CAME here for a break... meaning accompanying my Jay on her business meeting. My daughter actually suggested that I should have a respite from the daily grind. She thinks I am not getting any younger so going to Hong Kong may not at all be a bad idea.
So what do you do in a place like HK? I am not a shopaholic and with an arthritic knee that just healed all that I can actually manage is a leisurely walk in the Causeway and coffee at... where else ... but Starbucks.
I headed back to Park Lane, for after all my daughter said I should have a good rest. Jay came back from her meeting with AIA CEOs at about 9 pm. We called our daughter Abbie and nothing seems the matter in Davao. She was ecstatic when I told her I bought her the bag she wanted. She retired to sleep. But sleep did not come quickly in my case. I reached for my mobile phone with some unease. I didn't notice, since I switched to silent mode, that friends from Manila had sent me text messages that Davao was bombed. Obviously it took place when I was talking to my daughter. I called my friends but the information was sketchy. "Marami daw patay. Mga limana pero marami ang nasugatan."
The bomb, I was told, exploded in Roxas Avenue where the night market is located. I knew that at about 10 pm, night life is at its peak in that area which is actually a three minute walk from my workplace. I cannot imagine the impact of that bomb on the crowd that converges there when night falls. It would be horrific. Thank God, students from Ateneo de Davao must have been home and since it's weekend they must have their "gimmick" elsewhere.
Early dawn today, Saturday, the grim scenario unfolds on Facebook. The statistics stood at 14 dead and 70+ wounded. My blood curdles. We have been through this before. The casualties are far more greater than this one, but what really is repugnant is reading comments in FB from contemptible characters who are jubilant it happens in President Rodrigo Duterte's Davao City. And there are those who trivialize the word "lawlessness" and "violence" as though these are what matter most than the mangled bodies and those who are maimed. Still there are lunatics who think and imply that what happened was to justify the imposition of martial law. Sick.
We are in very precarious time and uncertainties. Of course this is nothing compared to the carnage in middle eastern countries as well as in Europe or even the US. But for Dabawenyos in particular this is something of a very serious concern. Davao City has metamorphosed from being the killing fields of the Philippines in the late 1970's to early 1980's. With Mayor Duterte in the helm of government however, the city was transformed to being the most livable place in the Philippines and then most recently as the 9th most peaceful place in the world.
This distinction did not come without a price and sagacity in setting up the apparatus to secure peace and security in the city. When one considers the multi-cultural and social structures in the city it is almost a miracle to see how cohesive the political constituents have become.
Among the most significant steps which Duterte, as city mayor, established and institutionalized were to have indigenous representation in the city legislative body, deputy mayors in every tribal communities, employment of Muslim and Lumads in various agencies of the local government.
If the claim of the Abu Sayyaf terrorists is true that they are behind the blasts, then the burden of hunting and identifying the perpetrators should not be left alone to the police and the military but to every Dabawenyo. As the saying goes, "united we stand, divided we fall".
Our president cannot do it alone, the police and military cannot address this efficiently and as quickly unless the citizens themselves take up part of the cudgels.
In this war against crime, our government is facing various fronts. Abu Sayyaf, drug syndicates and the political oppositions who are willing to pawn their souls to the devil for as long as the efforts of President Duterte will be derailed. Now, if those who think that this tragic events will only happen in Davao City, you better think again.
Remember that in this all out war against drug syndicates and terrorism by Duterte it is not only Davao City which will be the target of the vengeance of the criminal elements. Make no mistake about that. We have common enemies and to think otherwise is smack of childish idiocy.
In Hong Kong where I am today, people express alarm and concern for the Filipinos especially for Dabawenyos. It is therefore frustrating and in fact despicable for the political opposition, including those who denigrate Duterte for what they sing in chorus as extrajudicial killings pervading in the country, to be conveniently silent on the slaughter of innocent victims of terrorism.
In fact their silence made me think that this act of terror may not, after all, be perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf but by quarters in whose doors the long arms of the law is about to get them. They wanted to get even.
Dabawenyos must get their acts together and demonstrate how strong and united we are. We have to have layers of protective ring around the city to spot who are the new faces in our respective area. Our best chance to secure our children, families and our community is to report to police and military authorities suspected elements. The number is 911. You can call that number in your cell phone or your landline.
Remember the price of freedom, peace, and security is vigilance.