An article by Pepe Panglao published by the Asian Human Rights Commission
HONG KONG/PHILIPPINES: Territories and countries — complaining with and without protection
Pepe Panglao
When I was a little boy I heard countless stories of mothers who lost their sons in senseless killings. There were stories of young men either stabbed or shot dead while walking home from work; for curiously looking at a person who disliked to be stared at; or walking his pretty girlfriend home before the envious eyes of other men. There is no rational motive or logical reason why they had to be killed, but they were. The killers never hesitated to kill. Neither do they fear arrest; they just kill the target of their frustration or anger. That is just the way that life goes on in our village.
In some streets or communities in our city senseless murders by stabbing and shooting have been so common that their names have been changed de facto to ‘Kanto Hagba’ (a street corner where a person falls dead). One of these places was the corner of a street close to where we lived in my childhood days.
I must have been seven years old then. But regardless of how young we were, I could not forget my mother’s perpetual warning to me and to my two elder brothers, to avoid passing through that street especially during nighttime. When night falls, that street is virtually deserted. None of the villagers would dare renting or living in a house close to that street. Our mother’s repeated warnings and the numerous deaths in that street left us a deep-seated fear of the place and it took me many years to get over it.
There is no doubt in my mind that my mother did not intend to cause trauma or sow fear in us. Her warnings, by way of telling us which places we should avoid, were her way of protecting us, her sons from harm. Like any mother it was her intention to protect us and keep us safe. Also, I also had no doubt that my mother’s warning to us to: “keep our mouths shut” when we witnessed a crime and “(we) should not testify or become a witness” were borne of the same reasons–to protect our family. But I did ask: what if the victim was my father, one of my brothers or relatives, will someone testify for us? I do not know.
When I was a little boy, I myself witnessed the stabbing to death of a man in full view of the public. The story was one of the countless killings that I have either heard of or witnessed. I saw with my own eyes how the killer, who was carrying a kitchen knife, had chased after and repeatedly stabbed his victim while the people who had seen the incident yelled for help. I could not forget how the victim struggled to protect himself. He was holding a small wooden table that he placed between him and his attacker. I recognized both of them because they were locals in the area and I saw both of them during the stabbing incident.
When I told this to my mother, she told me: “you did not see anything, if anyone asks you tell them you know nothing”. Thus, when the police started investigating the incident, as was to be expected no one was willing to testify. None of the people in the crowd had seen anything. When no one testified, it was not because no one had seen the stabbing, but the people knew full well, including my mother, that testifying and standing as a witness in a criminal investigation would surely make one the next target. I am not sure what the result of the case was but I can presume that it was just another case involving a man dying in a senseless killing; and another killer who is willing to kill, again.
This is how I and my siblings were brought up. However, I believe that our mother did not intend to prevent us from talking about what I had seen, but it is rather the complete absence of any form of protection available that could convince her that for me to stand as witness would be safe.
I grew up knowing my mother as a public school teacher. I knew her as a kind person to others, and who had taught a wide variety of subjects including good moral values, like the value of compassion and helping others.
It was one of the many instances in my life that made me ask many questions as to the contradiction and double-standards my mother had in terms of helping others; however, it was only in my adult life that I began to understand. She had to make a choice. It was the choice between keeping us safe and her allowing me to testify at the expense of the safety and security of our family. For her it was not a simple matter of principle and helping others; but survival in an insecure environment. It was her protecting our family in the absence of protection.
I could not imagine how difficult it must have been for my mother for us to live and survive in such an insecure environment and to mind three sons. It is easy to pass judgment on people as to how they lacked compassion and concern for others, but it is only when we try to understand the fundamental reasons as to why most people in our society prefer survival and self preservation that we get a sense of the realities of our society; and the downright failure of our own government to ensure security and safety.
I owe my life to my mother, father and my siblings. However, to get over this traumatic experience is something that I had to deal with myself. But while, to some extent I felt I had overcome this trauma, my mother and most of my family members, who still continue to live in our hometown, have not. My mother always, even in my adult life stills tries to discourage and refrain me from complaining or speaking of the evils that I have seen in our society; my younger sister always describes me as a ‘troublesome’ person for speaking my mind, but I always tell them: “Don’t worry, I’m old enough to decide for myself; and I will take great caution”.
I began to understand that the insecurity and lack of protection had prevented my mother, my siblings and many other Filipinos who had to survive daily in my country from testifying and trying to make their society safer for all. For them, even to think of becoming a witness to a crime is an act of suicide. This dominant mentality and attitude is what I continue to express with contempt in exposing the state of our society. The value of life, due to one’s self preservation and survival, has lost its meaning as a result of the government and society’s failure. The real sense of “community” simply ceased to exist due to deep-seated fear and insecurity.
I have carried this experience through much of my adult life. When I was a graduating university student, on one occasion I came close to death after becoming a robbery victim myself. I was walking home from school through an alley when a young man pushed me to the wall. He was with another man who served as his lookout. Poor as I was I was dressed in formal clothes as a requirement for our school production and this man demanded money from me. He began to thrust a pointed object at my chest which he claimed was a knife. He was serious in telling me that he would surely stab me once I moved or drew attention to what was happening. I could see many people passing by just over his back. I tried giving clues to the passers-by that I was being robbed, but I think even if they knew they would not get into trouble. None of them came to my rescue. This was exactly what my mother had told me.
I was lucky that the robbers finally gave up on me after they were convinced that I did not actually have any money after they checked my penniless wallet. I had only a few pesos, just enough to pay for a jeepney (public utility vehicle) ride to collect the allowance that my mother had just sent for me. But before the robber got rid of me, one of them hit my chest hard leaving me gasping for air. A few days later, I heard a story about another graduating student from an expensive university close to mine who was stabbed to death when she refused to give up her expensive watch and jewelry to the robbers.
When I was a university student, I was on my way to school when I accidentally stepped onto a mound of sand that covered bloodstains along the street. I did not realize it was really bloodstains until I noticed a trail of bloodstains from where I had stepped into it. It did remind me of one thing: another person had been killed on the same spot a few hours ago. The incidents reminded me of scenes from the past when I was a child. I realized that the dangerous streets that my mother had perpetually warned us of had also actually existed, not only in my hometown, but in places kilometers away from our hometown. It did not take me long to conclude that someone must have been murdered on the same spot that I just walked past–and I was right. It was on the news.
The place I was referring to was in Davao City, southern Mindanao. It was exactly the same place where 538 cases of extra judicial and vigilante killings had been documented from 1998 to 2009 which, to-date, remain unsolved. This is also the same place where fishing corpses out of the rivers; shooting persons dead in broad daylight—be they minor, women or elderly–has become a way of life. These are stories that no longer shock the locals, but are still frightening nonetheless. These are stories that I myself have also witnessed on many occasions from my childhood up to my adult life.
I had these experiences with me as I settled down in Hong Kong and it took me some time to believe that what I and the Filipino people had thought would be next to impossible, is, in fact, possible here. The people in Hong Kong live a life exactly the opposite of what I used to live with–an environment that lacked protection, security and safety.
It struck me very hard that I dreamt of a society in which a person could testify and file a complaint with the police or any government agencies and enjoy the security provided by existing mechanisms. To report to the police on crimes–even on cases that are not life threatening, to file a complaint and to testify in criminal investigation to help solve crimes, is the way of life of the people in Hong Kong. Of course, as in any society, not everyone is satisfied with the police; however, by and large the people have full confidence in their police force. Yes there is street-level crime here, as there is in any territory, but the incidence of such crime is far less than most cities of the region.
I can still remember a few years ago when my wife called 999, the emergency police hotline, asking for assistance, after our daughter had accidentally locked herself inside our bedroom. It only took five to ten minutes for the responding officers to come to our house; break open our bedroom and take our child to safety. They also offered to take our child to the hospital over concerns that she may have been traumatized by the incident. They had a standby ambulance and numerous rescue officers waiting outside. This could not have happened in my own country.
I can fully understand how the Hong Kong people reacted to the tragic end of the Manila hostage incident. They had every right to expect the same degree of response and professionalism towards the situation that they would have found here. Sadly the government of the Philippines failed in that respect.
There is a huge gap between the Filipinos and the people in Hong Kong in their understanding and experience of what policing and protection of life should be. The hostage incident has provided a glimpse of what Filipinos have to survive on a daily basis; and why many of those who work abroad do so in order to escape from their country.
Here, I am confident that should I or any Filipinos file a complaint, the police and the authorities would deal with that complaint seriously and fairly.
For example, should one decide to complain against racial discrimination, there is a law–Race Discrimination Ordinance; and an agency here, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) who will deal with this type of complaint. In our country, not only we do not have a law against racial discrimination, the government even denies that such discrimination exists; thus, they do not see the need to have such a law.
In Hong Kong one need not wield political power, influence and have connections with those people in the government before filing a complaint and have it investigated or acted upon. One need not have a huge amount of money to spend in litigation before filing a complaint. There are legal aid services and it is easy to avail yourself of these services because it is widely publicized. There are instructions on how to process this type of request. And should your life be threatened as a result of your complaint, I am confident that there is adequate protection mechanism available.
Like elsewhere crimes are committed here in Hong Kong but the criminals do not always get away with them. They are prosecuted and held to account because the laws here are not put in place to protect the interests of the government and those in power. These are norms and standards that are applied in a real sense in Hong Kong. The government and its laws protect the lives and the interest of the people and the people have the confidence that this is the case. To seek redress and remedy for a violation of one’s rights is a battle not only by the victim, but of the community who, despite being largely apolitical, are compassionate to others.
The law is applied to all, not only a selected few. There are fewer crimes here not because the people are religious, but because they know full well that they could not get away with it without being punished. The offenders also know full well that should the victims and their witnesses file a complaint, the law would be there to protect them.
Unlike the life that many other Filipinos continue to live, the parents of children in Hong Kong need not to tell them that to stand as a witness is equal to becoming the target of a killing or an act of suicide; that they should choose whom they should speak to so as to protect themselves; or simply to prevent them from walking out at nighttime due to the risk. The people here need not be given assurance or be convinced that they are safe and secure; that the police and the government here is there to protect them, they feel and had been living with it as a reality.
The views shared in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the AHRC, and the AHRC takes no responsibility for them.
About the Author:
Pepe Panglao is a freelance journalist working and living in Hong Kong
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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
