Thursday, August 26, 2010

Time to Mourn

I, BENIGNO S. AQUINO III, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby proclaim August 25, 2010 as a day of national mourning, in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong and the bereaved families of the slain.
A time to mourn, ok, great. But my complaint here is why do we declare a national day of mourning and lower all our flags now, when 8 Hong Kong people die, but do nothing for all the other times a bunch of Filipinos die?
  • 5 soldiers killed by rebels in Agusan del Sur the same day (link)
  • 9 police officers killed by the NPA in Samar on Monday (link)
  • 39 passengers killed in a Benguet bus crash last week (link)
Their deaths may not have been broadcast on live TV in prime time, but that doesn't diminish the significance of the loss of life.

Are they any less deserving of our sympathy? Or are Filipino lives simply not worth as much to the government of the Philippines?

1 comment:

  1. Agree. Lowering the flag at half-mast is done for citizens who died fighting for the country's cause. Example is a when Canadian soldier die in battle, Canadian federal institutions lower the flags in respect. But not when a Canadian died in an accident or murdered somewhere away from home. Did China or the Hongkong government flew their flags half-mast after the incident? Maybe not, but the Philippines did. What an idiotic leadership there is in Manila.

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