The Power Of Facebook

When Emotions Come In...

While reading some random posts by some  friends at Facebook, I came across the article posted below and it was steaming hot with comments. I can't help but see what the fuzz was all about. After reading the main article and hundreds of comments/replies, I can say that Sen. Gordon was prosecuted and judged as guilty without defense. The main argument in the article may be true since most politicians need exposure and to malign and judge one's person caused by emotional outburst is understandably a part of it. Sometimes circumstances change the flow originally planed. As in this case, The Senator did not reach the said barangay because he was in another barangay distributing, sad to say.
The problem came because of the political word called "protocol", even if not sanctioned by the political person subject of the issue (assuming). Following protocol is a sign of respect to authority. It is a way to please one person rather than follow the immediate clamor. I think part of the blame is on the Staff of Senator Gordon and the Barangay Officials, they like to be patted on the back like a nice cute little doggy. At the end of the day, the political figure they are representing got all the blame. And so it happened.
On another story, there are hundreds of claims that Barangay officials are actually gaining from the reliefs. Using their authority, they are personally setting aside goods more than what they needed. This caused some organizations to make ways to distribute the relief goods directly to the people.

The video clip shown by GMA news gave me an impression that people in the affected areas are really dying of hunger. The video clip was magnificently edited in slow motion to show that even elderly and pregnant women fought their way into the large crowd just to get a kilo of rice and some cans of sardines. We KNOW for a fact that media companies, in order to get much attention should focus on the emotional aspect of the report, and so they did focus on slow motion one elderly woman who fought her way against a thick and hungry crowd just to get her one plastic bag of relief goods. I was emotionally touched. It was like watching a video clip from the hungry countries of Africa.
Now here comes the politicians. They are going to relief areas and  evacuation centers. I appreciate them trying to give help but I do not appreciate them bringing their own media team to document the giving of reliefs. They are a bunch of plastics walking around. The real heroes in this disaster are the common Filipino people, those who volunteer, those who give their share in any manner with all their heart without expecting something in return.
Going back to the article written below, I agree that the Philippine political system remains the same. However, with the help of new technologies like Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc the people can help regulate the old political practices. Modern advances in technology can help the common Filipino to moderate the political system and finally, the new generation of voters are now more exposed, more aware, and are thinking. The new generation of voters are "rebellious". They are clamoring for change in the corrupt system and they can vote candidates at will. We saw this effect during the 2007 National elections. Politicians beware: the new generation of voters are THINKING!
On the other side of the story, it's too bad that this negative issue was focused on Senator Gordon. I'll give the good man a break in this one because as compared to most of the senators, at least he was doing something relevant. He was supervising his National Red Cross, going around helping and giving relief goods. To the other Senators, I assure you, even with your millions, you will have a hard time winning in the next elections.
Anyway, read the story below and with the arguments above, give your own opinion.

-Adobo

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From Martin Cervantes's Notes

BECAUSE OF THE COMMENTS I'M GETTING THAT WHAT TRANSPIRED is a FIGMENT OF MY IMAGINATION, i dare anyone to tell that to my FACE personally and I have A WHOLE GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT CAN VERIFY THE DETAILS OF THIS STORY.

To think the deluge of volunteerism support and the “Bayanihan” spirit of the Filipino has somewhat made me believe that this country is indeed worth figthing for, someone destroys it for me. Here’s my story.... On September 30, 2009, our company decided to volunteer with various efforts around the Metro as a genuine act of helping out those who have been ravaged by Typhoon Ondoy. I was placed under the group to support the mission of the Philippine Red Cross in Quezon City. Call time was at 8 am sharp and we got to the Evacuation center by Novaliches at around 10 am. As we were briefed what to do, we also initiated a system to keep things in order because of the number of people. At around 10:45 we were ready and so was everyone else because they’ve been there since the early part of the morning but we were informed by one of the PRC staff on site, we couldn’t give out the goods yet because “protocol” dictates that the PRC chair....Mr. Dick Gordon was going to visit and deliver some sort of speech or at least hand out the goods. We were infomed by a certain Ms. Torres that this was how it goes...we reasoned out with her that the people were lined up already and OBVIOUSLY hungry waiting for so many hours as it was. We also asked if the goods were from MR. GORDON and we were told it was donations to the Red Cross. So we kinda hinted ….we can give it then! But wait we did, by around noon, no word from the DICK and people were getting rowdy saying “Ibigay nyo na! (Give it already!) The number of people was increasing and we knew the goods provided to us would be gone in an instant. It was only a small container van of Air 21 that housed the goods and I’d approximate there were at least a 1,000 people on site.

At this point, my fellow colleagues were exasperated at what was going on. WE COULD STAY THERE the whole day to help out and make sure the people there would at least be spared from any further hurt (if losing a house wasn’t hurtful enough) by doing something significant, instead we were made to wait doing nothing just because someone wanted to use the program for his political gain. I mean, the bag only contained rice, canned goods and noodles…would it be so DIFFICULT to give this away already??!!! We were wearing our company shirts…so it looked like WE WERE THE ONES DELAYING the damn operation.

The Barangay Captain got a hold of the mic and told the people “Maswerte tayo na tayo ang pinuntahang Barangay, hinihintay lang natin ang mga panauhin natin, kaya’t wag kayong mag tampo” (We’re lucky to be the Barangay that will be visited, we’re just waiting for our guests, so don’t fret).
At almost 2 pm, I don’t know what happened but the Brgy. Captain suddenly asked all Senior citizens and pregnant women to make a new line (from the original lines) and then he started to instruct us to give out the goods…and that’s when all hell broke loose. Obviously the people in the original line weren’t too happy with the situation…even if…the idea was noble.
In the end, the stubs to claim the relief goods were more than the relief goods themselves…and I could see a lot of upset people at what had just happened….oh and the clincher of it all…..DICK MOTHER(*@#$!%^) GORDON DID NOT SHOW UP. He wanted this obviously to be a POLITICAL event for him and then decided that maybe it wasn’t worth showing up for after all.
I can’t believe that a time like this when ORDINARY people are coming together, POLITICIANS REMAIN THE SAME…AND I can only PRAY MR. GORDON that you be granted some sort of WISDOM (OR BALLS) to DECIDE WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO DO. Don’t go on making PROTOCOLS that are STUPID AND INANE especially in times like this….people have lost their loved ones, their houses, basically everything they have and you still have the GALL to use this to YOUR Advantage.
Believe me, if you ever run for office, I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR YOU and I hope everyone who sees this blog does the same thing. It’s funny a week ago on ANC you told viewers that the reason why we’re in a rut is because our government does not have a CLEAR SYSTEM….so please EXPOUND to me how your PROTOCOL of overseeing the distribution of relief goods was more of SYSTEM rather than a POLITICAL STUNT.
DICK. I honestly believe your name suits you quite well.

Author: Martin Cervantes's  Notes
Source: Facebook, Multiple Posts and thousands of comments.

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