Never again?

This is one painful lesson learned from the "Wowowee" stampede: TV game show organizers are responsible for crowd control, no matter how early eager participants arrive for the show.

The lesson should be remembered by organizers of all other events where a big crowd is expected and where a mad rush to an entrance is likely, including rock concerts. Crowd control, which should be coordinated with the police since private security guards are generally clueless about it, is a must especially if entrance is free and big prizes are at stake. Effective crowd control is a must especially because the typical Pinoy has a problem getting in line for anything.

Crowd control is one problem we can deal with quickly to prevent a repeat of the Wowowee tragedy.

With that taken care of, can we say, "Never again"?

There are bigger problems to deal with, and they aren’t going to disappear overnight.

One, as everyone is pointing out, is the abject poverty that can compel people to camp out for three nights under the stars in hopes of being among the first to get into a game show and win at least a special prize for early birds.

Another problem, as bishops and other quarters have also pointed out, is the Filipino’s get-rich-quick mentality, which has made game shows, the lotto, jueteng and other forms of gambling hugely popular in these islands. Wowowee is certainly not the first TV show to exploit this Pinoy trait, although it has some of the biggest prizes at stake and therefore has become one of the most popular.

How do we replace this get-rich-quick mentality with the value of hard work? Since the Spanish colonial regime, many shepherds of the Catholic Church have tried, obviously with little success.

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It might help if we could show to the people success stories whose key ingredient is hard work — individuals who can provide inspiration for our people to develop a good work ethic.

There are in fact such Filipinos who rose from poverty, worked their way through college and became huge successes in their chosen fields. But there are either too few of them, or they have received little public recognition.

Filipinos who inherit wealth or political pedigree and anyone with an ethnic Chinese surname is not counted as an inspiration for hard work; they are perceived to be rich to begin with.

Where are our role models for the value of hard work? Bishops’ sermons alone won’t do; otherwise jueteng would have been eradicated ages ago.

The more common role models for success in this country are people who get rich — and very quickly! — by entering politics or show business.

The more corrupt the politician, the richer he gets. How does that encourage hard work?

As for show biz, among the most successful entertainers are those with even the remotest resemblance to Caucasian American entertainment stars. Can you blame our teenage girls for refusing to help with work that requires exposure to the sun, and for turning the skin-whitening industry into a multibillion-peso enterprise? They dream of show biz stardom as a ticket to fame and fortune, and they need fair skin to win in a TV talent search.

Wowowee in fact includes a talent contest. For many Filipinos, practicing for such sing-and-dance competitions is their idea of hard work.

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Everyone is pointing to poverty as one of the reasons for the stampede. So what are we doing about it? The tragedy is unlikely to make much of a difference.

The finger-pointing has deteriorated to the usual political bickering, which is in fact one of the biggest disincentives to the investments that the nation badly needs to generate employment. As many interviews with survivors of the stampede showed, lack of jobs and livelihood opportunities drove many prospective contestants to the game show. Winning even a tricycle can go a long way in augmenting family income.

Corruption, another major disincentive to job-generating investments, isn’t going to be any less either in the aftermath of the stampede.

Lack of transparency not only drives away job opportunities but also derails infrastructure projects and hampers development. Roads, bridges, railways and telecommunications systems can do wonders for the countryside. But many infrastructure projects are ruined by corruption. Even education, which is supposed to provide opportunities for the poor to leave a life of poverty, has suffered from corruption and inefficiency.

Corruption also discourages the poor from seeking justice. Many aggrieved poor people realize they do not stand a chance in a corrupt, inefficient criminal justice system. At least they have a fighting chance of winning something on TV game shows, where the rules are clear and they see a level playing field for all. Plus they have a shot at 15 minutes of fame.

The communists have also lamented the poverty that led to the Wowowee tragedy, but they are also part of the problem. Their activities particularly extortion in the countryside have discouraged investments. Their destruction of Globe cell sites for the company’s refusal to give in to their extortion can only scare away more competition in telecommunications that could make mobile phone services more affordable.

Aggravating poverty is runaway population growth, which this administration, for all the lip service it pays to poverty alleviation, does not have the political will to confront.

Enough quarters have pointed out that no matter how rosy the country’s economic growth figures, the rate still isn’t enough to keep up with population growth. This is why the fruits of economic growth are not being felt at the grassroots, and is not even leading to the growth of the middle class.

The administration likes to pin the blame on an antiquated, feudal political system as well as certain "nationalistic" provisions in the Constitution that discourage foreign investments. But the administration should also acknowledge that finite resources and slow development cannot keep pace with population growth.

Why is the government cool to family planning? Because the administration does not want to offend the Catholic Church; it is more worried about political survival than the links between demographics and poverty.

The deaths of 74 poor people in a stampede aren’t going to change population policies. For that matter, the deaths are unlikely to lead to any significant changes in the way we do things, except perhaps in handling big crowds.

When this story has receded from the headlines, the rich will still get richer and the poor, poorer, waiting for the next game show.