Un-Glorietta

My sister-in-law, Cath, did her grocery at Rustan's. While waiting for her I decided to take my kids to Glorietta play area last Saturday from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. It was a very unusual Glorietta that we witnessed. The busiest shopping mall was deserted. It's not normal and it's appalling. People come in trickles and the languid mood was much felt.

A day after a deadly blast in the area that killed eleven and wounded over a hundred, this was quite expected.

The bomb experts are still gathering evidence whether it was a terror attack or an accident. I remember the Course on International Terrorism that I previously facilitated. I gained a couple of friends from the participants and there's one who is a bomb expert. As chief of the bomb squad, he's been frequently interviewed in connection with this tragedy. He's still mum on giving conclusions as they continue to gather sufficient evidence but given the lessons I've learned from that training, it would be difficult to identify one such act. And if indeed it was, it's a lamentable truth. It's so heartrending to see innocent people get into this kind of tragedy where they were left helpless and lifeless out of one man's whimsical, beastly act just so a political cause gets across the government's negotiating table.

The misfortunate event was stunningly traumatic. The victim could have been someone I know or some friend you know or some workaholic yuppies having late lunch. Whoever was caught up in that leisurely place did not get the respite he/she was simply after. It was unspeakably immense. We could only sympathize with the grieving families, empathize with the victims and hope that justice will be served soon.

While it's incomprehensible to imagine how contemporary beasts could have played with lives and that the attack (maybe accident) could have temporarily scared the hell out of us, we remain undeterred. This great loss will have to remind us that our security threat is paramount. On the other hand, we quietly mourn with the nation as a consequence of this tragic incident.

In a metropolis, going to a shopping center is our way of relaxation. We just hope that if it was an accident, it should be prevented from recurring in the future. And if it was more than that, we hope that the security guards will have a better sense of detecting explosives so the terror threat can be downplayed. Things get sophisticated and high tech and the terrorists in our midst have turned savvy bomb makers. May the guards know exactly what they are looking for when they make their routinary inspection to shoppers and passersby. May this tragic event bring solidarity in our nation that is now in palpable threat of yet a great divide.