Tag: City

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A letter to those who ridiculed Davao after the bombing.

Dear my fellow Filipinos,

Being Filipino knows no political color, it knows no boundary, it shouldn’t hold any grudge or propagates preconceived prejudicial thoughts; more so if our fellow Filipino were caught between a catastrophic and not to say demonic act such as bombing. The bombing, I can understand but the ideology and the rancid thinking of some of our countrymen are more destructive and injurious than the bomb that exploded in Davao last Friday.

When our countrymen die, he or she carries with him a piece of our nation, and a piece of you. A part of aspiration and history are rubbed from us forever. We lose a kin, a member of our big family, who like us, hopes and dreams for a unified and peaceful nation.

How can we laugh at them? How can we judge them instead of giving our purest sympathy to the living and our prayers to the dead? No true Filipino will be jubilant while seeing his or her countrymen being bodily dismembered because of the sadistic bomb.

It is not only that the bomb separated the living and the dead in Davao but horribly it divided us into many pieces. There are some who speculates that the incident was staged, there are some who believe that there is a big plan to overtake the government and there are funny conspiracy saying that it was the government who planned the bombing.

I too, don’t know the truth. Finding the truth should only be secondary, and caring should be the priority. The truth will always come out and soon to unveil itself. But the suffering and the abused deserve a n immediate attention.

My dear countrymen, we survived super typhoons and many deadly catastrophe in history, we made it because we placed our faith into our neighbours, friends and even enemies. During these difficult times, we should try to open our hearts, adopt a positive and constructive thinking and extend our arms to those who need us.

When Paris was bombed, we immediately posted “PrayforParis” but when our country was terrorized we chose to swallow our condolences.

Maybe this is now the new characteristic of being a FILIPINO. Seeing and experiencing kindness and compassion are as fugacious as the snitch in Quidditch and genuine Filipino now is evanescent like the shooting star in our dark and vast skies.

-Mutya

 

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Mr. President, we will defend Iloilo City, the Batchoy and Biscocho.

Dear Mr. President,

First of all, I deeply admire your staunch campaign against illegal drugs in our country. You are the first president who engaged exhaustively in this fight.

We are one in ensuring that this country will become a safer place for everyone. However, what you have said earlier, declaring in national media, that Iloilo City is the most “shabolized” city in the whole country is unacceptable for me—an Ilonggo who takes pride from our culture and tradition in Iloilo.

Labeling Iloilo City as the most “shabolized” sends a cornucopia of messages that can be interpreted and can be twisted by malicious minds. Let’s be clear here, I am not defending the alleged drug personalities and coddlers in Iloilo City.

I am defending the innocent, hardworking, the law abiding Ilonggos and even your voters who enjoy the gift of liberty and democracy in the City of Love, whom you now tainted with drugs. You placed us in a position of discrimination and bias. We don’t deserve this. You can’t associate our totality with the single acts of the few.

Mr. President, you are a champion of MALASAKIT, I now refused to believe that. Those words came out from your mouth without regards and compassion.

Spoken words are like spent arrows, you can’t take it back. You annihilated the very essence of being an Ilonggo; you robbed us from our identity and peace. You inspired divisions and not unity. How can we heal this country?

In Iloilo, we enjoy the love of the people. Our city is not considered as the most livable in the country for no reason.

Our Batchoy expresses love and compassion; we will protect it from any person, including you. Our Batchoy does not have drugs.

Our Biscocho possesses the passion that we have. We will protect it from anyone who will tarnish our identity. Our Biscocho is not made by drug addicts and pushers.

Our river is very clean; in fact it is considered as one of the cleanest river within the city in the whole world. We will protect this from anyone who will throw anything in our peaceful waters.

Most importantly, our people.

We are loving, we don’t get angry easily, we welcome anyone in our city. Our voice can solve problems. We are not drug pushers. We are not drug addicts.

Here in Iloilo, we value the the family, peace and love.

Typhoon Yolanda made us stronger. We never knelled for anyone except to Senoya Candelaria and  Senyor Sto. Nino. We value religion and morality, that’s why we are living in peace and harmony.

We don’t need to kill a person just to show that we are strong. We even forgive our enemies.

You said that we need to let go of our past grudges, and together, let’s move forward. How can you do this if every day, you are inflicting pain to the morals of the Filipino people? As President, your words are very influential; it can both destroy and create a nation.  As President, you need to be conscientious of the words you say. We are listening to you. We care for you.

Mr. President, congratulations you just have killed all the Ilonggos in Iloilo. I will not ask you to issue an apology. What you have done is UNFILIPINO.

Now, I’m hoping that you are happy.

#Mutya

 

Photo from: GMA Network