We now have a new term for running amuk in public and shooting people: “GOING MENDOZA”.
Just as years ago the term “going postal” was coined after a series of disgruntled US postal workers who were dissatisfied with their pay and work benefits, went psycho and showed up at work with guns and started shooting people. Similarly, during the recent Manila hostage incident, Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza likewise armed himself, took hostage, and started shooting, on account of an administrative case against him which removed him from the service.
Apparently, this kind of disgruntled behavior has now been picked up by a few copycats. A retired Army sergeant is threatening to copy what dismissed Senior Police Inspector Rolando Mendoza did last week if the government does not give him part of his benefits, the Senate Blue Ribbon Oversight Office Management (BROOM) Office said Thursday.
In a letter to the Department of National Defense (DND) dated September 2, BROOM director general Rodolfo Noel Quimbo said a certain retired TSgt. Charmie T. Palencia has been calling their office to demand that the Philippine Army include in his benefits his broken service from Feb. 24, 1988 to Aug. 14, 1994.
“Going Mendoza” has now become a national catch-phrase for everyone who is disgruntled with the way the Philippine government runs itself. Since the Manila Hostage incident, there have been some sectors actually condoning the act of Mendoza, and claiming that “he could not blamed” for doing what he did, since the government agency that he was complaining about, the Ombudsman, is widely known for its corruption and inefficiency. Everyday in government offices like the Land Transportation office, GSIS, POEA, SSS, and the courts, among others, we never fail to see frustrated people losing their tempers due to lousy and inefficient public services, long endless lines and waiting (for nothing), uncaring and lazy public employees who simply cannot deliver simple and basic services. Road rages involving shootings among hot headed drivers are also an example of frustrations over the inefficiency in which our traffic system is being handled by MMDA. Now, we are seeing more of such frustrations being vented and threats to do the same.
“Going Mendoza” now aptly describes a Filipino people who are already fed up with how government works. It is an indictment of the inferior, lackadasical, and corrupt manner in which our justice system cannot deliver speedy, evenhanded, and fair justice in a manner which is consistent with the rule of law and the Constitution. But more than than, it highlights the ever growing frustration of ordinary people who cannot obtain simple, speedy, and basic government services in our country. When crime and corruption is rampant, when there is no effective rule of law and justice, when the government cannot protect its own citizens from criminality, the people naturally have no choice but to turn to other means to vent their frustration and obtain justice.
“Going Mendoza” is a result of frustration on account of injustice and inefficiency. Unless these root problems can be satisfactorily addressed, expect more Filipinos to “Go Mendoza”.
If the threat of Sgt Palencia is real, then WE ARE ALL ENDANGERED, lest we become one of his hostages. The our application for a PTCFOR is JUSTIFIED, as a THREAT EXISTS.
A person goes Amok generally cannot take the pent up frustrations and emotions inside him. So he picks up a gun and runs wild. Or if the object of his frustration is the government corruption or injustice, the victim of injustice takes up arms against the government through insurgency. As we had seen in the latter part of the last century, social injustice breeds insurgency and violence. We are now seeing this same phenomenon in the 21st century, but on a personal, not national, level.
We should examine the CAUSE rather than the EFFECT. If the SOCIAL CONDITIONS of corruption, injustice, and uncaring attitude by our government continue, then we will see more people “going Mendoza”. “Going amuk is never justifiable, but in a sense there are mitigating circumstances in our society which bring about, or encourage, such behavior.