EDITORIAL - The cat and the tourist

A man was seen kicking a cat in the Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati City last week. The cat later died of its injuries and the man was brought in.

He identified himself as a Chinese national but refused to say where he lived, listing only the Chinese Embassy as his address, and was let go because of bad judgment by the men who apprehended him at the time.

Fortunately, the video caused enough furor for him to be arrested later in Barangay Palanan in the same city.

Authorities also found out that Jiang Shan, 33, was an overstaying foreigner. He arrived as a tourist in May 2023, but hadn’t extended his visa since September that same year.

When asked why he kicked the cat, he said he did it because he was having a bad day.

There are two issues we can bring up here; one being animal abuse and the other being the presence of illegal aliens in our country.

As to the first issue, it’s sad that there are still people who see animals not as creatures that feel love, fear, sadness, and pain. Or maybe they do, but don’t care anyway. Take note that this indifference isn’t limited to overstaying aliens; we have our fair share of natives who abandon pets or mistreat stray animals.

We only need to look at social media posts to see boxes of kittens left by the roadside or dogs turned into dartboards to confirm this.

As to the second issue, this again highlights how easy it can be for some foreigners to just come and stay, and stay, and stay, not unlike how a trained dog does.

If Jiang hadn’t kicked and killed that cat, would it be likely he wouldn’t have been found out?

While not all of them are problems, some illegal aliens can become an issue. This is because it’s easy for them to be tempted to turn to crime. It can also be the other way, and they are taken advantage of by criminal syndicates.