Just Stop So We Can All Move On
By JasperTore
@JasperTore (1275)
Philippines
September 2, 2010 8:48pm CST
I was reading my email a while ago when I read this one.Five years ago,on August 19, 2005, Emmanuel Madrigal, a Filipino Shell Executive, was on a vacation with his wife Vivian and daughters Regina Mia and two younger daughters.
They also rode a tourist bus and was headed to Tiananmen Square, the heart of Beijing, China.
After arriving at the square, Emmanuel Madrigal descended the bus first, with Vivian and Regina Mia following. Just then, somebody interrupted their want to enjoy and tour the beautiful place, their lives were cut short.
A man holding a scythe(or otherwise described as a sword) appeared and slashed Emmanuel Madrigal, killing him immediately. He attacked Vivian seriously wounding her and then he went off to kill Regina Mia. Bystanders were trying to take the man down and Vivian had shouted to her two other daughters to run. Vivian was brought to the hospital but was later declared dead due to her injuries.
The killer, Wang Gongzuo was sentenced to death.
Now let's play a little game of spot the difference, shall we?
Two incidents.
ONE
Hostage taking of Chinese nationals on tour in Quirino Grandstand, Manila by Filipino Rolando Mendoza.
Killing of Filipinos on tour in Tiananmen Square, Beijing China by Chinese Wanf Gongzuo.
TWO
The Quirino Grandstand, a place where the presidential inauguration took place just months ago.
Tinanmen Square, a place of power and historical memories for the Chinese Government.
THREE
The Madrigals- just a family looking to enjoy a place and hoping to return home safely.
The Leungs, Wongs, Fus and Masa Tse(tour guide)- families looking to enjoy a place and also hoping to return to their homes safely.
FOUR
The Police weren't able to prevent the massacre.
The Police weren't able to stop the massacre.
FIVE
Rolando Mendoza was shot to his death.
Wang Gongzuo was sentenced to death.
SIX
The Philippines Government acknowledged the tragedy, apologized for the incident and promised the best of justice there can be by punishing those that must be punished.
. . . . .
SEVEN
Hong Kong has issued a travel to the Philippines.
. . . . .
EIGHT
Philippines was named the worst country to go to by the CNN IN PUBLIC
NINE
Philippines has joined their hands together to extend their condolences, bow their heads before Hong Kong and China expressing sorrow and remorse over what happened. I, myself is ashame of what had happened and I will forever be at the burden knowing what has happened and what has caused the rift between China and Philippines.
Due to the media black out by the Chinese and the banning of their commenting on the killings, were at loss for the thoughts of China.
TEN
Philippines is suffering all consequences without complaints. Our tourism has been affected and the Hong Kong ban has affected other countries to push though their bans and travel advisories or warnings as well.
ELEVEN
There is a hate page for the Philippines on Facebook. And another hate page with 13,000+ members.
There is a hate page for China on Facebook after they made the hate page for the Philippines because of the hostage taking.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
So what had happened? Where is the justice in all this?
I'm not saying war should happen. I'm not saying China should acknowledge the killings(even if they should for the sake of the Madrigals).
I'm not saying we should turn our back around, because past is past and we should all look forward to a better tomorrow. I am saying PLEASE. Please cut as some slack. WE are not perfect. WE are NOT murderers. WE are NOT the worst country to go. WE are NOT all bad. WE are NOT looking for war. WE are also mourning. WE are also suffering. WE are accepting. STOP all the hate messages. STOP all the judgment because you are not perfect. STOP saying bad things about our country. STOP putting us down. JUST STOP SO WE CAN ALL MOVE ON.
"Let him who is without a sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."- John 8:7
This is with regards to the many people who have been throwing stones to the Philippines.
4 responses
@Louc74 (620)
•
3 Sep 10
Hi Jaspertore. Good for you coming forward on this. When you're being beaten down like this, it can be hard to take a stand. To be honest, I hadn't really looked at this situation in detail before reading your post, but it seems like a case of bullying, basically. I can't figure out what the reasons are for China and Hong Kong wanting to ostracise your country, but that's what it sounds like. I know from being on Mylot that there are intelligent and educated Phillipino people, so just keep your dignity, keep showing that you are ordinary, peace loving human beings. We're not all stupid enough to believe the propaganda.
Every country has its shame. Every country has zealots and extremists. And most countries have had to ask for forgiveness at some point.
As for the hate pages, there are an estimated 165,000,000 internet users in the US, an estimated 34,000,000 in the UK, and God knows how many more millions in the rest of the world. So 13,000 haters are definitely in the minority.
@JasperTore (1275)
• Philippines
4 Sep 10
Thanks for that info Louc74. I know that the haters are just minority of the world's population. But those minorities are so noisy that they keep on bugging us and they even caught the attention of media. Forgiveness, is all we want and each country has its own zealots and extremists as you have mention. They just want to look that the Philippines is the worst of all but that is not true. Its just that we have internal conflict that is not yet settled among those factions in the government. We want to move on for the better tomorrow of the next generation and I don't want to see that our country is being bullied by those wicked people who just want power and influence.
@zapatee (477)
• Philippines
3 Sep 10
both incidents you mentioned, jaspertore, is an eye-opener. i believe what happened in both incidents were not because of pure neglect on any part of the parties involved, except that yes, maybe they could have been avoided if the men who made the murders had it in their right mind to not do what they did. nobody wants to kill anybody unless there is a malicious intent to do so--then again why get it on the innocent ones?
different governments and different countries have their way of handling such kinds of tragedies. i believe the president's sincere apologies are enough. the best next thing to do is to move forward and do important things that can avoid a similar incident to happen again. no one is perfect, no country is perfect. but systems can be improved, people can forgive, and lives must go on. there's no other way to do it.
@jonnifc (1017)
• Philippines
3 Sep 10
Amen to that! It's a sad thing that happened. We all know that. But I believe this will all blow over. People will get tired of bashing the Philippines for its mistakes. I'm NOT saying we should forget about the incident itself. What we should let go of is the HATE that this whole mess created. Like you said, we Filipinos, even the Chinese, everybody actually, are not perfect. Every single country or every single human being has made a mistake and will continue to make mistakes. Wouldn't we all want to be forgiven if we made a mistake? Note that I said FORGIVEN, not FORGOTTEN.
The media hype has fueled the hate, I think. I'm just thankful that media has short-term memory loss. It's easy for media to put news into archives and focus on new events. Without all these hype, the real HEALING might actually start to take place.
Hate begets hate. Forgiveness begets healing. =)
@greenpeas (998)
• Philippines
3 Sep 10
Yes, we must all move on. But first we must hear the ff. truth:
1. The Chinese government NEVER apologized for what happened in 2005. They even imposed news blackout so this incident will not spread in their local media, so their people and the world will never know. They did this obviously to prevent the tarnishing of their country's image and its effect to their tourism industry.
2. Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the ex-plunderer, I mean ex-president of our country...NEVER bothered to report to the Filipino people what happened.
So for the Chinese government, or the followers of GMA to say the current government NEVER cares...I say look at the mirror first.
@JasperTore (1275)
• Philippines
3 Sep 10
You are right. The former president didn't even realize that she had been part to the issue because she had influenced the way the police office do their jobs. The truth will set you free. Truth never lies. To those who are not saying the truth, they should be bothered and have their conscience haunt them.
Thanks for your response! God bless!
