Manila Hostage Crisis--letting the wounds of the past fester

Mang Danilo, the photographer who survived the Manila Hostage crisis, told my good friend Susan Enriquez of DZBB that he still suffers from sleeplessness and trauma, twelve months after the gruesome incident. 


The 65 year old photographer lost his job because of the incident. The agency which took care of him for decades, lost the Hongkong market. He told Enriquez that no other Hongkong national goes to the country to visit, and since he's relying on tourists for his income, he does not have anything at all.


His family is suffering. Worse, Mang Danilo said that the government did not do anything at all to help him recover. Enriquez learned that no government counsellors went to him to give a post-event trauma treatment, something as an SOP in other countries. He was left alone.


He appealed to President Aquino to help him.


Several of the relatives of the victims of the hostage crisis also appealed to the Philippine government to help them recover. They have three demands. Unfortunately, no one in the Aquino administration seemed to care.


Is this the type of government we want? A government that does not care of its citizens and the victims of a gruesome incident?


Are we just going to gloss this over, like all the rest of the painful and unfortunate incidents that marked our history?


Are we just hoping that time would "heal all wounds"? 


Malasakit--that's the word that is losing its meaning right now in our government. 


I understand that there are several legal implications if this government admits an error. Yet, the demands of the victims are not bordering on legalities. They are just asking this government to implement the recommendations of the "independent commission" that investigated the incident. This probe was undertaken by the government itself as a knee-jerk reaction on the incident.


Are we saying that we will not implement the recommendations of our own Department of Justice? So, what happened during this probe was just a show? A show to appease public clamor? That there was no sincerity at all in our part to implement these recommendations? What happened to the term "fair play"? 


If we are really expecting that time would heal these psychological wounds inflicted by our incompetence to other people, we are hoping for the worse. The more we refuse to deal with this squarely and fairly, the more these wounds would fester and even develop into an ulcer.


Utang na loob ng gobyernong ito sa kanyang mga mamamayan gayundin sa mga kaanak ng mga naapektuhan na maging humble tayo at harapin ang mga responsibilidad ng ating mga pagkakamali.


Kung hindi aakuin at magiging matapang at maging lalaki ang ating administrasyon, iisa lamang ang nagiging kakalabasan ng lahat ng ito---isang terminong walang pinagkaiba sa dating administrasyon.