“Minor minor” photo shoots after a “major major” hostage-taking

JUST ALMOST 24 HOURS prior to the moment that Venus Raj, Miss Philippines-Universe who emerged as Miss Universe 4th runner-up, answered in front of the raucous crowd in Las Vegas last August 24 with the statement, “I can say that there's nothing major major problem that I've done in my life and so and so,” an ex-policeman armed with an M16 rifle boarded a public bus and held 25 people hostage in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, leading to a “major major” loss of lives.

Newspapers reported that Rolando Mendoza, 55, was among five officers who had been filed with theft, extortion and grave threats last year, causing his service termination. The dismissed policeman in a way demanded for his reinstatement by apprehending the busload of 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos; thus leading to a torment, which ended in bloodsheds seen on live television.


The police sorting the bus executed the gunman after the latter fired at the tourists, exterminating eight of them—all were Chinese. Critics of the operation by the Philippine police said they had some apparent deficiencies in handling the hostage situation. The media, conversely, satirized this event as the “longest rescue operation” due to its 79-minute-long occurrence.

That, as reported by AP, led Mr. Yang Jiechi, Chinese Foreign Minister, to say that his government was “appalled.” Jiechi telephoned Mr. Alberto Romulo, his Philippine counterpart, to voice concerns regarding the incident, in which Hong Kong media outlets have deplored the Philippine police as ineffectual. "The Chinese government demands the Philippine government launch a thorough investigation into the incident and inform the Chinese side of related details as soon as possible," Yang posted, according to the said press.

According to the same report, the Philippine police defended their action but promised to review all events leading to the deaths. Conversely, President Benigno Aquino III, Philippine president, said the occurrence showed the need for supplementary police training and superior equipment.

Meanwhile, Chinese citizens and netizens also voiced their rage against the Filipinos. As reported on ABS-CBN, which is a Filipino TV station, a Filipino student in Hong Kong was pestered by his Chinese classmates as a “killer.” Netizens, on the other hand, got offended by photo shoots of Philippine policemen taken in front of the bus where the incident ensued. "It is a loss of humanity when I see the smile on the face of the Philippine police when they take photo," said one as published on Peopledaily.com. Others said, "Just leave the hijacked bus there. Maybe it can become a scenic spot symbolizing the Philippines' humiliation."

The policemen in the photo—with Mendoza and eight others who are not shown in the photo—may be reckoned as “major major” characters in the hostage-taking drama (IMAGE CREDIT: Peopledaily.com). This next photo, conversely, could delineate the definition of “minor minor” characters…

(…doing some “minor minor” photo shoots after a “major major” loss!)
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(IMAGE CREDIT: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20014391-504083.html, first photo)