Press Statement

March 28, 2007

Member of Parliament Rep. Renato Magtubo

Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines)

Education, land and housing must be a matter of right not concessions

Even as the workers criticize hostage taker Jun Ducat for the medium he chose, we can only sympathize with the message he is advocating. It is a sign of the times that someone needs to go to such desperate means to achieve such simple ends. Such basic human needs as education, land and housing must be a matter of right instead of concessions in return for child hostages.

While the people can easily identify with Ducat’s demands and advocacies, it will be difficult for nation to support him because he took children as hostages. However, whether one takes a bus full of children as hostages or stages a strike of several busloads of adults in order to demand concessions from the government then it can both fall under the rubric of terrorism under the new draconian anti-terror law. ###

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Hostage-taker hits RP poverty, corruption

World watched drama

By Juliet Labog-Javellana, Cenon B. Bibe Jr.

Inquirer

Last updated 01:20am (Mla time) 03/29/2007

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=57597

MANILA, Philippines — For 10 tense hours Wednesday, the Philippines was put on unprecedented spotlight as a man with a penchant for publicity stunts railed against poverty and corruption, embarrassing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration.

Armando Ducat Jr., owner of a day care center from where he seized 26 children and four teachers and held them hostage inside a bus, captured headlines in newspapers around the world and topped newscasts in global television networks and websites on cyberspace.

YouTube, the Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera along with BBC and CNN carried scenes of laughing children unaware of what was going on around them, prompting embarrassed Malacañang officials to go on a damage-control mode.

“I am sorry I took these children in a violent action to call the attention of the Filipino people to open their minds to the political reality,” Ducat said in interviews broadcast through a wireless amplifier.

“There’s so much corruption in the country. We’re No. 1 in Asia in corruption and yet ours is the only country in Asia that is in fear of God,” he said in an apparent bid to paint the irony of the situation.

“I am calling on the Filipino people to stop the rotten political system. Don’t rely on the politicians for your future. No one can help you but yourselves,” he said in one address that lasted 15 minutes.

He referred to the coming May elections and politicians who he said were becoming richer while majority of Filipinos grappled with poverty. “Look at those who we vote for. Those we vote for are spending millions and millions of pesos. They will certainly seek a payback.”

For those who saw on international cable TV and read on cyberspace the drama in Manila, Ducat’s spiel was both pathetic, hilarious and painfully true.
But he did manage to spark a potential public relations disaster for Malacañang, a day after the President made an unprecedented gesture by becoming the first head of government to appear in Publish Asia, a gathering of international editors and publishers being held in Manila for the first time.
Embarrassing

“This is really embarrassing,” said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. “But we do not have control over the minds of people, especially those with criminal minds.”

Ermita appeared at a press briefing an hour after Ms Arroyo dispatched Metro Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando to negotiate the release of the children.

He denied Malacanang was panicking and insisted that the incident was a police problem. He acknowledged that because children were involved, the Palace was concerned.

Ermita said that after he received reports about the hostage-taking from the Presidential Situation Room, he informed Ms Arroyo about it during her visit to the FTI complex at 11 a.m. to send off a shipment of Philippine mangoes to the United States.

Ermita said he was going to ask Education Undersecretary Ted Bacani to ensure that the demand for scholarships for 147 schoolchildren in Ducat’s day care center at Parola compound in Manila’s Tondo district would be given.
Malacañang later released an announcement from AMA Computer School owner Amable Aguiluz that he would grant the scholarships.

Ermita said the hostage-taking gave the wrong impression to the world.
“Because other issues are being dragged into this, they might think it is very chaotic here in Manila or in the Philippines especially since there is a forthcoming election but the authorities are doing everything to prevent or eliminate incidents like this,” Ermita said.

’Is this for real?’

If Ducat thought he was getting a platform to secure a hearing for his grievances from top editors and publishers attending the 7^th Publish Asia conference at Manila Hotel just a few blocks away, he was dead wrong.
“As bad as corruption is, it’s wrong to put innocent children’s lives at risk,” said Indonesian Jati Hidayat, editor in chief of Parenting Magazine, looking at the event on his laptop. “I am quite anticorruption. I am a parent myself.”
David Savelson, an American assistant director for multimedia of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, said: “I don’t know if I am more upset with him than with the corruption. Corruption is systemic, can be worked out. It’s not going to fix it. I am also a parent. I would be outraged. There are nonviolent ways to do it. It would be more powerful to organize to fight corruption. He just failed.”

Told about the incident, Cheryl Newson, managing director of Inxcess Pty in Australia, who was also at the Publish Asia gathering, exclaimed: “My God! What is the police going to do about it. Are we in danger? Is this for real?”
George Jacob, a journalist from South India, said he never expected the event happening in the Philippines. “It’s more routine in the United States, which is full of crazies. He has to be mentally off. No sane man would do such a thing.”

Robert W. Murphy, managing director of Sandstone Software based in Melbourne, Australia, said:

“Isn’t this another form of using international media to focus on a local political situation where there is really none? We had a President here delivering a magnificent opening speech which clearly pointed to a new Philippine open democracy with freedom of speech. Based on her comments, I think situations like these are purely being used for political pitching where sadly there is nothing at all … It has no bearing at all with the media … It’s not really good when kids are involved. It’s a sad thing. It’s very sad to hear.”

’Absolutely criminal’

Pete Resele, software company executive from West Germany, said Ducat was “a bad guy.”

“He’s absolutely criminal. It’s ridiculous to accuse the government in this way … You can protest peacefully. This is not the way,” said Rosele.

Rabi Dhariwal, CEO of the Times of India, said: “No cause can justify what he’s doing to those children. There are many ways in a democracy of drawing attention to corruption … These children are being traumatized. They will never forget … This is passive terrorism. He’s terrorizing those kids. There are other ways in a democracy to draw attention.”

Some Filipinos overseas were aghast.

“When you think of it, I mean, really think of it, it’s sad,” said Blanche Rivera, 28, a Filipino magazine writer in Hong Kong, who watched the story unfold on Yahoo!

Another Filipino in Bangkok, Leilani Gallardo, said she thought she would download the story of the hostage drama from the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s website INQUIRER.net and pass it on to an American friend in Italy “so he can make fun of Pinoys again.”

“I thought it was pathetic that once again, another Pinoy had to resort to extreme means to express what seems to be a legitimate concern,” Gallardo said.

Desperate means

The militant labor group Partido ng Manggagawa Wednesday said that even if it does not approve Ducat’s taking children as hostages, workers could sympathize with the message he was advocating.

“It is a sign of the times that someone needs to go to such desperate means to achieve such simple ends,” said PM party-list Rep. Renato Magtubo.
“Such basic needs as education, land and housing must be a matter of right instead of concessions in return for child hostages,” he added.

Magtubo said ordinary Filipinos could easily identify with Ducat’s demands and advocacies, but it will be difficult for them to support him because he took children as hostages.

The labor leader used the hostage-taking to attack that new anti-terror law, saying that taking a bus full of children as hostages or staging a strike with several busloads of adults to demand legitimate concessions from the government both fall under the government’s definition of terrorism. With a report from Jerome Aning

* Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved.