Philippines in the News

Not sure whether is is bad luck or not - but the people of the Philippines have definitely had it a bit tougher than usual lately. First there was the shocking stampede at Ultra Sports Ground where 100s of people were crushed (and 79 odd were killed) trying to get into a famous day time TV gameshow - WowWowWee for its first anniversary. One estimate put the crowd at 30,000, all trying to get into the 13,000-seat stadium. They had come from poor communities in and around Metro Manila, hoping to win big cash prizes at stake on the show. Some speculated that the shoving started when someone from the crowd shouted that the show’s staff were distributing free tickets that give the holders a chance to win a house and lot, a taxi, a passenger jeepney, or P10,000.

Then there were the landslides in Leyte where Red Cross officials said 200 people were feared dead as 1,500 others have remained missing.

And then there are all the political rumblings that have been going on here. A couple of weekends ago was the forced resignation of the head of the marines which resulted in a 6 hour standoff as his troops apparently had not been advised. Many civilians gathered at the base in Fort Bonifacio in Manila and people gathered at the University of the Philippines in support of the deposed leader. However this was eventually resolved. But security remained tight under Gloria's 'State of Emergency' declared after the army said it had prevented a coup. She said was taking the action "because of the clear threat to the nation". Of course for us, it was the quietest few days we've spent in Manila. There were a few isolated protests, street rallies and confrontations with police but all in all it seemed to be a fairly orderly, peaceful affair.

One of the scary things though is the apparent restriction of the press as a result of the State of Emergency. Although lifted last week, many opposition Congressmen remain under arrest, the government is pushing to review and charge television stations with acts against the state for 'biased' coverage of the incident at Fort Bonifacio. Despite being one of the freest presses in Asia, I read in the paper the other day that more journalists have been killed in the Philippine since 2000 than in other county in the world, including Iraq! Ano bayan??!

It was an interesting period to be in Manila, we went through a few heavily armed military men at police checkpoints throughout the city and on a Monday trip to work I was completely surprised by barbed wire, shipping containers and again lots of heavily armed militia around Malacanang.

posted by batik billy @ 6:36 pm