”
Presidential sister Kris Aquino unfriended Judy Ann, reports said.
Grace Lee, the Korean TV personality whom the President once dated, joined Aquino’s critics.
Commenting on Aquino supporter Leah Navarro’s neither here-nor-there tweet “So how many of those people who dissed the President’s absence from Villamor where actually there to condole?”, Lee posted, “There is only one head of the state. Only one commander in chief! You CANNOT compare the value of his presence to the presence of any ordinary citizen then use it against them when they voice out their frustration and anger!!”
The statement of former Tourism Secretary and Miss International Gemma Cruz was through the classic poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” written by Lord Alfred Tennyson in 1854 about the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!/ Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew/ Someone had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply/ Theirs not to reason why/
Theirs but to do and die/Into the valley of Death/ Rode the six hundred.”
Yes, someone had blundered.
