*knock knock*

Ohisashiburi.

It's been a while.

I've stayed away from Xanga for....ages, and when I came back, I noticed there were a lot of changes. Great changes.

I guess I should come back now, since I need to write more. More nonsense, more inanities. Just...write.

Will come back when things are more coherent in my mind.

The RMS TITANIC is sinking. The women and children were made to go ahead on the limited number of lifeboats. Five men of different nationalities stand at the railing, knowing they could never hope to be on any of the lifeboats. (I douubt there was a Filipino on board the doomed ship, but indulge me this one time.) They have no choice.

The Frenchman shouted, "Vive le France!" then jumped into the freezing water. The British coughed and declared, "Long Live the Queen!" then took the plunge. The American was hesitant, but yelled, "Long Live America!" then jumped in.

The Filipino did not hesitate, not even for a second. He roared, "MABUHAY ANG PILIPINO!" (Long live the Filipino!)....

...and pushed the guy beside him into the ice-cold ocean.

................................

*shrugs*

Just trying to inject some humor - though dark and wry - into this post.

You see, this morning, more or less 88 Filipinos died, and 240+ are hurt or injured. My blasted biological clock dictated I wake up at 5am, but I refused to get out of bed until about 10am. I receive an SMS from my Mom (who was in hospital having my nephew checked out), saying I should turn the TV on. And so I did.

And what did I see? Piles of body strewn on the street, with other people wailing over them. At first I thought that finally the rebel groups or terrorists/extremists finally succeeded in exploding a bomb that could actually kill more than a dozen, or there was a demonstration/rally that went totally wrong-er than usual. But no, the reason was far from any of the two, which disappointed me even more.

So what caused it?

A television game show. A noontime television game show that was celebrating its first year anniversary on an open-air stadium called ULTRA.

Apparently it began as a stampede. Thousands of people were already inside the stadium. And we are not talking about a normal crowd here. Most of them are people from various far-flung provinces, come to Manila for the even alone, probably hoping to score a win. Money, car, or anything, as long as they win something. They literally had to queue a few nights before the actual day, turning it into a vigil.

"Economically" speaking, these people are what the social scientists would refer to as Class C & D. The poor ones. Ergo, their inspiration to brave the distance and lack of money for transport and the cold of the night and the relentless hours....Tension must have been high. The queue was long. A misunderstanding erupted when one file was allowed to go in while the other was asked to remain behind. (The facts are hazy, witnesses were too emotional.)

Hence the stampede. And the deaths. And the piles of bodies dumped outside a funeral home awaiting attention (and identification).

I don't know what this says about so many things. Probably about how the network was bent on gaining profits from claiming they are helping the poor by doling out prizes (implying that they are doing it selflessly when in truth they are gaining from it. Another case of window-dressing one's intentions). Or about how politicians quickly step in as though their interference would miraculously revive the dead.

Or about the extent the poor would go in hopes of a better - and instant millionaire - life.

Scores dead in game show stampede (INQ7)
Wowowee Stampede death toll 79 (ABS-CBN)
Stampede at Manila Stadium Kills 88 (Yahoo!)
Manila Stadium Stampede Kills 79 (BBC)
Manila game show stampede kills 73 (CNN)

a blogger's insight.