Fear and Trembling for Iloilo City (and the Philippines)

First of all, this is not an article regarding Kierkegaard's book.

I am writing this article with fear and trembling. I was thinking of covering the latest video of Gordon with Moymoy Palaboy and the hacked website of Villar. But I’ll just forget about them and do something that’s more important to us: our security.

Why? Because no one is protected anymore. You should no longer feel safe at your home. Take this as a word of warning because bad things might happen out of nowhere. Even though you’re not part of the things happening today, it might happen – so watch out. It’s a lot better to be a bit paranoid than being careless and ends up with a body split in half.

Why am I saying this? Read tomorrow’s newspaper from Iloilo. This morning (around 3AM), someone threw a grenade on the ancestral home of Iloilo City’s Mayor Jerry Treñas. The house is currently owned by his brother. You can read about it online right now.

This incident can be easily pointed to his brother’s possible beef with anyone. But a few weeks ago someone did the exact same thing to the Mayor’s house near the airport. As of this writing, no one was invited for questioning or became the suspect of the grenade bombing.

Does this mean anything to us? A big YES!!! Here are the implications:

• Anyone can become a target and the culprit can get away from it – the City’s most powerful man is susceptible to these attacks. He has an impressive security and we’re just sitting ducks here.
• The police are not ready to do anything – I’m sure they are working double time to find the culprit. But nothing has come out yet. If you become a victim, you’ll most likely end-up looking for a mythical needle in the haystack.

Can we be protected? I don’t know. What we should do for now is to be a bit paranoid about these events. Each candidate could be a target and those who want to inflict harm will do anything to get the job done.

Physical Violence During Elections - This Line Should NOT Be Crossed

I always love politicians debate. Listening to their tirade to destroy each other's reputation is always entertaining. This simply shows that each candidate has a skeleton in their closet. I even listen to paid political programs just to say bad things about the opponent. You have to give them credit for doing their best and braving the storm and dangers of insulting another candidate on the radio.

But when something physical is done to a political candidate, that's just plain wrong. Last year, the whole world was shocked about the Ampatuan Massacre. The thought of people dying because of political power is just wrong and those who do this is pure evil.

Why am I saying this? Because a few days ago our current Mayor's (Jerry Treñas) restaurant which is located beside the Mayor's residence became the recipient of a live grenade. No one died but someone got hurt.

This just muddled the situation of the already sticky state of our election. Why should you care even if you're not in Iloilo City? Because this can happen to anywhere and this scenario will most likely happen.

And what did just happened?

The victim (Mayor Jerry Treñas) cried foul - he has the right to do so because it has endangered his other source of living and his family. No one should die during the election and anyone who did this should be dealt with immediately. He is now pointing to politics and to those who understood (read: everyone else), he is suspecting his opponent: none other than Raul Gonzales Sr.

The opponent (Raul Gonzales Sr.) of course denies the accusation. I mean, who in the right mind will come to the radio and say "Yes, I did it and I'm angry right now because the guys who threw the grenade missed". I'm not saying he did it because it's quite stupid he really commissioned the act. He knows it will just ruin his reputation. But he launched his tirade saying that it's just another stunt.

This has left everyone confused. The voters will be clouded by these incidents instead of making a smart decision on the right candidate.

I wish I could blame the law enforcement officers but the real culprit are the leaders or those who planned this sabotage. Please, our country is already having problem select the right leader do not add to the problem if you can't provide any solution.