Foreigner shoots Cebu fiscal inside Palace of Justice

[questsea73 315]

A few random comments from someone sorry he read the previous 120 posts(most of them anyway) and from someone out in left field(don't live in PI yet):

 

(a. this is one of the characteristics of foreigners, especially North Americans, that locals abroad don't "get": doing the act yourself instead of paying 10,000 peso's to a professional and his motorbike driver to do for you.  We're not afraid to get our hands dirty. Like they said in India...."mad dogs and Englishmen".....working in mid-day heat and sometimes alongside the peasants to motivate them.  This should be seen by locals as in the best tradition of the word AMOK which could have happened to anyone who felt the walls closing in and No Exit.

 

(b. when there is "collateral damage" of innocents seriously hurt or killed the initiator of the act defines himself as a terrorist more than a madman or an avenger of wrongs, whether petty or major.  I see this therefore as a terrorist act.

 

(c. how possible is it for someone to live in Cebu for over 10 years and still be considered sane by Western standards? Or Manila?

 

(d. Lawyers may often define themselves by their despicable actions when acting as lawyers and many earn the reputation of "somebody who if I ran over him with my car, I would back up and run over him again" but still they do what the system allows them

to do.  They take advantage of loopholes in the law, senility and corruptability of judges, ignorance and swayability of uninformed jurors, etc.  CPA's take advantage of tax loopholes in the tax laws to benefit their clients and are not hated for that.  Sewer cleaners or untouchables in India are considered unclean or unsuitable matches for your daughters hand but they perform a useful function.  Many wrongs go unrighted.  Sharks are scavengers of the ocean---should you complain if they mistook your dangling-in -water legs for garbage?

 

(e. It sounds as though there were many warning signs that this guy was moving toward this kind of action....sort of like many of the cases of random violence publicized in USA by temporarily or permanently demented men.  Deporting someone like this probably would only move the problem geographically elsewhere.  The USA....don't know about Canada....decades ago decided they would rather have psychologically unfit people as well as criminals walking the streets rather than housing them in overcrowded and expensive-to-run institutions....so don't expect all of the people walking longside you on the street to meet the definition of sane, so act accordingly.

 

Ken

[iam 52]

I don't know what to think any more than some things that have already been written, but I do wonder if this man WAS free to go if he chose at the time he committed this crime? Did he really have the ability to pass immigration and leave or was he squeezed between court cases that held him in country while others were trying to force him out?  Just trying to understand.

[Monsoon 28,943]

Pope had been quoted as saying at the time that the pistol he was carrying was for self-defence.

"I wanted to be prepared," Pope said to ABS-CBN News in the Philippines last year. "This guy, Rafols, once came to my apartment at 2 o'clock in the morning with two armed police officers and an armed bodyguard with their guns out and swung a baseball bat inches from my face."

 

Ironically I lived in that community during my first year in Cebu. Excellent security staff. Never had a problem, never heard a peep from anyone in the community. Things must have really gone down hill, or Mr. Pope was a trouble maker. Hmm, wonder which was the case.

[RickyL 197]

Obviously the man was troubled and had some mental sickness. He is not guilty of anything other than being mentally ill. He should have left the Philippines and sought help for his problems, but he was not in a state to recognize that.

  All the conniving people working against him with their connections and corruption only contributed to his sickness and brought it to its peak.

 The doctor's actions against the man indicate he had some mental problems as well.

The way things work in the Philippines is different than any other country, and some people just can't adjust to it. Better off to go somewhere else.

[Woolf 8,555]

Ironically I lived in that community during my first year in Cebu. Excellent security staff. Never had a problem, never heard a peep from anyone in the community. Things must have really gone down hill, or Mr. Pope was a trouble maker. Hmm, wonder which was the case.

 

http://50.28.66.118/cebu/local-news/2013/01/23/pope-irked-police-brgy-execs-cared-adopted-minor-264312

 

Well make your own decision

[jigsy 370]

(c. how possible is it for someone to live in Cebu for over 10 years and still be considered sane by Western standards? Or Manila?

 

This.

[Davaoeno 38,490]

 

Pope had been quoted as saying at the time that the pistol he was carrying was for self-defence.

"I wanted to be prepared," Pope said to ABS-CBN News in the Philippines last year. "This guy, Rafols, once came to my apartment at 2 o'clock in the morning with two armed police officers and an armed bodyguard with their guns out and swung a baseball bat inches from my face."

 

Ironically I lived in that community during my first year in Cebu. Excellent security staff. Never had a problem, never heard a peep from anyone in the community. Things must have really gone down hill, or Mr. Pope was a trouble maker. Hmm, wonder which was the case.

you forgot number 3 - that Pope tried to live a peaceful life but refused to be railroaded by some high and mighty doctor -president - and ended up  suffering the fate of others who have dared to defy the status quo .  The doctor said " lets get it on " - and Mr Pope eventually had no choice but to oblige .   Hmm. wonder which was the case ?

[Steve 591]

Got this on twitter.

 

 

Citizens-Press Council gets envelope of documents from John Pope day after he died in courtroom shooting

 

 

 

[Davaoeno 38,490]

The way things work in the Philippines is different than any other country, and some people just can't adjust to it. Better off to go somewhere else.

 

 

 

Yes- if only the doctor had done that !!  He would now probably be a successful  nurse somewhere in Arizona . 

 

This case reminds me of the American with the 2 year old and the filipino who insisted on driving past the Americans house at high speed, and when the American finally stopped the filipino and told him to slow down the connected filipino pulled an AK-47 on him . 

 

Pope stood up to the doctor/president and the doctor tried to destroy Pope anyway that he could  

 

The rich and powerful do NOT like to be challenged in this country - and for the most part seem to do whatever they want with impunity. . 

Edited January 23, 2013 by Davaoeno

[A_Simple_Man 6,843]

The rich and powerful do NOT like to be challenged in this country - and for the most part seem to do whatever they want with impunity. . 

 

You are technically right.  Pope agreed with you, it seems, and he is dead right!  So do you accept that and go with the status quo or start your own revolution to get things your own way?

[Davaoeno 38,490]

 

The rich and powerful do NOT like to be challenged in this country - and for the most part seem to do whatever they want with impunity. . 

 

 

You are technically right.  Pope agreed with you, it seems, and he is dead right!  So do you accept that and go with the status quo or start your own revolution to get things your own way?

 

think I will go with the first choice !!   

[JamesMusslewhite 14,476]

This type of behavior is why the Philippine Authority will be cracking down of visiting foreigners and expats here in the Philippines.  Why it is now a requirement for all expats to have to get a national background check authenticated by Philippine authority before one can get a 13a Visa and probably to renew your existing 13a Visas. Soon I expect it will even be a requirement just to renew a Tourist Visa.

 

What an idiot, I wish he had survived the shooting so they could have put this stupid pecker-head in the worse damn prison this country has to offer and I wish he could have lived to be 122 so he could have enjoyed a really long life there. Those who think what he did was somehow commendable and appropriate behavior need to serious look at your dumb asses in the mirror and so some serious self-reflection, because you boys have stepped right off into the Twilight Zone and are in need of some serious help. What this guy did was a despicable act worthy of condemnation.

Edited January 23, 2013 by JamesMusslewhite

[Davaoeno 38,490]

This type of behavior is why the Philippine Authority will be cracking down of visiting foreigners and expats here in the Philippines.  Why it is now a requirement for all expats to have to get a national background check authenticated by Philippine authority before one can get a 13a Visa and probably to renew your existing 13a Visas. Soon I expect it will even be a requirement just to renew a Tourist Visa.

 

What an idiot, I hope they put this stupid pecker-head in the worse damn prison this country has to offer and the enjoys a really long life there.

 

James - you often suggest that men act like men and stand up for themselves and even use violence to solve their problems [and that those that dont are doorknobs and cowards !]    But when this guy acted exactly as you suggested you now call him an idiot and a pecker-head 

 

[  note to self -  google doorknob and also peckerhead to try to figure out which i would rather be ! ]  

[shadow 18,483]

This type of behavior is why the Philippine Authority will be cracking down of visiting foreigners and expats here in the Philippines.  Why it is now a requirement for all expats to have to get a national background check authenticated by Philippine authority before one can get a 13a Visa and probably to renew your existing 13a Visas. Soon I expect it will even be a requirement just to renew a Tourist Visa.

 

What an idiot, I hope they put this stupid pecker-head in the worse damn prison this country has to offer and the enjoys a really long life there.

 

 

Is hell a prison?

Edited January 23, 2013 by JamesMusslewhite

[Davaoeno 38,490]

What this guy did was a despicable act worthy of condemnation. 

 

Again - I think very few of us disagree with you on that point.  What has however been discussed is the much more relevant point that sometimes we have to be careful not to let others cause us to go crazy and commit such despicable acts 

 

The Philippines can be a very frustrating place and its important to try to not let it get the better of us to the extent that it did Pope.  [ which in no way is meant to excuse him !! ]