Stampede....

February 04, 2006

Yesterday, as I was driving to work early in the morning, I noticed a long and thick cue of people leading up to the Philsports Arena (formerly known as the ULTRA). I later learned that the line was of people wanting to attend the 1st year anniversary presentation of the popular noontime variety show Wowowee.

I was a bit surprised to see such a huge crowd determined to watch the show, considering that program was set to start more than 24 hours later, at twelve noon today. It was also announced that the show would be giving away a lot of prizes, notable of which included a P1 million cash prize, a house and lot, and a car. With times as tough as they are, the possibility of being fortunate enough to be one of lucky winners undoubtedly convinced a multitude of people to watch the show and try their luck. And so they came. In droves.

Unfortunately, instead of prizes, Saturday brought tragedy instead.

Tickets were supposed to given out by six in the morning. By seven, the crowd was becoming restless. According to reports, someone in the crowd allegedy shouted that there was a bomb. What ensued next was panic and mayhem, with people trampling over each other in an attempt to flee from the non-existent threat.

After the dust had settled, dozens lay injured, some dead.

As of this writing, almost twelve hours after the stampede took place, at least 70 were confirmed dead, 341 injured. And the numbers continue to grow.

Most of the victims were women.

Who's to blame for this incident? I think there are a lot of factors involved. The country's poor economic situation undoubtedly contributed to this tragedy by increasing the number of impoverished Filipinos looking forward to the various winnings and dole-outs promised to be given out by the show. It is unfortunate that there are some sectors who would take advantage of our poverty-stricken countrymen by dangling prizes in front of their eyes merely for the sake of sheer commercialism disguised as charity.

It is also readily apparent that the event was poorly planned and organized. As early as Wednesday, people have already been flocking to the venue and by Thursday and Friday, the crowd already numbered in the thousands. A little more foresight on the part of the organizers could have prevented the incident, more so as they were already aware of the huge number of people present at the location 24 to 48 hours before the stampede even occurred.

In a nutshell, it is poverty, greed, commercialism and lack of foresight which caused the tragedy. Personally, I don't really care for events offering such exorbitant prizes. I believe it encourages laziness, mendicancy and freeloading among the poor, which is quite pathetic since not everyone can win. And for some organizations to capitalize on the neediness of some people for commercial gain and public exposure in the guise of charity is even more deplorable.

I don't claim to be right. This is only my personal opinion. But if someone disagrees, he or she can try explaining the incident to the more than seventy families who suffered the loss of a loved one as a result of this tragedy.

We can only hope that this unfortunate calamity never happens again, and that organizers be more circumspect in holding events of this magnitude in the future.

If big corporations truly want to help the poor, there are certainly better methods of being charitable instead of taunting them with millions in cash and prizes. Let us hope a lesson is learned from this.

And let us say a prayer for those who lost their lives.