Philippines in the midst of agony

I had goose bumps when I first heard this news from my classmate. A former police officer is the lead actor in a hostage drama in Quirino Grandstand, Manila. The hostages were foreign nationals from Hong Kong and few Filipino crews who were trapped inside the bus. Twelve hours extreme action packed scene are on with this sacked cop on the main spot. It is like you are watching a movie or CSI live in your own television sets. After hours of dramas and actions nine hostages were confirmed dead. Hong Kong eventually issued its top-level black travel alert for the Philippines. The Hong Kong government was very disappointed about the outcome of the dramatic stand-off.

I can certainly say, of what I saw and observed that our very own policemen extremely lack intelligent tactics and security planning. Even President Aquino admitted that our local policemen lack tight training and incompetence with this kind of scenario. He even said that the media’s live coverage hampered the rescue operation on the hostages. Media men noted that they may have unwittingly fueled the tension on the siege and now that the Department of Interior and Local Government is eyeing for media protocols for coverage in similar situations. He said that media outlets should consider the safety of the hostages in their coverage.

Now, the Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang criticized the handling of a hostage crisis, Others in Hong Kong reacted with shock and some anger after what appeared to an ineffective rescue operation, with thousands glued to their television sets as live footage of the hostage drama played on local television for much of the day. Numbers of people are now suggesting the need to review the government’s operating procedures.

From last week’s issue on police brutality here now comes the police incompetence, what next Philippine National Police..? How can you feel secured with these security officers?

Philippines are now at the map of most dangerous place to go. Filipinos all over the world could have been blame for what had happened. Overseas Filipino workers aboard most especially those who are working in HK and China would directly discriminate. It’s so disappointing that of this one incident, also everyone forgot the lovely beaches and places in the country. The historic match we did that made the world inspires us. The Philippine is a lovely country. Not all Filipinos are like Mendoza. We condemn what happened and justice will prevail.

Now that the Philippines are at the center of controversies, we Filipinos should unite as one in this battle. Let us offer our prayers to the Lord that he may light us in these dark days of our country. I am a Filipino, and I will always be proud. I will always celebrate being a Filipino. There are many reasons to be strong now, the triumph of Venus Raj, Filipino animator Joe Mateo received an award at the Creative Arts Emmy
Awards last Saturday, Charice will be on Glee next month. We should stand as one in this major major dilema. Lets pray and make our own way to show the world who really are Filipinos.

The Alejandro of GaGa

Lady Gaga did it again !!
She released her new video titled Alejandro. This is her third single from her second album Fame Monster. The video was directed by Steven Klein. It was inspired by lady gaga for her gay friends and admiration of gay love – her envy of the courage and bravery they require to be together. The music video portrays Gaga with a group of soldiers in a cabaret, dancing to the song. It is interspersed with scenes of Gaga as a nun eating a rosary and near-naked men, holding machine guns.

A good part of the video is dedicated to the Broadway musical Cabaret. The video begins with soldiers sleeping in a cabaret with a close-up of a soldier passed out in fishnet stockings and heels as another lone soldier stares into the distance. The scene then cuts to male dancers performing elaborate choreography while marching forward. As the intro of the song begins, Gaga is shown leading a funeral procession, carrying her heart with a wire "A" spelled on it. When the lyrics begin, she sits on a throne wearing an elaborate headpiece and binocular-like eyepieces, with a smoking pipe in her hand, watching her dancers perform a rigorous routine in the snow. Gaga is then seen as character Sally from Cabaret, dancing and simulating sex acts with three men on a stage with twin beds on a stage surrounded by spotlights, all wearing nothing but underwear intercut with shots of Gaga lying on a larger bed dressed in a red latex nun outfit. She subsequently appears dressed in a white hooded robe with several red crosses on it with her dancers, before a shot of her as the nun eating a rosary. Gaga is seen in a blonde bob and a similar outfit to one of Liza Minnelli's performance costumes. The video moves to a scene of her wearing a bra equipped with assault rifle barrels and her dancers performing another dance routine. She is then shown in the empty club, scenes of war breaking out flash by, and the lone soldier appears again. Going back to the hooded robe scene, she struggles with her dancers and disrobes. The video ends with her dressed as the nun, the film burning away from her face outwards. The director explained that it is an interpretation of a woman's desire to resurrect a dead love and who can not face the brutality of her present situation, the pain of living without your true love.

The Catholic League criticized the video for its use of religious imagery. In an interview, Steven Klein explained that the religious symbolism is not meant to denote anything negative, but represents the character's battle between the dark forces of this world and the spiritual salvation of the Soul. Thus at the end of the film, she chooses to be a nun, and the reason her mouth and eyes disappear is because she is withdrawing her senses from the world of evil and going inward towards prayer and contemplation." Klein added that the scene where Gaga devours the rosary beads is meant to represent "the desire to take in the Holy”.

Okay this is not a video review. This is just an investigative curiosity of my conscious mind. As I was watching the video, this reminds me of director dubbed as “Master of Darkness” Fritz Lang. And the video’s wardrobe of nun’s habits and other religious imagery could be viewed as references to the Catholic Church’s demonization of homosexuality. I grew up in a Roman Catholic country, raised and inspired by the church teachings and beliefs. In that note I found few scenes blasphemous to the catholic culture. But if you would think on the aesthetic and artistic side of the video, you will understand why those scenes are put on it. “Alejandro” is controversial and polarizing–no Gaga video would be complete without a little shock value–but by Gaga standards, this video is actually almost downright tame, and this time, she isn’t dancing with cans of Miracle Whip or disco sticks or hats fashioned out of princess phones. This time, there seems to be a message behind Gaga’s madness.

I don’t believe Gaga is acting with any malice in this video, she was brought up Catholic too, I believe, and this work certainly does not offend me at all. I think Gaga is a true star, imaginative and exciting and it’s good to have her around.

As of this moment, I haven’t heard anything from any official of The Vatican or Catholic/Religious organization regarding to this video. Maybe the response of the people will not as loud as Madonna got on her time when she did the video, Like a Prayer and Vogue. We are in the 21st century, where technology revolves our daily lives. I just don’t know if the video will be aired completely in music channels and or in MTV, where wide-ranged of audience are watching. Maybe there are scenes that will be cut, but I am sure that this will be shown globally, and hello, there is a thing called “youtube” today.

Lastly, this video is no different with her previous videos, Bad Romance and Telephone where so many illuminati interpretation are widespread. Let us not treat this video as a threat to our society, culture or beliefs. Lady Gaga is not a saint, she is an ARTIST. If you don’t like the video, don’t watch it. Remember that prejudice is a disease.