Venus Raj takes over Manila Hostage Crisis

From a tourist bus, to the big stage, Philippines made some big news within 48 hours. First, an ex-cop hijacked a tourist bus filled with tourists mostly from Hong Kong along with three other Filipinos. Second is Miss Philippines' answer to the final question in the Miss Universe 2010 pageant.

Photo just to show two topics in one.

Let’s discuss first the Manila bus hostage crisis wherein Rolando Mendoza, 55, hijacked a bus parked near Rizal Park in Manila. He demands media to arrive by 3:00 PM because he has important announcements to make. Instead of the hostage taker to be the center of attraction of the news, the slow-moving SWAT and police was scrutinized by international media and organizations. Facebook and Twitter was then filled with topics involving Philippine police and SWAT’s shortcomings. A lot of people are now blaming the Filipinos for such incident but all I can say is that Rolando Mendoza or the PNP and SWAT doesn’t make up the whole Philippines just like Muslims are not terrorists.

Major major news in Yahoo international.

After the hostage crisis, Maria Venus Raj made a “major major” mistake in her life after answering the final question in the Miss Universe 2010 pageant. She said that she doesn’t have any “major major” problems in her 22 years of existence which is quite unbelievable for a normal person like her. She ended up 4th runner up in the pageant but according to Donald Trump, co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization, she could actually win the title if only she answered it a lot better. The good side about Venus Raj is that she made it to the top 15, down to 10, then to the final 5. The last Filipina who became a finalist in the same pageant was Mirriam Quiambao who was a contestant in the Miss Universe 1999. Now, after the pageant, Venus Raj has a major mistake in her life because she did not answer the final question properly. Overall, she did a great job and I salute her for making it all the way to the final 5.