Dear Chinese people,
I deeply mourn in solidarity with you great people of Hongkong for the untimely passing of your vacationing compatriots here in my homeland Philippines at the hands of my fellow but desperate countryman. Please accept my apologies to all of you great Chinese people and my heartfelt condolence to all the grieving families of hostage victims.
No matter how lovely my country is if our leaders are mostly corrupt & abusers of authority then peace & visitors’ safety will always become irrelevant. It is for this reason I am speaking out to you dear Chinese friends because I want you and the whole world to look beyond the unacceptable action of SENIOR INSPECTOR MENDOZA of taking hostages, to go beyond the unreasonableness of bungling hostage negotiations, to dig beyond the issue of competence of our police force, to speak beyond the manufacturing date of our police equipment and to debate beyond the necessity of news blackout because that mayhem was definitely not an isolated case but just a byproduct of a deeply-rooted rottenness in the system of justice & governance in the armed service of the Philippines which to me if remain untended will continue to take a toll on the lives of innocent individuals including unsuspecting foreign visitors. PROFESSIONALIZING & MODERNIZING THE THINKING & MINDSETTING OF OUR POLICE, MILITARY & POLITICAL LEADERS ARE WHAT THIS BELOVED PHILIPPINES OF MINE TRULY NEED!
CPT MENDOZA’s demand that justice be given to him thru reinstatement in the police force was very simple and no-brainer except of course if he was really planning to take his life and other people’s lives regardless of the outcome of the negotiation. To be actually honest with you, CPT MENDOZA doesn’t really need to resort to such forcible demand because it is an innate duty & obligation of the State, the Police leadership and its internal justice system to see to it that the truest meaning of justice is accorded to everybody including him without bias, favoritism or discrimination. But what can a retiring Police Officer do when people at top-level positions are manhid, selfish & worst insensitive to the plight of their subordinates? Of course I am not saying that CPT MENDOZA’s desperate course of action was right, proper or justified because it can never be. My point is that why in heavens name our police and legal authorities have to wait for a murderous rampage to happen before they will decisively act on their mandate with great dispatch without undermining the rule-of-law? Why CPT MENDOZA’s request for review of his case was not acted by the Ombudsman for almost two years? But when CPT MENDOZA started threatening the lives of innocent tourist peers the same Ombudsman suddenly promises to resolve his case within ten (10) days. If it can be actually be done in ten days time then why didn’t they do it for the last two years? This tragic incident could have been prevented I believe if our justice system is really working. This national shame we got could have been prevented if arrogance of authority, pride, insensitivity of our top-level leaders & extreme slowness of justice are not systemically permeated in our armed service in particular and in our society in general.
Why am I emphasizing arrogance of authority? It is because this trait is so widespread in our government and to me this is also the fountainhead of injustice that can somehow trigger insanity to the aggrieved innocent ones. Just take a look at the forcible arrest of CPT MENDOZA’s brother (SPO2 MENDOZA) that presumably triggered CPT MENDOZA to go berserk. If indeed SPO2 MENDOZA is an accessory to the ongoing crime then nobody prevented our police authorities to file necessary charges against him BUT ONLY AFTER THE HOSTAGES ARE ALL FREED & SAFELY RELEASED. But since SPO2 MENDOZA is just a powerless low-ranking policeman, he was automatically & irresponsibly manhandled in front of live TV cameras just so they (police authorities) can show to the world that they are kings or gods to be unquestionably followed by anybody in that suspenseful hostage drama. If it happened that SPO2 MENDOZA is a police general by rank then I am sure he will never be manhandled that way no matter how serious the alleged commission of crime was floated on. Did you ever see such ill-treatment being effected to our famous “EURO-GENERALS” who were caught bringing millions of pesos of extra cold cash abroad, to our one army comptroller general who was accused of amassing millions of pesos of people’s money, to our defiant navy admiral who openly violated military articles of war and to our famous clan members of Ampatuan who were accused of masterminding the so-called Maguindanao massacre? Definitely not! Can you see the glaring difference of treatment and discrimination? Isn’t it abuse or arrogance of authority? Now look at what happened after that show of force and their display of authoritarian arrogance? It resulted to unnecessary killings of your very own innocent vacationing compatriots thus I am ashamed. I am very very ashamed!
MEDIA TO BLAME?
If our police authorities can just accuse SPO2 MENDOZA or anybody else at the height of negotiations of being an accessory to the ongoing crime and brutishly arrested him right away then why not include the media of being accessory too for feeding live footages to the already agitated hostage-taker that presumably prompted him to run amuck? Why did they not manhandle media personalities (particularly those who have direct communication to CPT MENDOZA) the way they coercively treated SPO2 MENDOZA & his families for jeopardizing police operations/negotiations? The answer is plain logic. Media can definitely put up a formidable fight that’s why only helpless & powerless individuals are casually subjected to such cruelty. If you don’t mind dear Hongkong & mainland Chinese friends, the pattern of abuse committed by our police authorities can be gleaned from the annals of our recent past. One of which was the suicide incident of the wife of our celebrity broadcaster wherein their powerless house-helpers were rudely rounded up and forcibly arrested outright after allegation of crime cover-up was floated against them by the police themselves. What possibly was their motive? My closest answer is maybe because said celebrity broadcaster is known to be police critique & straight forward against police excesses. In other words, the picture of abuse and arrogance of authority against vulnerable individuals is actually embedded in the cross-sectional psyche of police, military & political authorities that is why media is not to be blamed for the resultant world-wide outrage & for the humiliating effect generated by that botched rescue operations of foreign hostages. IT WAS POLICE ARROGANCE AND BRUTE FORCE MENTALITY THAT BROUGHT THE HOUSE DOWN. We should always put in mind that news is news and media’s role is just to tell the truth of the unfolding news no matter how painful that truth is to all concerned. There is no better truth than the news delivered on time, raw, clear, unedited, unscripted and live as it unfolds before the eyes of shocked viewers. The only problem is that most of our top-level enforcers & political leaders are so ensconced with oppressive power, arrogance of rank or position, pride and perfumed performance projection that is why our leaders who are primarily responsible for the poor performance of our police operatives due to ill-equipage & “for compliance” training cannot afford to have these operational blunders & “resultant” incompetence plastered in the blood of your fallen countrymen.
ISOLATED CASE?
I can thoroughly speak with relative ease that this hostage-taking incident is absolutely not an isolated case because CPT MENDOZA’s frustration turned-violent-breakdown over institutionalized injustice is commonly shared & similarly felt by thousands of voiceless but long been disgruntled members of our armed service including members of the internally displaced & discriminated ranks of non-PMAERS (non Philippine Military Academy graduates). His desperation is just one among thousands of yet to implode exasperation in the armed rank and file.
Truth of this institutionalized injustice & bureaucratic abuse of power is my very own present ordeal. Imagine I am being punished by a supposed court-of-law (PAF Court-Martial) in a supposed democratic nation FOR TWO YEARS OF CRIMINAL IMPRISONMENT including forfeiture of claims and benefits due to the unproven administrative charges! Isn’t it injustice & bastardization of law when the supposed administrative case is being meted out with a criminal punishment? Isn’t it bureaucratic injustice & bastardization of rule-of-law when the court itself trying my administrative case would maliciously hand down a guilty verdict against me even if I have not presented my defense yet? Isn’t it institutionalized injustice & extreme bastardization of my country’s justice system when members of Court-Martial jury and prosecutors namely LTCOL GERRY PULOHANAN (Chief Law Member Judge), MAJOR (Atty) ROPER JOHN ESTEPA & CPT (Atty) JEFFERSON MIRALLES openly participated in the illegal confiscation of my personal belongings including documents primarily needed in my defense so I cannot present a worthy defense? Isn’t it abuse of authority and injustice when up to this point in time the Court-Martial refused to return all of my personal belongings they have confiscated illegally? Worst, COL ANDRES LARGO in collusion with LTCOL GERRY PULOHANAN refused to exercise their judicial authority to ensure that my BASIC constitutional & humanitarian rights are observed and respected for reason that their function as a quasi-judicial body focuses only on the trial itself and not on matters that concerns the respondent’s basic rights. Isn’t it injustice and bastardization of universal law of humanity when I am put in a solitary confinement without the benefit of sunning for over a year already? Isn’t it injustice and extreme bastardization of my civil & human rights that after serving the unlawful & unconstitutional jail term this coming Oct 18, 2010, I will already be treated by the state as an ex-criminal convict (ex-convict) just because of an (unproven) administrative misdemeanors. Thus, I am stripped of my opportunity to exercise my right to suffrage, to international travel and to productive/gainful employment both local and overseas?
Isn’t it injustice and arrogance of rank when BGEN RICARDO BANAYAT & COL JOSELITO DIOSAY per directive of the PAF Commanding General LTGEN OSCAR RABENA AFP forced my wife to sleep over pieces of newspapers in a grassy lot enclosure of PAF Detention facility right in front of my detention cell? Isn’t it injustice also when these same Patriotic PAF Officers forcibly separated my two kids from their mother so we as a family cannot celebrate the traditional Christmas eve “noche buena” last Dec 24, 2009 because conjugal visitation stay is not allowed? Isn’t it humiliating on the part of my mother that despite of her advanced age (70+ years of age) she was forced to undress for body inspection before she was allowed to see her detained son? Frisking my mother is just alright but forcing her to undress is too much and degrading for an old woman. Isn’t it bureaucratic injustice when PAF operatives headed by shameless MAJ JESSIE BANASTAO & ATTY JEFFERSON MIRALLES raided the house of my cousin hundreds of kilometers away from my detention cell without the benefit of search and seizure warrant last June 28, 2009? My other cousin (the sister of the raided house owner) who is now working in your beautiful country Hongkong can attest to this illegal raid because she was present at that time.
Many Philippine government propagandists will be fuming mad white and blue by this revelation of mine and as usual they will immediately & assertively dismiss my grievances of injustice together with that of CPT MENDOZA as plain noise, hogwash & irresponsible. They will never admit that my assertion of disappointments or hopelessness is pervasively widespread in the police & military ranks. Well, I would advise you to just believe them unless you’ve heard of or are aware of the NAIA Control Tower siege, the Ducat hostage-taking incident or better yet the famous Oakwood takeover incident. But whatever counter-claims our corrupt leaders will say, I would still ask you if you will all feel safe & secure running around our lovely beaches, historical sites or even just in the comfort of your hotel rooms when at the back of your mind you knew that any time you too might become a victim of another rampage perpetrated by similarly or worstly frustrated military or police personnel? Obviously you will not be! But please don’t get me wrong because I am not discouraging you to come to Philippines.
Just to be honest with you dear Hongkongers & mainland Chinese friends, we Filipinos are naturally jolly and peace-loving people. In fact, we will be glad to see you visiting us more often and stayed with us longer, longer than what your budget can afford to. But how can I assure you of your safety when we as a nation are still “politically” in crises? We are still in need of urgent house cleaning. We are still in the process of re-calibrating the thinking of our political leaders and generals towards selflessness public service. We have not attained yet the level of democratic maturity about public service that it should not be defined according to the symbol of peso or dollar but by the presence of LOVE OF COUNTRY, compassion & respect to all human beings. We are still in the process of awakening our people about the value of collective patriotism and NATIONALISM against tyranny and despotism. We have yet to unite ourselves from Tawitawi up to Batanes as ONE NATION, ONE PEOPLE, ONE IDENTITY and ONE DIGNIFIED ASIAN RACE.
Yes it is true that finally after nine (9) long years of corruption and misgovernance, we now have a widely & truly voted President. But what can our beloved President do when 90 million of us Filipinos are mostly “disengaged” or politically displaced yet? What can our President do right when he is actually treading between the path of POLITICAL SELF-DESTRUCTION and the path of PAMPERING MANY CORRUPT SENIOR MILITARY & POLICE OFFICERS? I doubt if my beloved President is still unaware of my exposes of rampant PAF irregularities and INJUSTICE complaints when all of my grievances are now circulated in the internet particularly at Youtube, Facebook & personal video blogs/website. But I hear nothing yet (in terms of reform measures) maybe because he cannot antagonize the Corps of mostly corrupt Senior Officers so as to avoid military uprising. With due respect to our President, he has been defied openly by a griping Admiral for losing his political position but the concrete action ever done by the Commander-in-Chief is to conduct investigation if the Admiral’s defiance constitutes any violations to military articles of war. If such defiance was only committed by an ordinary foot soldier or policeman then that particular soldier is already locked-up in a cramped stockade before the sun sets. So in relation it comes not a surprise when instead of IMMEDIATELY firing Senior Police Officials responsible for the humiliating carnage at Quirino Grandstand, our President was instead advised to offer excuses like lack of equipment, poor police training and worst media intervention for the said rescue failure. In other words, white wash is more likely to happen. My questions therefore are: Why do police operatives ill-equipped? Why were they trained poorly in the first place? And why did it come to a point where CPT MENDOZA had to resort to such unacceptable course of action? What’s wrong with us Filipinos? Well I think it is the Euro-Generals & our Justice System who are in the best position to answer all these insignificant questions.
So instead of feeling sorrowful for the lives of your fallen countrymen, be proud dear Chinese people. You should all be very very proud because the lives of your fallen loved ones were not wasted actually. To me, THEY ARE ACCIDENTAL MARTYRS for they have offered their precious lives in the service of my country by enlightening our police, military & political leaders that too much greediness, selfishness, neglect of the welfare of ordinary men-in-uniform and brazen injustice are also diplomatic baggages. You should always bear in mind that if not because of their supreme sacrifice, 90 million of us Filipinos would have been daydreaming up to this point in time that we have reliable, professional and effective armed organizations. If not because of their gift of supreme sacrifice that shocked the whole world, we Filipinos could not have been awakened of the fact that choosing political leaders (particularly at national levels) on the aspect of who can best sing or dance or on who can give away the “crispiest” peso bills is actually political stupidity and immaturity.
With this in mind, I therefore ask you dear Chinese friends to spare my “kababayans” working in your homes and offices from the wrath of your anger and outrage because they are innocent and also victims of economic injustice back home. They are in your home country so they can earn enough to feed many hungry mouths left in my beloved Philippines. I have or we have no one to blame for the said “avoidable” killing incident but our many corrupt leaders who only think of themselves, the color of money and the gratification attached in their respective positions and ranks. No wonder we remain a sick country in the world for quite some time already.
Again, you should all be proud of yourselves because you have produced Modern Asian Martyrs for the good of my sick but beloved country-The Philippines.
MARAMING SALAMAT AT TAOS PUSONG PAKIKIRAMAY.
MABUHAY!
Gumagalang,
CPT JOENEL S POGOY PAF
Note:
1.) You may print or publish and share this letter to all Chinese people, your friends around the world so that in short period of time you and the rest of the world can again stroll around the Philippines safe, secure and happy.
2.) Please visit my VIDEO BLOG for more Philippine Air Force exposes: www.freecaptainpogoymovement.blogspot.com and www.captainpogoy.com
3.) You may add me up also in FACEBOOK (joenel pogoy)
4.) You may watch & share my videos also at YOUTUBE: “captain pogoy”
You may contact us at:
