Defining Filipinos through their reactions to the Davao incident

20160903_DavaoBomb_article_main_image

It was as if the mayor never really left. Following the explosion that occurred in Davao city, last Friday night, September 2, which left more than a dozen dead and many injured, President Rodrigo Duterte was on the ground only after a few hours. Duterte went along when the crime scene was surveyed, visited the injured in the hospital, and condoled with the families of the dead at the funeral homes.

On a more personal note, news of the incident had broken out almost immediately on social media after it happened. Almost as quick were the posts of certain individuals who seemed to take delight in what happened in Davao.

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“Akala ko ba safest city ang Davao.” (I thought Davao was the safest city.)
“No, Davao City is not crime free.”
“You can resign now, Duterte.”

Really, what kind of human being takes delight when his/her countrymen go through suffering and loss?

Before writing this article, I was following two pieces of life advice which had served me well in the past: Don’t go to bed angry, and Don’t speak/write when you’re angry. I tried sleeping off how pissed off I was at how certain people regarded the Davao incident with schadenfreude. It didn’t work.

As I write this, I’m considerably less pissed off than I was 24 hours ago, though still rather annoyed. But I digress…

In what can be considered the first real test of his mettle as president, Duterte seems to have passed with flying colors. To be fair, however, his predecessor, Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III, set such a LOW standard for being “present” that the impact of Duterte’s contrast is magnified. Whatever his critics may say about Duterte’s management of this incident “like a mayor”, it serves as a stark contrast to what BS Aquino did. When it came to matters that didn’t affect him or his allies’ interests personally, BS Aquino ran things primarily one way – he ran away from danger instead of towards it.

Dispassionate observers have given the same benefit of the doubt to both BS Aquino and Rody Duterte; the difference lies in what each of them has persisted in.

We must credit, not only president Duterte for his immediate presence and decisiveness, but also the excellent rapid response system/infrastructure that Davao and its residents have built and maintained even after the mayor had been elected to Malacañang.

Consistent with Duterte’s forward-looking approach to the presidency, we must look at three issues that come into play, as a result of this incident.

The first one involves Duterte’s communications team. I mentioned in a previous article that this is one of the fundamental weaknesses of his administration. While I do believe that the safety and security of the affected parties takes precedence over dealing with the overreaction to, and exaggerated fears of, his declaration of a state of lawlessness, the Duterte administration will be more effective if its communications infrastructure does its job more clearly, more concisely, more controlled (i.e., fewer mouths talking), and in fewer iterations. And in the coming period, they are going to need to step up their game, particularly in the international arena, where media sympathetic to the Liberal Party (LP) controls the narrative.

Second, how will crime scene investigations be done differently from here on? Observers have noted the lack of updates in the investigations of bombing incidents from previous years. It also remains a big question mark whether the police gathered all the evidence and samples they needed before the crater in the crime scene was cemented over.

Lastly, and this is also tied to the character of Filipinos as a collective, how will we, in the future, choose to react to incidents like this, considered a terrorist attack? An editorial from Business Mirror, written in light of the bombing incident in France last July, spells out the difference between the ways Western and Eastern societies react to terrorism:

In the West, they want to understand the motivation for a terrorist attack. Asians are less inclined to worry about that and are more interested in making sure the perpetrators are unable to do bad things again.

The West may take more comfort from feeling they are standing on the moral high ground. In the East, the inevitability of deserved punishment may make more sense. However, there are clearly different reactions to the same type of event.

As someone who isn’t from Davao, I was a bit pleasantly surprised that Davaoeños refer to Duterte as “Eagle”, in reference to the monkey-eating eagle found within the region. It would only be fitting to say that we must give the Eagle room to spread his wings, in order to help him catch his prey.

davao eagle duterte

We are no longer just Manileños, or Davaoeños, or from wherever, delimited by our respective regions. We have always been Filipinos, and we have always needed to come together for a bigger purpose and a greater good. A threat like the Davao City incident is a concern for all of us; for once in a long time, under a promising leadership, we have a chance to actually realize just how much Filipinos can be stronger together.

Barug ta, Davao! Kauban ninyo ang tinuod nga desente!

[Photo courtesy: Asia Nikkei Review]

47 Replies to “Defining Filipinos through their reactions to the Davao incident”

  1. I could not help myself from ranting on my Facebook page yesterday about the many insensitive comments regarding the terrorist attack in my hometown, Davao City.

    It was evening in the Philippines and afternoon here in Spain. I was online and witnessed the breaking news and development of the terrible situation with many dead and wounded. Very soon, someone in my social circle posted criticism about the inefficiency of the new city administration and blamed them for the lack of security in a very disrespectful way.

    After a while, my news feeds were burning with news of mockery and blame games. At least, some of them apologized after being refuted, but most of them cavil and used the tragedy in a very immature way. Do they think they are cool, glamorous and smart? It was disheartening to read posts saying that victims at the night market were poor anyway; they were unlucky enough to be on the wrong spot and it was good that it happened in a market with poor people and not in a Mall. Can you imagine?
    A crisis situation takes out both the best and the worst in people. It’s sad to witness the mindless immaturity that often follows a tragedy. But also heart-warming to see how the majority help and comfort each other.

    Davao has been regarded as one of the safest cities in the world for many years. But due to the new President Duterte’s determination of making the Philippines into a more just society by fighting crime, corruption and terrorism, more threats can come. It’s ironic, but understandable as Duterte, who was the former Mayor of Davao also has mighty enemies. Since he is the one responsible for Davao’s success, it is almost expected that the terrorists will hit where it would hurt the most.

    The situation can easily escalate. Duterte has started a process that can be very painful and there will likely be more innocent victims. But like the 91% of the Filipino people, I feel that I can trust him. If nothing is done now, and carried out by the power of a man like President Duterte, my country will sink deeper into the swamp of drugs, crime and corruption. The terrorists will gain grounds and a nation with great resources will become a banana republic.

    It’s sad that the Western media have not yet discovered the social and pragmatic profile of our president instead they are focusing on his rough statements and street smart ways of governing. But I know this will change when the result of fixing the nation speaks for itself. We should all support the bold attempt to bring peace and prosperity to our country and let the terrible terrorist attack unite us instead of mocking the Davaoeños and blaming the President on social media.

    1. Couldn’t been said better Maam.. As a Filipino it pained to think that there were still people making mockery of the situation to advance selfish goal than grieve and be united against all adversities…. We are under one flag and one nation…,

    2. So You Hate Your Country Enough To Leave, Gold Digger, Make Sure Your Foreign Husband Gets Extra Tonight, You’ll Soon Be Asking him to Give You Even More Money With Your Lies and Excuses, Those Filipino’s Got What Should Happen To About 100 Million More of You Monkey’s, Only Then Will The World Be A Better Place

      1. DTA sounds like a foreign nobody who got cuckolded so many times by the women in his own country. So he goes to Third World countries like the Philippines to get laid and try to get some of his self-respect back. Now that he feels partially complete, he lambaste the Third World people to vent his frustrations. What a fucking loser.

      2. Hala, tama na ang panunuod ng teledrama, DTA. Palasak nang plot yan ng Maalaala Mo Kaya eh. Hahahahahah~

        Patawa ‘tong patotoy na ‘to. XDDD

  2. my sympathy to our countryment in the south. hindi tayo matatakot sa kahit anong terorismo. we will fight as one nation.
    #staystrongDavao #OneNation #thearchipelago

  3. Botched hostage taking at Luneta, Noytards be like – hwag husgahan kaagad ang Presidente dahil kakaupo PA lang.
    Bombing in Zamboanga City and Pinoy visited the place, Noytards be like – iyan ang Presidente ko!
    SAF44 killed in Mamasapano, Noytards be like – Hindi kasalanan ng Presidente yan!
    Davao night market bombing, Noytards be like – akala ko safe sa Davao?

  4. the first comment by Gracela seems the best I have yet read about this horrible incident.
    I’ve never been to Davao, just lived in CDO for last few years. But even here there have been a few incidents, but nothing on the scale of what’s happened in Davao.
    As a Christian, my only response is to pray for the living and the dead, and also for the killers, that they have a change of heart, repent and do penance before it’s too late.
    These killers are the enemies of mankind, and must be stopped.But even for such as those, redemption is open to them.
    President Duterte promised change will come – it has arrived, but must include us all, the good and the bad.
    “If you want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” – Tancredi Falconeri, from The Leopard

  5. When you (ISIS/ASG) attacked the City of Davao (or any city in the country) you proved one thing, that the ISIS/ASG and all kinds of terrorists, have become an intolerable threat to the security of the Philippines, and I am going intend to eliminate that threat. – President Rodrigo Roa Duterte

    1. When you (ISIS/ASG) attacked the City of Davao (or any city in the country) you proved one thing, that the ISIS/ASG and all kinds of terrorists, have become an intolerable threat to the security of the Philippines, and I am going to eliminate that threat. – President Rodrigo Roa Duterte

  6. I guess it was more of a reaction of some people to Duterte and his challenge to Michael Sullivan than a reaction to those who became victims of the Davao bombing!
    It’s an obvious case of “I’ll take your word for it”!

    Duterte to Michael Sullivan, a foreign journalist, during the press conference in Davao:

    “I challenge you, you walk here in Davao and if you are mugged there or rob there I will resign, I will tell you publicly”

    Posts of certain individuals (“who seemed to take delight in what happened in Davao”):

    “Akala ko ba safest city ang Davao.” (I thought Davao was the safest city.)
    “No, Davao City is not crime free.”
    “You can resign now, Duterte.”

    The above might also be a tit for tat against the President’s rather insensitive and unequal disposition in its pursuit against those who became targets/victims (and even to the other so called collateral damage) of the government’s campaign of the war on drugs!

    In one Press Conference, a CNN reporter asked the President why only the poor and small fry had fallen targets to the government’s war on drugs. Duterte answered that the reason why most of the suspects were the ordinary Juan dela Cruzes was that they were “easy targets” compared to those well-off addicts.

    Duterte also admitted among other reasons why the drug campaign was less aggressive against well-to-do drug users, was that:

    1.) “they get high on cocaine and heroin — which he said were not as destructive to a person as shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride).”

    2.) “these pricey illegal substances were less harmful because they were made from poppy plant”

    “Just because you are poor, you are supposed to be excused from what, apprehension?” “Hwag nyo ako bolahin sa kahirapan. Dumaan ako dyan. So hwag mo akong sentimental, sentimental ka diyan. Hindi ko tanggapin yan.”

    Rich man, Poor man… deserves Equal Rights!

    1. Sometimes I can’t help but think. Could Duterte be a reincarnation of Antonio Luna or even of Lapu-Lapu? 🙂 That’s if you believe in reincarnation 🙂

      1. not really but if Manuel L. Quezon is still alive today then I do believe he’ll gonna support President Duterte & you know why? Because he was right about his controversial quote of his about our country would like to run our country by the Filipinos on a hellish way rather than ruled by the Americans through a deceitful lies of their very own Potemkin village. And yes, as you could see right now our country is really a hellish place to live with so many corruption, crimes, drugs & idiotic & undisciplined Filipino people and these kind of problems as what MLQ believe there should be a Filipino leader that would have a guts & determination to solve these problems through a bloody results & of these problems will finally end through the political will & iron fist rule but have a good heart & the love of our country like Duterte, then our country will become an Utopian state just like what Singapore did through the leadership of Lee Kwan Yew before. MLQ’s controversial quote almost a century before was actually his prophetic warning to the US! And yes this is what happened to Pres. Duterte made a controversial comment to US President Barack Obama after he was interviewed by a journalist from Reuters last Monday before heading to Laos for the Asean meeting there.

  7. Leni Robredo flew to Davao today to visit the victims of the Friday night bomb blast. People are now arguing about whether or not her visit was yet another PR stunt. Let us analyze.

    1) This morning, the picture below of Robredo at a party was circulating on Facebook.
    https://www.facebook.com/tonton.contreras/posts/10206078787322884

    According to the post, the photo was taken on September 3, Saturday (one day after the blast), at a hotel in Naga City. The caption says, “Early on, partygoers were requested not to take photos of the VP but in the age of selfies and social networking, who could stop them?”

    Assuming the above info is accurate, was it wrong for Robredo to have been at a party one day after the blast, while a sleepless President Duterte was still working to look after the victims in Davao and supervise the investigation?

    Not necessarily. Nobody knew the blast would happen last Friday, and the party could have been scheduled way before.

    2) This afternoon, the Leni Robredo Media Bureau released the pictures below of Robredo visiting the blast victims in Davao.
    https://twitter.com/rapplerdotcom/status/772279996647739392 (scroll down to 6th or 7th spot to see pix from media bureau)

    Robredo did not give any interviews, saying the visit was private.

    What can we infer from 1) and 2) ?

    I think it’s fair to say that Robredo did not want to be seen partying in Naga one day after the blast, but she was more than willing to be seen visiting the victims in Davao two days after the blast.

    So what’s the conclusion?

    We cannot discount that Robredo’s sympathy for the victims might have been genuine, but it is very clear that publicity was one of the goals of her visit as well. Why? Because if she really wanted the visit to be private, she could have arranged not to have photos taken or released to media, as with 1).

    On a side note, if you compare Robredo’s behavior while visiting the victims with that of Duterte, you will see a distinct difference. Duterte’s pain and grief were palpable even when he was just standing by the hospital beds and not touching the victims. Robredo, on the other hand, seemed very conscious of the cameras, and did not quite have the same depth of emotion as Duterte even when she was going out of her way to touch the victims.

    In fact, as you can see from these photos, she kept smiling.
    https://twitter.com/raphbosano/status/772271334369861632

    While Duterte’s face was grim and pained when he was going around visiting the victims, Robredo was going around with her campaign-trail smile.

    You can judge for yourself how real her grief was. One thing’s for sure, don’t be surprised if the photos of her visiting the victims end up on the front page of the Inquirer tomorrow.

    1. Leni Robredo is a political opportunist, who capitalizes on tragedies, to enhance her popularity, at the expense of death and suffering of people.

      What kind of person is this? No conscience…

      1. A media whore of the highest order. No more, no less. Just the same clueless idiotic grin or smile that Aquino wore.

        That woman was there for the media mileage alone and does not give a flying hoot about the victims.

  8. The Davao IED bombing has ISIS signature. We sympathize with those who lost their love ones. Our prayers are for the families of the victims. That God will comfort them in their times of sorrow.

    We pray for those, who were injured. That they will recover easily. We stand together , shoulder to shoulder, with the people of Davao, to fight this evil, we are facing in our times called:terrorism.

    We are outraged on those YellowTards or insane people, who have their political agendas; and rejoiced on the death and sufferings of our countrymen.

    We believe in our Police and military, as well as our President, will be able to deal with this terrorism problem. We are confident …

    We can ask Israel for help/advice, in dealing with terrorism. They have been dealing with this evil, since they become a State !

  9. the yellow dynasty turned the Philippines identical to Colombia’s a narco state. till when will the people learn to stop all these? wait for president duterte to call out the power of the people who voted him to fight? he already started the people’s will for a change, now he needs the pilipinos support but where is it? no one can change the Philippines except its people themselves. they’re the ones wrongfully oust Marcos they can do it again, not duterte alone.

  10. “The yellow dynasty turned the Philippines identical to Colombia’s a narco state.”

    Tru Dat! This is exactly the kind of picture the Duterte administration needs to start painting to the world. That we’re not pussy-footing around anymore and running bullshit propaganda that the economy is improving and crime is under control, like what the Aquino administration had done to attract more Chinese and Korean investors and tourists into this country.

    The Philippines needs to start telling the truth: the Chinese triad (legal and illegal) has literally taken over the legitimate and illegitimate way of life in the Philippines, and it has done nothing but fuck up the lives of all Filipinos by making it harder for them to live in their own country each passing day.

  11. Think a few drug dealers/family of dead drug dealers decided to hit Duterte right in the balls with this one? MAYBE?

    He asked for this one, oh yes he did ,and if Duterte had a brain he would have expected it, and maybe prevented it.OR is it a false flag to get even more heavy handed?IDK and IDC..

    A Filipino,minutes after the bombing, walking through the carnage knew what type of bomb was used, HOW IS THAT AND WHY IS HE NOT UNDER ARREST?

    https://www.facebook.com/levoen/videos/1571513679822492/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

    1. Come on, Tell It Like It Is. You have a better alternative to what Duterte’s doing to fight illegal drugs that hasn’t been suggested, implemented, and failed miserably by previous administrations? If you do, let’s hear it.

      1. An extensive rehabilitation program for drug addicts (under the premise that they’re not criminals in need of a few dozen bullets, but sick people in need of financial help and psychological counseling), accompanied by at least the decriminalization of the use of certain drugs, persecution of drug profiteers (but only if profits are used for corrupt or criminal ends), and an aggressive education campaign, adjusted to suit existing sociocultural and economic conditions.

        To my knowledge, Aeta, no administration has gone so far so as to at least look at European models of curtailing drug use, or even look askance at the poor track record of the sort of war on drugs the likes of Duterte (and evidently this site) want to wage whenever tried in various countries.

        1. @ Pallacertus, WOW, you have a brain.The ‘WAR ON DRUGS’ never works.It is another scam, and will be wildly popular in a scam ridden place like the Failippines.

          The North Western European countries have sorted out the drug problem successfully, but that will not happen in the Failippines, WHY?
          BECAUSE:
          Nothing works in the country,NOTHING! and it is that way on purpose.

        2. Pallacertus,

          Your fantasy about an “extensive drug rehabilitation for drug addicts” is never going to work. The country has no funding nor the willingness to implement such program that will only be circumvented by assholes from the other side.

          It’s either “Do or Die” for these drug addicts: turn their back completely on using and pushing drugs or face the consequences of an untimely demise in the hands of “who knows who.”

          You need to create your own blog about a Utopian Philippines and see how many YellowTard subscribes you get.

          TheVoiceofTreason might be the first.

          Aeta

        3. [Revised]

          Pallacertus,

          Your fantasy about an “extensive drug rehabilitation for drug addicts” is never going to work. The country has no funding nor the willingness to implement such program that will only be circumvented by assholes from the other side.

          It’s either “Do or Die” for these drug addicts: turn their back completely on using and pushing drugs or face the consequences of an untimely demise in the hands of “who knows who.”

          You need to create your own blog about a Utopian Philippines and see how many YellowTard subscribers you will get.

          TheVoiceofTreason might be the first.

          Aeta

        4. You know what, Aeta? I’m done.

          You’re a narrow-minded misanthrope who’s backing a bloody strategy that has FAILED EVERYWHERE ELSE out of murderous spite, and I’m done.

          I might still be able to talk to and reason with other people here — but not you.

          Fuck you.

      2. Funny enough, I’m working in the department that helps ensure that there IS enough funding AND willingness to rehabilitate drug abusers. To see things like “Nothing works in the country,NOTHING! and it is that way on purpose.” and “The country has no funding nor the willingness to implement such program” makes me think: have we really turned into a country of people so easy to give up and sink into the morass of inhumanity just to survive?

        P.S. The whole point of rehabilitation is to provide the tools for people to “turn their back completely on using and pushing drugs”. If you know what you’re talking about in terms of addiction, you’d know how important these tools are.

    2. If it’s on facebook, it must be true right?

      Are you also one of the people who believed the Sylvester Stallone just died?

      1. I don’t know if it’s their religious upbringing, poor education or what that makes so many people here fall for everything they read on Facebook and never think to Google anything suspicious.

        But then, Filipinos were found to be the most gullible people in the world according to a study conducted by Harvard University. This “study” was invented by a satire site, admittedly, but the Inquirer reported it as fact anyway… thereby confirming it?

  12. Still for me the #1 Enemy of the Country who could’ve done this bombings are the “Yellows(Aquino/Cojuanco/Oligarchs/Chinese)” who are against the government ever since the Japanese Occupation, they prolifelated ‘rebel/terrorists/criminals on the country to bloom specially when the stupid cory aquino in 1986 sat where these groups went full bloom…

    Now the new generation especially those brainwashed by the “Yellow Media” will understand the reason why “Martial Law” was declared if these kind after haneous acts wont stop…

    The hard thing is the traitor aquino was leaking info to these terrorist groups hence were not easy to capture and maybe just like rigt now with so many “Yellow/Oligarch” government officials are probably leaking government intels to these groups aswell…

    1. “Yellows(Aquino/Cojuanco/Oligarchs/Chinese)” who are against the government ever since the Japanese Occupation, they prolifelated ‘rebel/terrorists/criminals on the country to bloom specially when the stupid cory aquino in 1986 sat where these groups went full bloom…”

      You got that right, 4DSakeOfDCountry!

    2. The #1 enemy of the country is NOT DRUGS. It is the people that run the biggest criminal syndicate in S. E. Asia, the entire Philippine government. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you will be able to do something about it.

      1. Tell It Like It Is,

        I’m glad we’ve finally agreed on something. The Chinese (legal and illegal. I’m not going to differentiate between the two because they’ll cover each other’s back no matter what) and the Philippine government officials are the primary enemies of the Filipino people.

        Aeta

  13. The pragmatic Eagle has landed to mourn for the victims of the tragedy while in the distant the partying Monkeys celebrated much to his chagrin.

    Suddenly, the preening Parrot had arrived but find it hard to shed a crocodile’s tear because she couldn’t escape the flattering lens of the Bee-presses.

    The gullible Goats joined in the cheering after hearing the news while the silence of the Lambs can only be heard like a staccato.

    The animal rights activist? Oh, you mean the chit chat Frogs! They simply turned dumb right now just like the holy Barracudas and the saintly Penguins.

    I really like this fable.

  14. I shed a tear for the victims of the violence in Davao but I shed more for the people who rejoiced rather than condemned the event…more tears for people who are eagerly being awaited by Satan in hell

  15. The other day, we analyzed whether or not Leni Robredo’s “private visit” to the bomb attack victims in Davao was a publicity stunt. (Read here http://grpshorts.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/publicity-matters-to-leni-robredo-even.html)

    If you’re still wondering about this, check out this link to an ABS-CBN report about a post Robredo made on her Facebook account regarding one of the victims she visited:
    http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/09/05/16/ofws-son-fighting-for-life-after-davao-blast

    Here is another Facebook post that she made about another victim:
    https://www.facebook.com/leni.robredo/posts/10208293006255135?notif_t=close_friend_activity&notif_id=1472998824244494

    As we said yesterday, while Robredo’s sympathy for the victims might have been genuine, it is quite clear that publicity was also one of her goals. Why else would a “private visit” end up with pictures sent directly by her office for circulation in the media, and now, Facebook posts being picked up like press releases by the media?

    But what if Robredo really just wants to help? What if she really just wants people to know how tragic the victims’ situations are? Yes, that might well be true, but there is no denying that she also wants to gain image-building points in the process.

    A person who only wants to help with no self-serving motives would do so privately and quietly. Recall Senator Manny Pacquiao’s initiative to lend one of his properties in Region 12 to the government for use as a drug rehab/livelihood center. We only found out about that because PNP Chief Bato de la Rosa happened to mention it while he was reporting the statistics on drug surrenderees per region during the Senate hearing on the war on drugs.

    Had that been Robredo, there would probably have been a ceremonial groundbreaking with photo opportunities and heart-tugging press releases of drug surrenderees talking about how poverty led them to drugs and how grateful they are that a “saint” like Robredo gave them the time of day. There might even be a move to name the rehab center after her late husband. That is how Robredo does things.

    Do we really need Robredo to tell us all the tragic, dramatic details of the Davao victims’ fates in order to feel more grief for them than we already do? Not even President Duterte or Davao Mayor Inday Sara Duterte did this, and they are much closer to the victims than Robredo is.

    Why not? Because to do so would be tantamount to exploiting the victims’ suffering for media consumption, and serving up their pain to an audience that is titillated by dramatic and gory details like “shrapnels from the bomb pierced through her abdomen, shattering her intestines” as Robredo wrote, which, in the end, may elicit pity but will not translate to any concrete or sustainable solutions to the root causes of the violence that created the suffering in the first place.

    President Duterte and Mayor Inday Sara wasted no time playing Florence Nightingale and instead trained their energies on the things that mattered: arranging to cover the medical and funeral expenses of the victims, then hunting down the perpetrators of the bombing. These are things that count, not the photo ops and tear-jerking press releases.

    There was one very telling comment on the FB thread of the ABS-CBN report from a woman who was present at the Davao hospital when Robredo visited:

    “Advance security ni VP sa SPMC bawal daw pag pa picture sa VP kay priority mga victims… Gitubag pud nako na dili pud ko magpa picture sa iyaha… Ni second the motion mga kapatad nako na bystanders dili me magpa picture kay wala me niboto sa iyaha…Lol”

    A Bisaya friend’s translation:

    “The advance security of the VP at SPMC (Southern Philippines Medical Hospital) said photos with the VP are not allowed because the victims are the priority . . . I replied that I’m not interested in having a picture taken with her . . . the bystanders near me seconded the motion and said we don’t need a picture with her because we did not even vote for her . . .Lol”

  16. Defining anyone by how they react to tragedy can be a fools errand. Different people react differently, and many people laugh out of anxiety and it doesn’t make them bad people, its just a different reaction to extreme stress.
    The bigger picture is,Could this be a false flag incident? A move to take even more civil rights away from the people?
    While the culprits remain at large, no one knows the why, who’s or anything else.Are any terrorists orgs. staking claim to this?
    A more telling event:
    Watch what Duterte does next.

  17. Die-hard yellow supporters will shamelessly gloat at anything, even over the deaths of some of our countrymen, just to nitpick our duly-elected President.

    Ampalaya talaga etong mga yellow supporters!

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