Sweet 16. :>

I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A Bloody Battle Royale

SUCAT ROAD, PARANAQUE —One of the busiest thoroughfares in Manila turned into a battle zone Monday, April 23, as residents of Silverio Compound, armed with huge blocks of rocks, molotov cocktails and other projectiles, fought policemen and members of the SWAT to save their "talipapa" from court ordered demolition.

The showdown that lasted an hour turned ugly when Arnel Leonor, 21, dropped dead with a gunshot wound in the head, while 39 other people were injured. 

             With 25,000 families in danger of losing the very home where they fed, nursed, and raised their children to life, it is heartbreaking that no one, not even Paranaque City Mayor Bernabe, held themselves accountable to the consequences of destroying the peoples' lives right in front of their eyes.  But the policemen deployed to "secure" the situation did nothing of the sort. Instead, they were pawns in a game between municipal government and the Compound residents. The latter is, (and I think) will always be on the verge of a CHECKMATE dealt by the upper hand of the corrupt local officials if money is a constant in the equation. 


              Now tell me, who gave the SWAT team permission to unleash a torrent of, what the media reported as, "warning shots" to the residents who can only retaliate  with rocks and plastic bags filled with human waste or vinegar and chili peppers? Helpless citizens can do nothing but scamper and cower in the comfort of their homes (not for long, sadly) fearing for their lives and their livelihood. If Silverio Compound is exactly what Mayor Bernabe claims as a goverment-property, then shouldn't the building be for the sole utilization and welfare of the Paranaque City residents? Besides, isn't the government by the people and FOR the people, regardless of the latter's class stratification as "urban poor"? 

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