WOW (wowee?)

“Wow”: interj. - Used to express wonder, amazement, or great pleasure; noun – An outstanding success.

February 4, 2006. It’s another monumental day for the Filipino people. At about 6am today, about 70 people DIED in a stampede at the Ultra, brought about by more or less 30,000 people who were lining up for a certain TV station’s most popular noontime show, WOWOWEE. I mean.. WOW! I am at an utter loss for words. Usually, I remain silent and passive about issues like this, but this time, I have to let it out. It’s simply absurd, utterly ridiculous! Yes, THOUSANDS of people lined up for the 1st year anniversary of WOWOWEE, some were there since 3 days ago, a lot came from the provinces, packed up their banig’s, orocan’s, hard-boiled eggs, instant noodles, and what-have-you’s. Hey, they even packed up their little sons and daughters, even their lolo’s and lola’s, the whole family, the whole community. Heck, what’s a few missed days of school right? Mga anak! Anniversary na ng WOWOWEE! We can’t miss this kids! Ika nga ni Regine: “Tara na, biyahe tayo, ganyan.. ang Pilipino!” I couldn’t agree with you more, Miss Asia’s Songbird. Ganyan ang Pilipino.

Thousands lined up because they wanted to be picked to participate in the show, where a selected few could win cash prizes ranging from a thousand to a million pesos. When the gates opened, 30,000 free-money-hungry people flocked in. Thus, people at the back, also hungry for a shot at easy money, did what was naturally expected of them: they pushed. And pushed. And pushed even more. Literally thousands of people were trying to get through a bottle-neck which led into the WOWOWEE studio. Women fainted, pandemonium broke out, people tripped and fell. Soon, people were stepping on other people. Oh gosh! Fancy that, I stepped on someone’s arm. No wonder it felt soft. Nothing the matter.. I HAVE to get picked by Willie! Willie! Anak, lolo, lola, tulak din kayo! Sige! Push on! Tuloy! Laban! Parang si Pac-man! And after a few moments.. ~70 people died in a full-blown stampede.

Hah! Imagine that? I was seriously torn between laughing and crying. Heartless bastard you say? Not nearly as heartless as the people behind this stupid tragedy. Bottomline: they should have expected something like this and they should have taken the necessary precautionary measures (eg. pre-screening the audience, setting up lines, getting the police involved, use your imagination! Hmm? On 2nd thought, sana naghanda na lang agad sila ng mga kabaong para dun sa mga mamamatay, pwede din noh? Stampede prophylaxis kumbaga?). They say they gave people hope through the show. Hope! Hope for what? Hope that makes them strive harder? Hope that makes them work more diligently with whatever they have? Hope that makes them better people? Nope. Hope for money they didn’t have to work for. Easy. Let’s join WOWOWEE! I see it everyday on TV, I could do that! Hence, “hopeful” people flocking in immense numbers. Hence, the stampede. When I first heard about the incident, I was amused. I thought: Huh? Are there bulls in Manila? Pamplona sa Ultra? Stampede ba kamo?? Ah.. baka rally! And boy, was I wrong. It was a stampede courtesy of Willie Revillame’s WOWOWEE. Wow talaga. I mean.. WOW! Those same people they say they gave hope to, were reduced to animals: stepping on each other, literally killing each other just to get some money scraps handed down by a “generous” television network. They say WOWOWEE is for the people? Oh come on guys, lay off the act! You do it for the ratings, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. You’re giving back?? Bullshit, you’re just getting more. And adding more insult to injury, look at the people you’re doing it to: the poor, simple folk from the provinces, god-fearing families who believe that their luck will turn, any minute now, if God so wills it. Come to think of it, ~70 people’s lucks DID turn today.. they were given FREE coffins to be buried in. Gosh.. it don’t get much better than that huh?

Webster defines a stampede as: (1) a wild headlong rush or flight of frightened animals, (2) a mass movement of people at a common impulse. Hmm. So which one is it for our little stampede at the Ultra? Easy! I’d go with number one! I bet if we were there, we’d see nothing but a bunch of frightened animals: cattle, if you will. I can already imagine Willie Revillame in a cowboy outfit, on a horse, a toothpick between his teeth, herding his “cattle” (read: hoards of grateful adoring fans) into his stable of free money, his Our-luck-will-turn-soon Ranch, the poor people’s Mecca, where everybody gets a chance to win (read: die in a stampede) if God (read: TV station execs and owners, but ultimately: RATINGS) wills it. Don’t you guys feel so proud to be pinoy today?

On another note, and “in fairness”, the station feels really REALLY bad about what happened. I saw Willie Revillame crying in front of his fans and telling them the show wasn’t going to push through. Malamang. Imagine the sighs from the audience and some of them going: “Nakampucha naman o… tatlong araw na ako naghihintay dito e. Tuloy na lang natin Willie! TFC subscribers!” Hehe, sorry I just HAD to put that in for comic relief. Anyways, all the hosts and all the “ka-pamilya”’s wore black, to show that they were mourning. Nice. So sincere. They prayed for the souls of the departed every so often… before commercial breaks. They gave food and drinks to everybody at the site. They even gave “tsinelas” to those who didn’t have slippers (At least yung iba may nakuhang libre diba?). They showed cute, angelic children dressed in white (probably sons and daughters of celebrities or owners) with teary eyes and frowns on their faces… except for that one brat I caught smirking (who suddenly managed a frown when he noticed he was on camera). Wow. Talk about genuine. Melts my heart. The subsequent shows that the station aired gave updates about what happened: from the hospital (where ~400 more people were injured, some in surgery, some in critical condition), from Arlington memorial, and even live from the Ultra, where (surprisingly) people were still hanging around. Help stations were put up where people could voice their troubles live on TV, reporting missing relatives and such. Take this scene where Ogie Diaz interviews some people, live:

Ogie: Tay bakit po kayo nananawagan?
Bystander 1: Nais ko po manawagan kay Willie Revillame at sa WOWOWEE
Ogie: Bakit nga po?
Bystander 1: Kasi pumunta pa po ako dito galing probinsya. Kanina pa po ako naghihintay. Gusto ko po kasi sumikat at magkaroon ng maraming pera…

Oh and there’s more:

Ogie: Nay bakit po kayo nananawagan? Sino po ang nawawala?
Bystander 2: Kasi po iniwan kaming mag-ina ng asawa ko…
Ogie: Ah so nawawala po si mister? Sige nananawagan po kami sa mga nakakita sa mister ni…
Bystander 2: Ay, hindi po siya nawawala. Nilayasan po kami nun, 4 na taon na. Tsaka pag bumalik po yon, ipapakulong ko po siya sa pulis. Sinapak din ako nun sa mata e… kaya pumunta ako dito para makakuha ng pera para gamutin yung mata ko…
Ogie: Kelan po ba kayo sinuntok?
Bystander 2: Nung lumayas po siya (4 years ago)

Wow. Imagine… all this concern in the midst of death. Awesome. Just peachy. They also interviewed some poor pedro who lost his 54 year old mother. Suddenly, lo and behold, the “ka-pamilya” host goes something to this effect: “Bakit naman kasi sinama mo pa ang nanay mo eh matanda na yan? Dapat nagpapahinga na lang yang mga yan sa bahay…” Wow. Was he serious? Bakit ika mo?!? Dahil nagwagayway kayo ng pera sa harap ni lola, at ginusto niya sumali sa TV show nyo, para makakuha ng konting barya, para mai-ahon ang pamilya niya sa kahirapan. Is there anything about that that you don’t quite understand? Isn’t it clear enough for you, mister host? Now you have the balls to insinuate that it could possibly be their fault?

~70 people were killed, almost all were female, some were little children, most were middle-aged or elderly women. Some are still missing. Wala man lang kalaban-laban.

Good thing is, there’s a silver lining! Really?! For the people? Umm…not much. Okay okay, none at all. But for the TV station? They’re milking this event for all its worth! Coz really now, let’s be realistic.. What else spells more ratings than a stampede where a lot of people were killed and injured, and we show that we’re doing all that we can do to help them? Ka-ching ka-ching ka-ching! HEL-LO mister moneybags! Uh-huh. They’re even postponing the launching of PBB (Pinoy Big Brother) Celebrity Edition, to give way to a concert to be held later tonight for the benefit of the victims and their families. Brilliant! More return on investment! Makes me wonder if some network genius devised all of this just to boost ratings. Kudos to you mister network exec! Imagine? A stampede?! That’s a hard thing to pull off! Excellent work. Proudly pinoy! Could someone please check if we can get into The Guiness Book of World Records for this? In international news, they just said the stampede was caused by a lot of people wanting to get into a televison show. Hah! If they only knew. Good thing “we” didn’t mention the bit about the free money. Onli in di pilipins my prends…

“Wowowee sinong di mawiwili…” Sa pera? This very popular TV show theme song poses a very good question. Sino nga ba ang di mawiwili sa pera? Now we have ~70 caskets which answer just that. I seriously can’t think of a lower point in Filipino history. Thanks to our outstanding media (which also dictates our country’s politics by the way) and a noon-time television show gone bad, people literally DIED for a chance at some free pesos. Wow. What a way to go huh? So I guess the next question would be: Who’s to blame? Who do we point the finger to? To answer with another question: What for??? Unless someone can bring back the dead…it’s pretty much final already. Period. Rant concluded.

Too bad… I really wanted to watch PBB Celebrity Edition pa naman. Haay…just my luck.

P.S. Ending on a slightly better note, let’s pray for the souls of the departed… and the other souls (unfortunately still living) which badly need saving. Yes, you guys know who you are…