My response to the news article "Hong Kong stages march for Justice"

Sad. What's happening right now is really sad.

Sad for the country; sad for the Filipinos. The Hong Kong nationals are also sad: they lost eight of their people in a truly bizarre way.

Anger is expected. It’s part of the grieving process. The Hong Kong indignation is expected especially that the death is totally senseless to them. It does not make any sense that tourists are killed in the very same tourist bus that was supposed to give them fun and comfort. The tourist bus gave them the ultimate discomfort. We can only imagine what nightmare they went through. And for eight of them, their very own coffin.


The Filipinos are angry because we feel generalized as a nation. But that’s expected. The killings happened in the country, perpetrated by a Filipino. The dead are foreigners. Nations will always provide sanctuary to their citizens. That’s why we belong to a country.

I’m not defending the government from the backlash. The government has to be brave and face the consequences of its lousy actions. The government has to show its character and backbone. It’s the call of the times.

We cannot reduce the depth and width of the problem by minimizing it to some petty racial quarrel. Enough of the pettiness.

This issue has been brought to the international arena.

This is the ballgame now. What do we do to redeem our country?

How will the government respond to the Hong Kong backlash at hand?

Now is the time for self-reflection and self-analysis, not the strong traits of Filipinos I tell you. Now is the time to search our souls as a people.