Two days after we commemorated the death of a martyr, another tragedy befell. Too many thoughts swimming in my head over the hostage drama that caused the unnecessary deaths of 8 Hong Kong nationals (3 of whom are Canadian citizens, incidentally). I am saddened by the fact that a happy excursion day for a bunch of foreigners ended as the worst day of their lives, and the end of many. I grieve for the dead and their relatives, for the mother whose entire family was killed in the shoot out, for random foreigners who were virtually used as human shields by a selfish man, whose sole purpose was to get reinstated into a position he deserved to get sacked from. But my strong feelings do not end there.

Upon watching the bloody resolution of the hostage situation, my first thought was how embarrassing it was for the whole world to watch (in LIVE coverage) our inept and inefficient police force handle this crisis. I've never been a fan of the police force, or the MMDA, or Barangay officials. I think that most of them are extremely corrupt individuals who's lack in training and qualifications make them and the system completely inefficient to handle major situations such as this. Moreover, the pictures of policemen posing in front of the tourist bus for a souvenir photo is downright disgusting. With that aside, it is fully understandable to have the Hong Kong government express disappointment at the way the situation was handled.

However, I believe that people should stop blaming Noynoy for this incident, for lack of a better scapegoat. If people want to create scapegoats- then why not blame the entire system? In as much as it is true that the President of our country is supposed to be in charge, I think it is quite unfair to blame a less than 100-day President for the long standing problems faced by this country. We elected him because we were sick and tired of the same system that has gone on for too long, but we all know that for real change to happen- A LOT of steps must be taken. It's unfair to cry foul when Noynoy has barely made his first step. If we want to contribute to the changes needed for this country, the FIRST thing we must learn to do is to think clearly, intelligently and use our heads before our mouths. There is a much bigger picture that exists out there and nothing will happen if people refuse to see that.