Restaurants and assassinations....

If you have been reading the newspapers lately, you would have no doubt heard about the assassination of former Pasig Congressman Henry Lanot while he was having lunch at Jade Palace, a Cantonese restaurant located along Shaw Boulevard in the Pasig area.

While crimes of this sort are always deplorable and certainly not to be taken lightly, I have noticed an unusually strange pattern...well, to me at least. Restaurants that I have been frequenting seem to be more often than not the site of political assassinations. And it hasn't happened once...not even twice, but three times in the past five years. I guess I'm a bit lucky, since I haven't been caught having a meal in one while a shooting was taking place. What is it with eating and assassinations anyway? I guess Filipinos tend to be less aware of their surroundings and tend to drop their defenses when they're satisfying their hunger.

What do you think? Probably just a coincidence? Well, I guess it can't be anything else.

The first time this happened was in February 6, 2001. Labor leader Filemon "Popoy" Lagman was shot in the face by two or three gunmen at the Bahay ng Alumni building at the University of the Philippines, in Diliman, Quezon City at around 5:30 in the afternoon. He was reportedly on his way to The Chocolate Kiss Cafe' in the Bahay ng Alumni, which he was known to frequent, when he was fired at by two or three gunmen using .45 caliber pistols. Needless to say, he didn't survive. He was subsequently hailed as a hero for the working class.

The Chocolate Kiss Cafe' is somewhat memorable to me, as I often took a girlfriend there to dinner in the latter part of 2000. As I recall, I often ordered either a lasagna or a Caesar salad, and capped it off with a slice of Devil's food cake. And of course, there's their unique bottomless iced tea, which for some reason is never sweet enough no matter how much syrup I pour in it. I still go there on occassion, though not as often anymore as I would like...probably due to the absence of a new lady friend to accompany me. :-)

Two years later, on January 26, 2003, Romulo Kintanar, former head of the New People's Army (NPA), was felled by assassins' bullets inside The New Kamameshi House restaurant, a Japanese restaurant situated at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. Witnesses said Kintanar and his three companions had just finished eating lunch at the New Kamameshi House restaurant at the Quezon City Circle when the two gunmen, posing as customers, approached their table at about 1:30 P.M., casually pulled out their firearms and opened fire. When he collapsed on the floor after sustaining bullet wounds, one of the suspects shot him again to make sure he was dead.

The New Kamameshi House restaurant was my first ever foray into eating Japanese food. At first it was only my older sister who was into it, and she managed to convince my parents, then me, to give it a try. I believe I just got into college at the time. After a while, I seem to have acquired a taste for it, and look forward to eating Japanese food whenever the opportunity presents itself. Since then I have gone there to eat a number of times, on occassion with my my now ex-wife while we were still married, and lately with my son who happens to like their pork barbecue and ebi tempura. I personally like their chicken rice which happens to be a meal in itself, and their sushi, which is quite fresh and tasty.

We fast forward two more years. An hour and a half past noon on April 13, 2005, Wednesday last week actually, Henry Lanot was having lunch inside the Jade Palace restaurant along Shaw Blvd. when an armed man approached his table and shot him at close range with a .45 caliber pistol said to be equipped with a silencer. After pulling the trigger, the gunman casually walked out of the restaurant, crossed the street, and got on a jeepney as if nothing happened. Since the security guards of the restaurant were also armed, I kinda wonder why none of them pursued him. Lanot died later that day at the intensive care unit of Rizal Medical Center because of a gunshot wound to his right ear.

I often have lunch at Jade Palace because of it's proximity to our office. In fact I just had lunch there yesterday, and it I guess it was a blessing of sorts that I wasn't there during the actual shooting. One particular thing I like about eating there is the fact that I hardly chance upon any other officemates having lunch there, which makes it a good place to have lunch in with very little chance of bumping into anyone I know while reading a newspaper. Little did I know that the place would make the headlines soon enough. Invariably I order more or less the same fare, sweet and sour pork with rice, spiced beef mixed noodle soup, or perhaps some dimsum. I usually end up being slightly dizzy and sleepy after a meal there, probably because of the MSG. I think they call it "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome."

It's really appalling how much senseless violence there is nowadays. Not only political figures, but also journalists and at times even ordinary citizens have fallen victim to various violent crimes. It would seem that a lot of people would have no qualms about resorting to violence if only to achieve a particular objective, which is both saddening and disturbing. I guess it's not that easy to be safe anymore, all we can do is just pray and try to be careful.

Which begs the next question...I wonder if there's still any place left where one can eat in relative safety. I have no idea, but a friend of mine once remarked in jest masarap ang crispy pata sa Anito at ang spaghetti sa Dahlia. :-) You figure it out.