Within the span of 24 hours, we saw two sides, both at the very extreme ends, of the Philippines. We saw how a hostage taking in Manila became a national shame and we witnessed how a beauty pageant in Las Vegas became almost a national pride. Both stories have so many "what ifs" but they practically speak of two sides of the country, if not of its people. The hostage taking of a disgruntled former policeman was witnessed by the entire world, thanks to the indiscriminate aiming of the media's lenses. It started quite well, with 9 hostages released unharm and the rest of the day almost uneventful. Then the cover of night made things turn for the worse. The downpour of heavy rain added to the drama like it was a scene from a familiar Hollywood movie. But in this case, real bullets, real blood, real lives were before us. I would not even dare analyze how I think the situation was made worse. I leave that to the experts in such matters. What I feel though is that this could ha...