Entebbe at Iloilo

My first glimpse of a deadly assault upon people inside a government building by fully armed combatants was in the movie called Raid at Entebbe. The film had for its plot a real incident which took place sometime in the mid 70's. It was about the hijacking of a commercial plane carrying over a hundred passengers, mostly Israelis, by an extremist group. The hijackers brought their victims to a place in Uganda called Entebbe and there, while perceived to be coddled by the regime of Idi Amin, demanded the release of many of their kindred who were incarcerated in various prison cells throughout Israel.

As the full story of that international incident was made known, the response of the Israeli government was swift and decisive. The Star of David would not give in to such demand. So, the expected happened though initially it was not known how they would do it. Israeli soldiers, specially trained in all forms of mortal combats and flying across international borders in uncharted patterns, eventually landed in Entebbe. They assaulted the buildings where the victims were kept, annihilating in the process all the hijackers in ruthless fashion. Blinding in their speed and efficient in their system, the Israeli commandoes spewed precision firepower to complete the rescue in record time with few, negligible casualties on their side and on those rescued.

The movie was, of course, produced more for its obvious commercial value than to reveal the how cold-bloodied select commando troopers would operate. Even then, the frames containing the military flanking done by men handling assorted array of deadly weaponry, were chilling. To me, those were the portions of the motion picture that had traumatic impact on peace-loving citizens of the world.

I did not ever imagine that one day, I would see again that horrible sight occurring as a matter of fact as it did in Entebbe. Yes, there were such films where guns were brandished and blood was spilt incessantly, starring such celluloid heroes like the John McClains and Rambos, but we rested in the comfort that they were purely fiction and the deadly characters were not for real.

Then, few days ago, the unimaginable took place. Entebbe was re-lived and its brutality reenacted. War was waged by specially trained commandos but this time, it was not poised against hijackers. In my living room, courtesy of live television coverage, I saw soldiers, clad in full battle regalia, smash their way into a government building housing many unarmed citizens. Why did they have to break glass panels escaped any reason. To me, they were mindless in their dangerous execution. It was government property that they destroyed. Perhaps gloating in the superiority of their firepower, Filipino policemen pointed the cold muzzles of their deadly assault rifles at each helpless, shocked and trembling fellow Filipino they met. Our policemen in Iloilo were dangerously armed. Worse, they only showed a far more dangerous contempt at the constitutionally enshrined principle of civilian supremacy. Why could I not withhold my pen to say that their act desecrated the otherwise hallowed and peaceful corridors of the provincial capitol of Iloilo should be understandable. Let me put it plainly. The assault by the Iloilo policemen on the provincial capitol where the civilian governor Niel Tupas was holding court, was pure madness. While the Israelis, three decades ago could argue self-defense in their bloody attack, the Filipino policemen acted solely on the thought that their masters sat on the seats of vast powers. As I saw the insanity taking place in the seat of power of the province of Iloilo, the fading memory of unmatched fire power being used to waste the lives of men in that raid came harrowingly back. The parameters of the tragedy were of the same mold, only the venue differed.