When you can be murdered on the bus for a cellphone, this isn’t a strong Republic!

The government had better stop talking about a "strong Republic", when you cannot even ride a bus without being stabbed to death for a cellphone.

I see the GMA administration officials are urging people to save gas by not using private vehicles, but instead taking public transportation. Why should vehicle owners do so, when catching a bus, or an FX taxi, or jeepney could be the kiss of death for them?

The last straw should have been the senseless and pitiless stabbing to death of a bright young journalist, newly-promoted by TODAY, his newspaper, to Asst. Business Editor, when three robbers tried to grab his NOKIA 7610 cellphone inside a passenger bus in Pasay City as he was homeward-bound in Pasay City.

I’m speaking of Jose Luis Villanueva – only 29 – who tried to hang on to his cellphone because it didn’t belong to him, and got stabbed in the neck by one of the thugs.

The three suspects were nabbed later by the police, identified by witnesses like the bus driver and conductor and the main suspect, tagged by a barangay kagawad, a man named Rommel Capones (alias "Butoy"), 21, of Barrio Sto. Niño, Pasay City, appears to have a string of cases already pending, including a murder case (which was "downgraded" to just homicide, allowing him to get out on bail), a drug-related case, and a previous alleged robbery case (on September 5, earlier this month), and was out on bail again in a pending case of robbery with homicide! How do such rats get back on the street to menace peaceful citizens in our flawed justice system?

Bus hold-ups are so common that our commuters are oppressed daily in the Metro Manila area and surrounding provinces. These are "ordinary" people, like you and me, who get robbed of what little they have, while our police and our government brag about crime going down, putting out rosy statistics.

But those who work, study, or endure life on our mean streets, and ride our buses, jeepneys, and other public transportation know this is not so!

In our STAR newspaper family alone, several have been robbed or harassed on buses. One of the latest victims of bus robbery was STAR staffer Conrado Diaz.

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What was especially tragic about youthful journalist Joselu Villanueva (his nickname) is that he didn’t have to be riding a Laguna Star Bus at 12:10 a.m. on EDSA between Evangelista St. and E. Rodriguez St. in Pasay City. Villanueva had studied at Fordham University in New York (my dad’s alma mater), in both media studies and history. He is the grandson of one of the country’s most prominent business greats, Roberto Villanueva, who used to head Atlantic Gulf & Pacific (AG&P), and his father of course, Jose Villanueva. What Joselu, who toughed it out in TODAY for eight years, covering several beats, was trying to prove, I was told, was that he could make it on his own, living simply, paying his own way, being a real reporter.

And the reason, I’m informed by friends who knew him, he didn’t want to lose that cellphone to the robbers because NOKIA had lent it to him as a demonstration model so he could subsequently write about its performance in the Business section!

This is what our President, once more with feeling, and her government, most of all our police, NBI and other law enforcement, should address: The kind of violent crime that hits our "common" people, students, workers, white- collar employees, everyday wage-earners every moment of the day – when they go to work or school by public transportation, when they are in their modest dwellings, when they walk our dark streets. Big multimillion-peso crimes and scandals must be curbed – but it is the "little people" who must be protected most of all! And this is not happening.

If I may say so, I believe it is absurd that we keep on changing Police Chiefs every few months, or within less than a year or two.

For example, the recently promoted PNP Director General and Chief, Gen. Edgar "Egay" Aglipay was just given an extra six months by the President before he is retired – to make way for the next aspirants for Chief in line. You can talk about retirement deadlines, seniority, etc. all you want. But how can Aglipay reform or whip our obviously decrepit police set-up into shape when he has got only six months?

Aglipay, despite the fact that he’s competent, zealous, brave and determined, is a "lameduck police chief" already. The bad elements in the police will merely have to wait him out, then, when he’s gone, go back to their evil activities.

And believe me, even if you just watch TV news, or hear it from people you live and work with, crooked police officers, from patrolmen to some higher brass, are among those who’re not fighting crime, but running the rackets.

There was this pickpocket’s wife, if you’ll recall, on TV just a few nights ago, sobbing that her husband wanted to "go straight", but policemen who had "arrested" him forced him to keep on picking pockets and bag snatching, etc., so they could pocket his "take".

Can Aglipay put a dent in this system? He may try – but you already know it won’t work with the clock ticking relentlessly against him.

A police chief must have two, three, even four years to run the department before he can even weed out any bad eggs in uniform or in the detective service! The situation is a desperate one.

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On another more cheerful subject. I know it is too early to claim that Christmas has arrived but you already see it in commercials.

In the eighties, department stores, restaurants and other public places would begin to decorate their places with Christmas balls and lanterns in the month of November. In the nineties, Christmas songs and decorations began a little bit earlier, right after Halloween or All Saints and All Souls Day.

This year I noticed that it’s only the second week of September, but already stores and restaurants have put out their Christmas displays. Radio stations have also begun playing Christmas carols! I guess this is one of the ways we’re trying to cheer ourselves up especially in these times of doom and gloom. And let’s not forget – in terms of the economy – it is purely business!

I remember the six Christmases I experienced in the United States as a student. Although I would usually spend them with relatives or friends, I never felt the same Christmas spirit with which I spent it at home. After a celebration, I would return to my apartment still thinking of what I have missed back home. As I lay in bed in the U.S., I would look back and reminisce on the many wonderful Christmas Eves in the warmth of home. I could almost see our house lit up with star lanterns, the table filled with delicious and mouth-watering food such as Chinese ham, queso de bola, lechon, embudito, fruit salad, etc. I could hear the Christmas carols sung by the children in my village. I could picture my family happy and contented with a simple celebration! What was important was being together. And even if we had problems or personal concerns then, the family celebration brought us closer to each other and strengthened our faith!

Nothing can dampen the spirit of the Filipinos, not even a disastrous typhoon or an earthquake. During the last typhoon wherein classes were suspended and roads were flooded, we still had to go to work. I admire the perseverance of one of my co-employees who came to work despite the flood situation in her area. She explained why she was late and why she had arrived wearing shorts and rubber slippers. She patiently waited for the floodwaters to subside from chest to knee level. Then she set forth. She did not care how people would look at her at the workplace. She was simply determined to get to work.

What I’m trying to say is that we Filipinos appear, thankfully, to have mastered the art of coping with almost all situations. In fact, if you notice on the TV news, as a house is pictured burning down, the neighbors are all around ready to give a helping hand, while at the same time, they can still afford to smile. The Pinoy smile is what gives us hope and comfort!

Sometimes during a flood you can see people stranded and rowing their canoes with all their belongings such as "rescued" TV sets, gas ranges, washing machines and plastic cabinets, yet still smiling and waving at the camera.

When Angelo de la Cruz was held hostage in Iraq, the people in his town in Pampanga were all praying for him and on television we saw the support given by his community. As a matter of fact, the welcome turned into a fiesta. Where in the world will you see such a marvelous homecoming?

During these difficult times, the anticipation of Christmas will surely save us once more. The strength in character of every Filipino when faced with a crisis, whether man-made or by natural causes or otherwise, continues to be demonstrated again and again.

As we all do every year, we ask the children in our school to make a Christmas wish.

I am sure you all have one. Well, this is mine: (1) I wish and pray that one day, MMDA will prove us wrong in our perception of their work and that all the roads, highways and traffic will improve; (2) I hope that the PNP will fight crime so that I will always feel safe; (3) I wish that the services rendered by all government offices will be more efficient so that the public will not be confused; (4) I also wish that we can get rid of officials or government employees who are not worthy of their positions; (5) I hope that we can elevate the status of the squatters and educate them and their children, so that they can contribute to society; (6) In this light, I wish that the government will see the importance of education; (7) I pray that we continue to strengthen our family values; (8) I long for the day when the peso will grow "stronger" so that we can once more lift up our heads in pride; (9) I dream of the day that our countrymen working in foreign lands will be able to come home and find peace, prosperity and happiness in their own homeland.

Sounds naive, I know. But wish ko lang! And we can all, by pulling together, make our wishes come true.