A take on the Ayala Rallies

Anyone who takes their news about the Philippines only through CNN, BBC, GMA7, ABS-CBN, www.inq7.net, and www.philstar.com would think that the Philippines is in the midst of turbulent times, that danger and uncertainty is in the air and that there is far more dramatic events that there actually is.

My current work is located in the 22^nd floor of the PSE Tower 1 Building. This is the tall building fronting Ayala Avenue that has an array of spherical stones lining up the pond-like atrium.

Now, this is the only tall building in the middle of the so-called Makati Triangle, the area encompassed by Ayala Avenue, Makati Avenue and Paseo de Roxas. This is the main area that the demonstrators held their rallies.

During that time, we had an American guest who flew into town to train us on some work-related software. There were constant breaks during the training sessions so we could gawk at the growing crowd of people gathering in the streets. Our guest, who was quartered in a nearby hotel, was understandably afraid and, he asked some of our colleagues to accompany him on the short walk to his hotel “in case something happens” because he had to pass through the rally crowd. It was understandable as there was even a “No to US Intervention!” banner flying just below our window.

After two or three days of the non-stop demonstrations, this is what he had to say:

“It was nothing to be afraid of; it was not a board-your-door-and-windows kind of thing. I’ve seen people demonstrate for worse reasons. English hooligans smash store windows and burn cars whether their team loses OR wins. Riots that leave a lot of people dead or injured is not rare after professional sports events in the United States. Compared to the environmentalists in the United States who throw blood on anyone wearing fur, these rallies are pretty decent… I actually wished I had a picture taken of me in the crowd waving…”

Anyway, I was relating this story to our project manager when he quipped that this American guys’ project manager was supposed to fly to Manila for a meeting but instead detoured to Hong Kong (and invited the Manila team to meet him there) because “of the situation in the Philippines”.

Another colleague involved in the conversation exasperatingly remarked, “Asus. Masyadong nanonood ng CNN at BBC yang taong yan.”