Credit grabbing
Written on 10:21 AM by isko b. doo
Was it a politician's publicity stunt?
A day after "helping" to facilitate the release of 26 schoolchildren from Musmos Day Care center, Luis "Chavit" Singson couldn't wait to gloat to the whole world about his role in the nearly day-long hostage drama.
The quotation marks in the word helping was intentional because I didn't think Chavit did much. Wasn't it Sen. Bong Revilla who told the police earlier that Jun Ducat, the hostage-taker, vowed to release the children by 7:00 p.m. that same night? Indeed, at the stroke of 7:00, Ducat opened the bus door and... well, we know what happened next. So whether or not he showed up the impasse would have ended at 7:00.
And now, here we have Chavit sending a 12-paragraph press release to 130 e-mails of publishers and reporters praising himself for being a hero. Count it, 130 e-mails. Must be hard being a hero when you have to remind everybody else why.
Read what Chavit has to say about himself:
“It takes guts and bravery to risk your own life to help rescue children caught in a hostage crisis.”
“When I was called to the site of the hostage-taking, I didn’t think that I might be criticized for supposedly riding on the incident.”
“I just thought that it was more important to save the children. It was the children who were on my mind.”
Oh?
And what say you monsiuer about zeez latest stunt? Merde! I zee right zhru you monsieur Chavit. (I know, bad French accent)
If he was only thinking of the children's welfare, why in Jueteng's name should he send a praise release?
I have a theory. Chavit claims Ducat's companion Cesar Carbonell called him up to ask for his help, I say it's the other way around. I think it was Chavit who called the hostage-takers' number (it wasn't hard, Ducat wrote his number and glued it on the bus' windshield) and begged them to throw him a bone. Do you think Carbonell had Chavit's number on his phonebook? Not damn likely.
Chavit is every inch guilty about endangering the lives of those children as Ducat was and should be thrown in jail with him. In his attempt to look like a hero, he collected the two grenades, with the pins unhitched I might add, from Ducat so he could be the one to give it to the police himself. What if one of the grenades fell during the exchange? He could have called a police expert to receive the grenades if he was interested in protecting the children. But nooo... no suh! Heroes don't do dat suh.
Now, Ducat's in jail and Chavit's gloating. Ducat deserved his fate because he's a recidivist, I'd have more sympathy for him if he took politicians hostage instead, but do we deserve this crap from Chavit?
Was it a politician's publicity stunt?
You're goddamn right it was.
A day after "helping" to facilitate the release of 26 schoolchildren from Musmos Day Care center, Luis "Chavit" Singson couldn't wait to gloat to the whole world about his role in the nearly day-long hostage drama.
The quotation marks in the word helping was intentional because I didn't think Chavit did much. Wasn't it Sen. Bong Revilla who told the police earlier that Jun Ducat, the hostage-taker, vowed to release the children by 7:00 p.m. that same night? Indeed, at the stroke of 7:00, Ducat opened the bus door and... well, we know what happened next. So whether or not he showed up the impasse would have ended at 7:00.
And now, here we have Chavit sending a 12-paragraph press release to 130 e-mails of publishers and reporters praising himself for being a hero. Count it, 130 e-mails. Must be hard being a hero when you have to remind everybody else why.
Read what Chavit has to say about himself:
“It takes guts and bravery to risk your own life to help rescue children caught in a hostage crisis.”
“When I was called to the site of the hostage-taking, I didn’t think that I might be criticized for supposedly riding on the incident.”
“I just thought that it was more important to save the children. It was the children who were on my mind.”
Oh?
And what say you monsiuer about zeez latest stunt? Merde! I zee right zhru you monsieur Chavit. (I know, bad French accent)
If he was only thinking of the children's welfare, why in Jueteng's name should he send a praise release?
I have a theory. Chavit claims Ducat's companion Cesar Carbonell called him up to ask for his help, I say it's the other way around. I think it was Chavit who called the hostage-takers' number (it wasn't hard, Ducat wrote his number and glued it on the bus' windshield) and begged them to throw him a bone. Do you think Carbonell had Chavit's number on his phonebook? Not damn likely.
Chavit is every inch guilty about endangering the lives of those children as Ducat was and should be thrown in jail with him. In his attempt to look like a hero, he collected the two grenades, with the pins unhitched I might add, from Ducat so he could be the one to give it to the police himself. What if one of the grenades fell during the exchange? He could have called a police expert to receive the grenades if he was interested in protecting the children. But nooo... no suh! Heroes don't do dat suh.
Now, Ducat's in jail and Chavit's gloating. Ducat deserved his fate because he's a recidivist, I'd have more sympathy for him if he took politicians hostage instead, but do we deserve this crap from Chavit?
Was it a politician's publicity stunt?
You're goddamn right it was.
you bet it was just a publicity stunt. you know how it is now, politicians can't just persuade people to vote for them with mere words of promises, kelangan may konting action. parang yung sa movie. hehe
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it's in me, i've got all kinds of flavors too, spicy, salty, sour and bitter ^_^
i hate atenistas kasi.
isog ba kaau akong pic?
i tried so damn hard not to laugh coz i was wearing a freakin cowboy-like imitation hat.
The fact is that chavit didn't have anything to do with either writing the news release or having it written.
Besides that, your blog is full of speculation.
Molave Cruz
lagi kulang na lang action stunt. kanang magka- samad2 jud sila ba. it's a stunt alright, right to its very core.
To anonymous:
Don't dismiss Chavit's accountability just because he didn't write it. Most politicians have ghost writers but still each press statement goes through the big boss. He knew what was written before it was published and he approved it.
We all speculate. I speculate, you speculate. My theory however was proven true when Ducat wrote an open letter denouncing corruption and (surprise!) Chavit.
Apparently, Chavit gatecrashed his way into heroism. hehehehe
Kay Avi:
Atenista baya ko dati... pero kick out lagi. hehe.
Mao lagi jay... mau unta magkasamad-samad para pud ma earn nila ang publicity. Laliman ka, gikuha ang granada kay Ducat, nahulog pa lang to o namali paggunit, wala na gud pin. Tandogonon kaayo nang granada oi. tsk!
atenista baya ko ha, pero dili jud ko bad, hehe. dili pud ko antipatiko. but somehow, i managed to retain my senses and humility intact. pero daghan jud brats, SCs and yes, morons.
talking about atenista. a co-teachr of mine who is a product of ateneo said that it is so hard to be humble when ur are an atenista. HA! wa sya malisang. but we didn't buy his kayabangan naman coz i have alot of friends and kaila nga atenista nga dili peraha niya. sya lang ang akong nadungog nga nag ingon ing ani.
isko b doo... Yeah, you are right, you speculate.
I know for a fact that the press release was written at around 7:00 PM on March 28, after the hostage taking incident.
It was emailed to around 130 recipients at around 844PM.
Chavit did not see the press release before it was emailed, much less approve of the press release.
Happy speculating dude!
Thanks Anonymous. I'm glad I have a resident Ombudsman for my blog. :P
First off, I AM SORRY. Forgive my lapse in judgment.
I may be wrong but only on account of my opinion. That's certainly not the first time I was wrong and won't be the last. Still, he overstepped procedures and endangered the children. Reports claimed the grenades were fake but even if that's true, Chavit didn't know that beforehand.
Even Ducat reproached him afterwards and we agree, Ducat might be publicity-hungry, but he's certainly not stupid.
And I will continue to speculate, geddemit!
Balik ka next time ha? tenks.
You can call me Ano, for short. I feel like we're friends already. hehehe...
I really disagree with the way the whole thing was handled, from the lack of crowd control to the fact that it was even put on television.
You will remember that this was not the first time Philippine television aired a hostage taking incident. Before the Ducat hostage taking, there had been at least two other recent hostage taking covered by broadcast news. May be Maria Ressa (ABS-CBN) and Marissa Flores (GMA7) should come up with a better policy that would guide broadcasting such developments without unintentionally glorifying terrorists, it might encourage more people to do the same. Nothing, absolutely nothing, separates Ducat from the hijackers that crashed two airplanes into the world trade center.
The whole thing was nothing but a publicity gimmick, true. Not for anyone but Ducat himself.
Well meaning or not, all politicians -- including the incumbent mayor -- must have wanted to project themselves ala Guilliani and ergo wanted a share of the limelight. And because the whole thing backfired, many of the politicians are distancing themselves from the incident.
Chavit was advised not to go to the hostage taking incident. He was told that there would certainly be negative backlash as his enemies would certainly use every chance they get to snipe or bomb Chavit's public image.
In any case, Chavit went. Backlash, whiplash, eyelash... Puti lang ng mata ang walang latay.
Chavit is being accused of orchestrating the whole thing. Infact, that was the whole insinuation behind that Inquirer article "Was it a politician's publicity stunt?" Instead of picking on the facts, it picked on a press release which some schmuck sent out to the media.
Press release is received by reporters an hour after hostage taking incident ends. Press release highlights positive aspects of Chavit's involvement in the hostage taking incident, short of calling him a hero -- as press releases are by their very nature intended not only to inform but also to cast positive light on the subject of the press release. Ergo, Chavit orchestrated the whole thing. <--- See any logic there? I can't.
Besides that, the reporters made an error of saying the press release was titled 'Vote Luis 'Chavit' Singson. The fact is, what they were referring to was the LETTERHEAD. How could that escape their attention?
PDI can no longer claim to be fair (atleast in this particular instance) because it already revealed the bias of its editors against Chavit. We should expect more from our country's leading daily broadsheet.
But where is the evidence that Chavit masterminded the whole thing?
Ducat disavows him and any connection to him, he is even campaigning against Chavit.
The only link between Chavit and Ducat is Carbonel. And this was only because Carbonel was able to get Chavit's number through six degrees (a friend of a friend of a friend). Was it Carbonel that masterminded the whole thing?
Na-ah.
Clutching at straws in the dark can be real fun alright... just until you realize you've just mashed through warm cow pie.
Peace Braduh!
Gosh ano... I'm really flattered that you took time out of your busy schedule to comment and make it seem that my views matter.
Regardless of who the schmuck is and unfair or not, it's still on Chavit for hiring eager-beaver writers. After all, it was his name that was headlined by the inquirer, not the schmuck but I guess he thought it was a good gamble. It's interesting to see how this will affect his election chances.
I also don't agree that Chavit masterminded the whole thing coz that's quite a stretch. He fucked up and the end result could have been much worse because of that choice. Thank God for small mercies and fake grenades.
With the recent approval of the anti-terrorism bill, surely Ducat's actions are covered under the loose definition of a terrorist under the bill? I guess this is the end of the line for Mr. Robin Hood.
As for the inquirer being fair, well...
Here's something to flatter you even more and I hope you don't mind. I kinda like your blog.
Its true. Along with his tigers in Baluarte, Chavit makes it a point to stock up his campaign headquarters with eager beavers.
Putting animal behavior aside, let's get to why I am writing.
Like you, I'd fully credit Chavit and not the writer for the publicity he is getting -- negative, positive, and otherwise.
The truth is, Chavit didn't have enough good will established among members of the press and the general public before involving himself in a senatorial campaign. Ergo, anything he does for the campaign is bound to reap negative reactions as well as positive reactions.
Also, take into account that Estrada (Erap and Jinggoy) hates the crap out of Chavit and will do or say anything to keep him out of the senate. The Estradas have been friends of the media for God only knows how long and they've endeared themselves to a whole lot of people. Anything the Estradas say about Chavit in this situation will definitely have weight, regardless of whether there is any truth or not in what they say.
As far as publicity stunts go, Chavit's hostage taking incident was apparently not fully thought out. This only lends more plausibility to claims that all the man really thought about was the safety of the children. If true, this shows us a side of the man that is rarely seen in public.
How the whole hostage taking sawsaw thing will affect Chavit's chances at the polls can only be speculated upon at this point. Good or bad, he says he'll see the whole thing through because he said so and he rarely goes back on his word.
Now, that's what I call guts.
wOW! thanks! That compliment came waaayyy off field. Good thing too, now I know I wouldn't have to kick you ass. heheheh
You seem to have an inside track of Chavit's campaign and a good sense of a politico's psyche. Are you perchance a journalist or a PR man?
No, you don't have to answer that. Just me, thinking out loud.
He may be gutsy but I think I'd hold off on my appreciation of him for a while. For the simple fact that he's a politico, through and through, and I don't trust them. Not a single bit.
Sad but true. :)
Ahhhhh... well... Me, a PR man? Puhleeez! I have been accused of being a son of a bitch but not a PR man... I am a PR cockroach, probably a thousand miles from the PR evolutionary ladder where we can see people like, oh, Relly German... Tony Abaya (husband of Anabel)... and a few other guys, like, say, Charlie Agatep...
Like the Merovingian, I know zeez things because it is my bizneez to know zeez things...
I have to confess though, I really like people with guts and a penchant for risking everything... For me living life fully throttle and balls out is the only way to live.
er... typo there...
FULL THROTTLE, BALLS OUT!
hahahaha! You spat the words PR man out like stale ampalaya (incidentally, if an amplaya becomes stale, does it lose its bitterness?).
Such hostility coming from you! Im shocked! tsk!
YOu're referring to the Merovingian in the Matrix series,the program that knows everything, right? Coz you speak pretty good French. :)
It's a little embarrassing to display your balls out to the public like that but yeah, I agree, it's the only way to live.
chavit is sickening!!hahayyyy...
i'm sorry to anonymous...boy!what an argument!!
hahahah! That's funny brain drain. :P OFW ka?
it wasn't an arguement braindrain, we both agree that Estrada rigged the whole thing to wreck Chavit's candidacy.