Police line – do not cross!

First our prayers and condolence to the family of each and every victim who were killed in last Friday’s bomb blast. Were it possible, I personally would like to write about each and every one of those victims. I would like to post their pictures and talk about their lives. Perhaps in doing so, we can prevent society and media from writing them off as statistics.

No, they are not just dead bodies or crime scene data. Each one of them represents a life and a family, a seafarer on vacation, a loyal employee, a loving mother or a daughter. Each of them leaves behind parents who never expected to see their son or daughter to die so violently or to bury their own child.

I can only pray that our colleagues in media could make space and portray the real people and their real lives before they become mere statistics.

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POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS. The yellow tape says it all. Official police business was being conducted. One would think that Government and Military officials would be literate enough to read and follow the rules.

A bomb attack of serious proportions had just occurred. The Police had to work double time to secure the area, to insure that no other threats or bombs remained. They also had to preserve the crime scene as well as all possible evidence. Rescue units needed access and speed to search for and rescue victims. The Fire department and engineering officials would have to immediately determine the extent of the damage and if the premises were structurally safe.

The last thing they needed or welcomed were politicians and military personnel who went in and out of the area followed by equally inconsiderate hordes of aides and media crew who were certain to disturb the scene of the crime and result in distorting or removing vital clues or evidence.

The scene of the bombing is not a function room for a Press conference or a remote – LIVE broadcast, or an “ambush interview”. Regardless of rank or privilege any one who had nothing to do with the investigation, the rescue work, or the security concerns of the site were nothing more than busy bodies or politicians taking advantage of the situation for media exposure!

It was disturbing to see that so many government officials had already made tracks into the bomb site even before the PNP could conclusively establish if it was indeed an LPG tank explosion or a real terrorist bomb attack. Government officials started talking as if they knew anything about chemistry, volatile substances and the art of bomb making even before the PNP had a chance to conclude officially if the bomb was made of C4 or methane gas expelled by some elected official.

From the amount of government and military officials at the site, a secondary explosion could have taken place just from their collective flatulence!

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Whether fair or unkind, the Arroyo administration certainly got part of the blame for Friday’s Glorietta 2 bombing. Because of the country’s rich history of “wagging the dog” or diversionary political maneuvers it was not difficult for many folks to suspect that the bombing was intended to divert media and public focus from the “500K” club and the failed ZTE scam.

But has the public opinion of the Arroyo administration become so bad that it would be suspected of violence and carnage? Unfortunately many people I spoke with expressed this belief.

Ironically the President’s statement of dire warning to her so-called political enemies merely set her up for a strike from Senator in detention Trillanes who hit a destabilizing home run by firmly accusing the Arroyo administration for the Glorietta 2 bombing and connecting it as one of the reasons they attempted the Oakwood mutiny.

As such, no less than the President should be very concerned with this revelation. It is one thing to be despised for political differences or for one’s political will. But when citizens believe that you or your administration is capable of getting their hands bloodied to buy a moment of peace, you are not far from confrontation or judgment.

The President or her advisers may want to think or believe that this view is merely a product of the rabid attacks of the opposition. Sadly, that is only partly true. The ZTE broadband was undoubtedly a very useful issue for the opposition but the P500,000 party favors scandal was purely a Malacañang recipe that the opposition did not need to cook up. And this was just one of many fiascos.

 In the eyes of many, the current administration and many of the President’s allies have already disobeyed much of the Ten Commandments; thou shall not covet thy neighbors’ goods, thou shall not steal, thou shall not bear false witness, thou shall not lie, thou shall not have other Gods, etc.

Because of this multitude of sins, it is not difficult, given the circumstance for people to “imagine” and accuse the government of yet another sin.

I sincerely pray that the government can clear up the matter convincingly. It is very painful to be falsely accused specially something that has caused the death of so many people. But rather than dwell on the wrong and the hurt, it would serve the President well to seriously reflect and act on this current state of affairs.

The issue is beyond popularity or unpopularity or credibility for that matter. The Presidency must rise above the politics and the filth and not get dragged down by those around her as much as by her foes. Much of the damage that has been done to the Arroyo administration was done by her so called allies who abused their powers.

From a Magistrate who opted to short cut the constitutional process, Intelligence officials who violated the privacy of citizens and jeopardized the President, Election officials who abused and some say corrupted their office, Military operatives who took the law into their own hands, family members who became public spectacles of suspicion or misconduct, political appointees who have become corrupt and adulterous, cabinet members and party mates who have entrenched themselves in business and politics and wasted the President’s confidence and support.

If Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has any public sins we can all testify to, it may be her temper, her curt and cutting behavior, her unbridled tongue that has lashed out at incompetents, and perhaps her pride or as others would judge; her arrogance.

The real sinners are around the President. Her only sin then is being in their company and allowing them.