Babe's Eye View article

Today is April Fools Day. How this day originated is unknown, yet it is celebrated worldwide usually with practical jokes and harmless pranks.

In the United States, kids would tape a "kick me sign" on a person's back, or tamper with someone's alarm clock.

In the Philippines, however, Filipinos can be really mean and nasty with their jokes. A prank like borrowing money without any intention of paying at all could end up violently—with the victim killing the prankster.

The closest explanation on how April Fools Day started can be traced back to the 1500s during the reign of Charles IX. During that time, the New Year was celebrated from March 25 to April 1. But when the Gregorian calendar—which we are using today—was introduced, New Year's Day was moved to January 1.

That piece of important news, however, did not travel fast enough and it took several years before the rest of the people knew about it. Those who refused to accept the change continued to celebrate on April 1 and were ridiculed as "fools," invited to non-existent parties and subjected to one form of harassment or another.

With modern technology today, however, news travels fast. Last Wednesday, we were all made to look like fools in the eyes of the whole world by a fool named Jun Ducat. This self-styled do-gooder wanted to have some fame for himself by taking 26 children hostage, placing their lives in grave danger.

The irony of it all is that this nut claimed he was doing it out of love for these kids. He said he didn't have the money anymore to subsidize the education of these children. As the drama unfolded and while the world watched, we found out later that he was involved in a similar caper in 1989, taking two priests as hostages over an unpaid contract. This man's foolish action all boils down to the fact that he needed money.

No one knows the extent of psychological damage this whole episode may have inflicted on those poor children, but there's no question it will have some effect sooner or later. Psychologists have already confirmed that the consequences of a traumatic episode like this one will manifest later on in life as the child grows up.

Now for people to even praise the act of this insane man as heroic is simply ridiculous. It's a good thing this episode ended without any bloodshed. In any language and whichever way you look at it, this Ducat nut committed a crime.

To condone the hostage taking and pass it off as an act of heroism would encourage others to do the same thing so they, too, can have their demands met. This will only embolden petty criminals and worse—terrorists—into thinking their sob stories or misguided ideology justify their action.

The incident has caused this nation worldwide embarrassment and gave a false perception of the Philippines as a country that is chaotic—a story we can do without especially at a time when an international media convention was taking place at the Manila Hotel.

Little comfort can be derived from the fact that all over the world, there are people afflicted with a Messianic complex, who see themselves as saviors, deluded into thinking they alone could save the world. (We have a few of them in our midst.) I was disgusted to hear some people glorifying the act of Ducat the nut, saying it was borne out of desperation by a man who deeply cared for the poor and who wanted to secure the future of the children.

He already gave those kids psychological trauma, and if he dropped the grenade at any point during that 10-hour drama, then obviously there wouldn't be any future for them at all. If anyone should be praised, it should be the teachers who kept the children calm—making them sing, playing with them, reassuring them, getting them occupied and keeping them oblivious of the danger they were in—and of course, the special police units present who tried to do their best to keep the situation under control. There are only two places where this "loony tune" belongs—either in jail or the "funny farm."

April Fools Day is also a reminder for many politicians. Though popularity may still influence voters, more and more people are no longer fooled by rhetoric, empty promises and motherhood statements. People are beginning to look for substance and clear-cut plans of action.

With modern technology, people today can easily see if one is for real or not. Information technology is helping people become more aware about issues that could affect their lives since it has the power to spread information all over the world in just a matter of minutes. Aside from radio and television, there is texting, the internet, blogging, podcasting and other tools for quick information dissemination to a large number of people.

In Tagalog, they say there are only two kinds of people—taong nanloloko at taong nagpapaloko. Now there is a third category—taong luko-luko—which we just saw recently. The fact is, people can no longer be taken for a ride by politicians.

More than 50 percent of this country's population belongs to the age group below 24, and as this young generation gains more access to technology, they can make wise choices based on intelligent information.

April Fools Day is the day people should be reminded of Abraham Lincoln's famous 1849 line: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."