Hi Zhern Thanks for the article Certainly, the Philippines is not the safest place for foreigners on the planet. But we should also remember that if America is the safest place on earth, considering its breathtaking armada of high-tech gadgets and sophisticated web of intelligence geniuses, then why can’t America stop a terror attack like the 911 tragedy? Why can’t America protect its CIA operatives in Afghanistan who were slaughtered by a Muslim double ageRefnt? Or, why can’t America stop its own citizens from using their machine guns and pistols in killing their own neighbors in malls and schools? And if London has its own exceptional intelligence network, why can’t it stop the 2005 bombings that killed 56 people and wounded 700 others?
The truth is we are all hounded. Hunted by terrorists. Intelligence networks, high-tech spy gadgets, mind-blowing weaponries, GPS, satellites, name it, are not an absolute guarantee of protection. If a terrorist hates you and wants to take you down, he will do just that wherever you are even when you are picking flowers in your own garden. Reference from http://www.theboholstandard.com/editorial.php?issue=&s1=3253&s2=3255&s3=&s4=983&s5=3254&s6=&s7=984&s8=986&s9=&s10=&s11=&s12=985&s13=&s14=&s15=
MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III must be terribly concerned with all the incomprehensible incidents that have been happening all around these past days and weeks, but for good or ill, he has not really shown it or any hint of consternation.
Except for his personal visit to a hospital where a bombing victim was being treated, he has not shown or publicly expressed any serious reaction to the series of mayhem that are taking place.
In that visit, the woman victim related to the President about the harrowing ordeal that she went through when the passenger bus she was riding in was suddenly wrecked with a loudly violent burst.
At least 5 people were killed in that explosion while 14 others were seriously injured by what the authorities called an improvised explosive device.
That was only the latest as of this writing in what appears to be a series of violent incidents as described in the succession of travel advisories sent last month by foreign governments to their citizens intending to travel to the Philippines.
It is recalled that when the travel advisories issued by the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom came out in the papers one after the other, warning of terrorist attacks in some parts of the country, many shrugged them off as a bad joke.
It was the first time that such sort of travel advisory was ever sent out by any foreign country about the Philippine situation.
President Aquino was attending a meeting in a neighboring Asian country when the travel advisories first came, and wasted no time in assuring his colleagues of the peace that pervaded in all parts of the Philippines.
He even personally talked with US President Barack Obama and openly requested the recall of the American travel advisory.
For true enough up to that time the kinds of bombing and depredations that are suddenly taking place today were not known in most parts of the country. The kidnapping, carjacking, and bombing and burning of bodies that we hear about today are a new wave of criminality that is suddenly sweeping the country.
Who are responsible for them and why is still being scrutinized by the authorities and may come out for the answer, hopefully soon enough before they cause further harm to the people and the nation at large.
They are looking at terrorism or extortion as possible motive for their deadly acts. All these are possible, authorities said.
For all this what we see is the need for a new vision for national leadership with the support of public spirited citizenry, positively engaged in the key issues of solving problems, not fighting them.
(zhern_218@yahoo.com)
