Quotes on ULTRA Tragedy

"I came here to help - not to investigate."

There's the side story about insensitivity, which critics have noted not only about our own media. When Senator Richard Gordon, on the scene as chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, was asked about the cause of the stampede, he said, "I came here to help - not to investigate." (How could these "journalists" believe that the cause of accidents could be instantly determined? Get it first even if you get it wrong.) It was a stupid question, reminiscent of the broadcaster in a past tragedy in Baguio asking a man pinned down by steel, "How do you feel?" And then there are those who waved at the cameras, widely smiling, as they panned the scene.

Breakfast Table: By Adrian Cristobal
Tempo 2/6/2005


"If you give financial help to the least of your brethren, why make a public show of it?"
When I switched on the TV set to watch the aftermath of the tragedy at the Ultra, I was not surprised to see Sen. Dick Gordon at the scene helping out. It was typical of Dick, who is chair of the Philippine National Red Cross, to be at the scene of a calamity.
In 1990, Dick was in Cabanatuan City when a school building collapsed, trapping many students and killing scores of them. Dick was not supposed to be there since he was then mayor of Olongapo City, but he went there just the same to help in the rescue operations.
During the fluvial parade tragedy in Bocaue, Bulacan, on July 2, 1993, Dick sent divers to retrieve bodies in the murky river. At that time he was chair of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
While he was campaigning in a Nueva Ecija town, the market burned. Senatorial candidate Dick Gordon got down from his vehicle and managed the firefighting operations.
Giving a helping hand to victims of tragedy is second nature to Dick.
I remember an anecdote about Dick in the aftermath of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. A civic group from Manila went to Olongapo to hand over food and used clothing to Dick for victims of the disaster.
The group brought along a TV crew and news photographers for the occasion. The group wanted their generosity published in the national papers and seen on TV.
Dick Gordon didn't attend the ceremony highlighting the donations received from the civic group. He said later he believed generosity should never be made public.
"If you give financial help to the least of your brethren, why make a public show of it?" he said.

On Target: By Ramon Tulfo
Inquirer 2/7/2005