The
Manila Grand Stand hostage crisis greatly affects our country because of its
ripple effect scenarios. Even until now, our government is still facing a lot
of problems brought by the Manila Grand Stand hostage crisis. The issue may
only affect the government policy regarding the police security, but, it also
cross the realm of economics. Tragedy as it is, tourists became threatened of
the police security in the Philippines. Pondering, “Is the Philippines capable
enough to secure the safety of the tourists?”
I
believe that because of this incident, economic related dilemmas are faced by
the government. Thus, negative externalities arose from the Manila Grandstand
hostage taking, resulting to fallouts and repercussions to numerous sectors in
our country. It affects the foreign relations between Philippines to other
nations (Hong Kong), critics against our military and media industry, the
tainted image of our country, and the tourism industry. Hong Kong issued a
total travel ban on the Philippines, by issuing a black travel alert advising
its nationals to avoid travel to the Philippines which also makes other
countries to become alert for the safety of their citizens. Cancellations of
previously booked guests, cancellation of flights, and the withdrawal of travel
insurance for Manila-bound passengers are just some of ill effects. Tourism is
at stake because the scared tourists are not going to take the risk of touring
here in the Philippines, knowing that their safety is unsecured, right? As to
what I have researched, it is a fact that as of 2008, 6.2 % of the country’s
GDP came from the tourism sector, which therefore leads me to a conclusion that
our nation’s economy is at stake as well. This will then make less
opportunities to those working Filipinos or business establishments.
A nation’s stability is measured in
different ways. One of these is the nation’s image of standing towards economic
growth. This is very important because I believe that investors use this in
order for them to evaluate and decide whether to invest in a business within
the scope of a country. Investments will surely help the growth of our economy
since it is one of the components of GDP. A disaster as it is, the Manila
Grandstand hostage-taking again makes a negative impression towards our
economic stability which therefore hinders investors to invest. Who would
invest in a chaotic country? No one wants a risky
investment after all.
Some of the negative impacts are
pointed out, and blaming is like an easy doing, but I tried to see the other
side of the story. There, I came to a visualization that this crisis will
somewhat help the Philippines grow in the different aspects it could possibly
relate to. The fundamental deficiency in
human capital and technology in the system could be address concerning how the
police officers should response and the technology that should be used, perhaps
making it more productive in a way. The government itself will be alert enough
to insure the safety of its citizens or tourists, be it a Filipino or foreigner
for it will make more opportunities to our fellow citizens.
Handling such tragic situation may be
hard, yet blaming mistakes are easy. But come to think of it, are we doing
something to eradicate this traumatic scene? Instead of blaming, the government
and we, as well, should contribute solutions, preventing tragic incidents and
make it into a realization. For I’m sure, it will make a greater good to our
nation’s economy.
