Topic: The Wowowee Tragedy at Ultra: Your thoughts on the incident

[indie boi]

What has been bugging me about this is that Gabby Lopez announced that ABS-CBN Foundation will shoulder all the medical and burial expenses of the victims. Why would the non-profit arm shoulder the expenses? First of all, this will be a big tax break for them, secondly, the foundation sources its funds partly from donations from third parties like other corporations and well-meaning individuals. This only means that other people's money would be used to pay the expenses of the victims, when the accident happened within the jurisdiction of the broadcasting arm.

It would have been different if Lopez said that the broadcasting arm will shoulder all the expenses but it will be dispensed by the non-profit arm.

[jeckjeck]

Goodness! You are right indie boi! ABS CBN Foundation is supposed to fund initiatives like the Bantay Bata, Bahay Kalinga, Knowledge Channel, etc... Now they are going to use foundation funds donated by 3rd parties to pay for the liabilities brought about by the stampede! That stinks! Someone should raise this publicly!

[gurang]

What has been bugging me about this is that Gabby Lopez announced that ABS-CBN Foundation will shoulder all the medical and burial expenses of the victims. Why would the non-profit arm shoulder the expenses? First of all, this will be a big tax break for them, secondly, the foundation sources its funds partly from donations from third parties like other corporations and well-meaning individuals. This only means that other people's money would be used to pay the expenses of the victims, when the accident happened within the jurisdiction of the broadcasting arm.

Oh wow, that is crass. If the registered corporate purposes of ABS-CBN Foundation are limited to shouldering particularly named programs such as Bantay Bata, and not extraneous charitable initiatives, then the Foundation would not be allowed to release funds for those other purposes. I guess though that there would be an all-inclusive clause that would justify the Foundation in releasing funds for the stampede victims. Still, even if the move is legally justifiable, it does not make it morally correct.

However, if the donors to the Foundation specifically intended their contributions to go to particular programs, then I think their intentions should be respected, legalities aside.

[edited to add]

but we cannot also discount the possibility that the funds to be set aside by the Foundation are ultimately sourced from ABS itself. Presumably, the largest donor to the Foundation is also ABS, so it may be less objectionable if it is those funds, and not those from private donors, which are used to remunerate the victims. Still, it would be a shame that those worthwhile initiatives of the network would be deprived of funding in the process.

[jekoy]

What has been bugging me about this is that Gabby Lopez announced that ABS-CBN Foundation will shoulder all the medical and burial expenses of the victims. Why would the non-profit arm shoulder the expenses? First of all, this will be a big tax break for them, secondly, the foundation sources its funds partly from donations from third parties like other corporations and well-meaning individuals. This only means that other people's money would be used to pay the expenses of the victims, when the accident happened within the jurisdiction of the broadcasting arm.

It would have been different if Lopez said that the broadcasting arm will shoulder all the expenses but it will be dispensed by the non-profit arm.

one more thing, the lopezes own the lot where medical city was built. according to people from the hospital, abs need not pay the bills accumulated by the patients...

[jekoy]

randy david had said it in an interview, "mass media should be party be blame for what had happened. they have been exploiting the situation of the people."

i believe it, too! wowowee may have all the good intentions in mind i.e. helping to "alleviate" the conditions of the poor but exploitation is definitely on the other other side of the coin.  they have overlooked that part.

[jeckjeck]

However, if the donors to the Foundation specifically intended their contributions to go to particular programs, then I think their intentions should be respected, legalities aside.

Our company recently donated P100,000 plus a few PCs to the ABS CBN Foundation for something on the Knowledge Channel... there was even a signing and turn over ceremony at Benpres covering the event...

hmm... my bosses would be interested in this piece of info...

[jerix]

For me its totally alright if the idea to sue the company for its alleged negligence comes directly from the victims. What i dont like to see is other people's temerity in pushing hard and convincing families of these victims to explore chance to get bigger money from the company by urging them to file class suit.

The way I am seeing the situation, even the families of victims dont have that degree of ill-feelings against the company, the show, or even against willie revillame. It seems that only the "mirons" so to speak, are the ones angry against said company, the show and to other people of that show - hiding in the guise of trying to fight for the rights of these victims.

[voj]

What has been bugging me about this is that Gabby Lopez announced that ABS-CBN Foundation will shoulder all the medical and burial expenses of the victims. Why would the non-profit arm shoulder the expenses? First of all, this will be a big tax break for them, secondly, the foundation sources its funds partly from donations from third parties like other corporations and well-meaning individuals. This only means that other people's money would be used to pay the expenses of the victims, when the accident happened within the jurisdiction of the broadcasting arm.

It would have been different if Lopez said that the broadcasting arm will shoulder all the expenses but it will be dispensed by the non-profit arm.

my thoughts exactly.  It's a subtle way of distancing the corporation from the tragedy.  With the foundation, they could make it appear that they are "helping" the victims instead of "answering" for their actions.

[wrAth]

For me its totally alright if the idea to sue the company for its alleged negligence comes directly from the victims. What i dont like to see is other people's temerity in pushing hard and convincing families of these victims to explore chance to get bigger money from the company by urging them to file class suit.

The way I am seeing the situation, even the families of victims dont have that degree of ill-feelings against the company, the show, or even against willie revillame. It seems that only the "mirons" so to speak, are the ones angry against said company, the show and to other people of that show - hiding in the guise of trying to fight for the rights of these victims.

I agree that victims' families should not be compelled to sue anyone to possibly cash in on the incident. Then again, the government doesn't need their consent to file civil and criminal charges against the ones responsible. The government owes it to the entire country to find out who is culpable in order to mete justice where it is due, and avoid such incidents from occuring again.

Plus, seeing how malignantly fanatic the audience was (in general) over the show, it would be best for all of us to let a third-party entity handle the matter.

[voj]

Reposting from the other thread:


My observations:

1.  Our church use to spend our anniversary at the ULTRA and while the organizers of our annviersary take pains to anticipate any untoward incidents.  I notice that some of the doors inside the ULTRA is locked via chains!  While it makes movement smooth I cringe on my seat thinking of worst case scenarios if ever a fire breaks out, which might lead to a similar accident.  Though this does not have any bearing on the ABSCBN accident since it happened on the outside.

2.  I watch both noon time shows as EAT Bulaga is our client in the rental business, we make sure we "remind" them to use us on their special events.  There is one glaring difference between the two in terms of audience participation.   In EAT Bulaga, they do not have any contest that involve the studio audience.  They have recognize a long time ago that the TV audience is their bread and butter, thus most of their contests involve TXTing or calling.  While there are many segments in Wowowee that involves the live audience - from their joke,joke which gives the audience anywhere from $10, $20, P500 etc to the other segments where they are pitted against each other.  Thus I consider the Eat Bulaga audience as a true gauge of its popularity, as these people do not expect any "jackpot" or "doleouts"

The quest for No. 1 rating gone overboard.  If you remember, previously ABSCBN tried to out-"Star" GMA7 by putting as many stars as possible in their noontime show just to achieve No. 1 status.  And they did. For a while.  But at what costs.  When the last show was cancelled (poor Arnel), Joey de Leon mentioned offhand and in an unguarded moment "Mahina sila eh, hindi naman kailangan mag-no. 1 para kumita"

I thought they heard it right when they started Wowowee,  1 main expensive, box office draw and 3 newbies.  The tables suddenly turned, suddenly GMA7's EAT Bulaga became the more expensive show to produce what  with Vic and Joey + Anjo, Janno And Michael V.  The rest being also rans (but they are the ones carrying the show, don't you agree?). 

All of a sudden they began going for the No. 1 again. Producing crowds in the live audience to show that they are SRO.  My thinking is that they wanted to out-do the anniversary of EB.

3.  Having said that, this does not mean that I believe they wanted this to happen.  NO ONE wanted this to happen, but being more realistic and more circumspect in their strategies could have prevented the tragedy.

4.  This is both a PR and financial disaster for ABSCBN.  Maybe to the tune of hundreds of millions of pesos.  Sadly, it won't all go to the victims but to the management of the problem.


As expected, No. 4 is now a reality.

[wrAth]

my thoughts exactly.  It's a subtle way of distancing the corporation from the tragedy.  With the foundation, they could make it appear that they are "helping" the victims instead of "answering" for their actions.

I wouldn't be too surprised if they sever ties with AVP of Security Luspo and the show's production manager to further distance themselves from the tragedy.

Speaking of distancing, after watching the news last night, i just couldn't help wonder kung gaano talaga kakapal ang mukha ng ABS-CBN to be airing "heroism in the midst of tragedy" segments as frequent as they present the horrid truths of the incident.

It's one thing for another network to portray these stories (but even that can be done bad taste), or if the tragedy in question is natural, but for the news arm of the corporation who is most probably culpable to run these is just in very bad taste. It's like they had nothing to do with the incident!

Don't they get it that if they had done their job, their would be no need to look at the "silver lining" because there would have been no storm?

[indie boi]

From what I've been hearing Gabby Lopez was incensed over the way Luspo handled the press conference and is itching to let him go. But I don't think this will happen immediately. If he fires Luspo now he would just be telling the public that the error was entirely ABS-CBN's. If the crisis management team does their work they'd wait until the heat dies down before he is quietly let go.

[nixenzo]

From what I've been hearing Gabby Lopez was incensed over the way Luspo handled the press conference and is itching to let him go. But I don't think this will happen immediately. If he fires Luspo now he would just be telling the public that the error was entirely ABS-CBN's. If the crisis management team does their work they'd wait until the heat dies down before he is quietly let go.

I think he should be one of the people to be blamed. I saw parts of the investigation on ANC last sunday, and I have to admit, the head of security was nuts. Hypocrite! Tapos he's playing the blame game. It's nuts! Then the management of the station took some five hours before cancelling the show! That's like thirty minutes before the show starts! Why? Why did it took that long of a time before realizing that dozens of people are already dead and that going on with the show is going to be insensitive?

But clearly, ABS-CBN and PSC is not the only ones to blame. And I do not think it is the Network wars (Give it a break. The networks already know that advertisers has choices now, unlike before.). In a larger sense, it is the indirect fault of the government. These people wanted money -- fast. Some need money for healthcare. Some to survive, and maybe put up a small business. And people in the upper tier of the society keep on sucking the already scarce resources of our country.  So, in a sense all the political bickering does cause lives. It wasn't just as evident as what happened here. This incident, therefore, exposed the weaknesses of the whole spectrum.

So, the event organizers is clearly to blame, but in order to prevent this from ever happening again (Meaning, stampedes caused by game shows and whatnot. I first heard it on CNN, and I was really surprised when I found out it was because of "Wowowwee" -- indignifying in a way, but more unfortunate nonetheless.), we must see the big picture. But what about the show? I really do not know if it is wise to continue on, at least for another year. It will be discomforting to remember this incident every single anniversary. I even have a re-written theme song on my mind. But I won't be sharing it, though, as it even disgusts me. Talk about a ridiculous way to die.

So, I think we should just pray for the souls of the departed, so that they won't die in vain, and to remind us of what is our real situation.

[JT]

Di kasi talaga tayo magaling sa "Capacity Planning".  Whether for family, event or infrastructures.   Yung mga design or preparations ay laging may bottleneck.

[wrAth]

Di kasi talaga tayo magaling sa "Capacity Planning".  Whether for family, event or infrastructures.   Yung mga design or preparations ay laging may bottleneck.

Siguro kung si Bayani Fernando ang in-charge sa crowd control ng Wowowee, gumawa na yun ng pedestrian u-turn slots sa Ultra, pangontra sa bottleneck. hehehe.

[Munskie]

read the editorial of PDI today...there was one  saying quoted there...."give a man a fish..and he will live for a day, teach a man to fish, and he will live forever".  i really think the organizers and the government are in some degree liable to what happened there.  The organizers for "inviting" people there, giving hope to those people via a game of chance..fast buck processes. and the government for not giving enough livelihood projects and creating employment.  People must be thought that to escape poverty, the way is through the old basic hardworkand patience route, not fast buck game of chances.  Just give them the opportunity man.

[wrAth]

I think in deconstructing this incident per se, we may have to discount the reasons why the people assembled there. All that matters is that they were there and they wanted to get in because they were invited.  A crowd of 30,000 can assemble anytime anywhere for any given reason, and regardless of their demographic profile, a tragedy like this can still occur, and can be prevented through adequate logistical management.

[jeckjeck]

From what I've been hearing Gabby Lopez was incensed over the way Luspo handled the press conference and is itching to let him go. But I don't think this will happen immediately. If he fires Luspo now he would just be telling the public that the error was entirely ABS-CBN's. If the crisis management team does their work they'd wait until the heat dies down before he is quietly let go.

He should be! As I posted in a related thread, Luspo kept giving conflicting information. The production person then gave further information that also contradicted what Luspo had said. Then here's Mayor Eusebio saying that ABS CBN never coordinated with them... wake up old man! Tens of thousands of people were camped at a major sight inside your city which had affected traffic for several days before the event and you were waiting for ABS CBN to coordinate with you? If you or your people knew your jobs, you should've already stepped in and taken command of the situation as early as Thursday or at the very least contacted ABS and waved red flags already! 

I also find it amusingly disturbing that everytime he stood in front of a camera, Willie Revillame would shed (or try hard to shed) tears even until his interviews late into the night of Saturday already. I gave him the benefit of the doubt when he cried during the announcement but c'mon! Also, on the noontime show on Sunday... Zsa Zsa Padilla was singing and crying at the same time! C'mon now! Then later in the show after the so called tribute ang saya saya na nila!

Anyway, that's me ranting again. Well, the ULTRA Fact Finding Team already aired their findings but all were recommendations for prevention of similar tragedies... nothing on liability... it's up to the DOJ daw to decide that...

[jerix]

I got a brother in law who is a member of a security force of a downtown Las Vegas Hotel. According to him whenever a BLACK group holds a party in the hotel, the security force are always doubled the number of would be attendees. Such is not done when a WHITE group holds a similar party. The blacks are generally known for their ill manner whenever they are drunk and in a group.

The point here, in the planning stage of the Wowowee show the matter that was left out, i think, may have been the issue on the kind and character of people who were supposed to attend the show. This will be first time and no historical record can warn the organizers thay they have to consider this issue in their plan, so that they have to field a thousand security force more. Pinoys are not generally known to be what you are thinking now -- "magugulo, walang disiplina, makasarili. etc. "

The number of security force in the area may be ample and even more than enough for a disciplined group of 50 thousands, but  i tell you, a thousand may not even be enough to guard just an unruly two folds of that number.

Maybe the organizers' negligence can be actually traced on its inability or its being not keen enough to detect that "Pinoys" now have become that kind people, that kind of breed, that kills just to be able to get a ticket in a show in order to have that one in a thousand chance to win a few thousand pesos so he can feed his hungry family. Their negligence is their overestimation of that discipline.

Now, a question should be asked -- why have we become that kind of people? This is tempting to explore. But i think we should stop there.

Rather, this i think should just be considered a lesson -- to file suit against Tom, dick and Harry may just exacerbate the difficult situation the pinoys are in right now. This will result to more divisions and more conflict. 

[indie boi]

The point here, in the planning stage of the Wowowee show the matter that was left out, i think, may have been the issue on the kind and character of people who were supposed to attend the show.

Good assessment. Months before this thing happened my wife kept telling me stories about how unruly the Wowowee crowd outside ABS-CBN could get. One thing she kept repeating was that, even if the show has already ended, the crowds refused to go home thinking that if they camp outside the compound it will make it easier for them to get in the studio. Luspo and his men, having to contend with this type of crowd for almost a year here in Mother Ignacia, should have used this information in forming their security plan. Luspo's excuse that the crowd was more unruly than usual does not hold water because he already knows first hand how unruly they can get.

But in fairness to ABS-CBN, some of their top honchos are really devastated about this incident and are personally affected. Word is, Charo Santos has been going to the office with no makeup and not dressed up for a few days now. She's really depressed.

[oweidah]

abs-cbn - damage control -(what do you expect?)
gma7 & others - going for the kill !!! (oh come on, what do you expect?)
business is business, kung nagkapalit ng kapalaran, ganyan din gagawin nila....

as to the poor desperate filipinos? pampalubag loob sa mga naapektuhan (namatayan o nasaktan) but show will go on, this will be forgotten. what do you expect? hindi kaya ng gob bigyan lahat yan ng trabaho esp the old women.... pipila at pipila uli sa ano mang game-show na may sapat na pa-premyo para baguhin ang buhay nila....

madaling magsalita na turuan huwag maging mendicant na magsipag etc, esp ung mga nakaka-angat sa buhay. the sad reality is OVERPOPULATED NA TAYO. dumarami ang mahirap, ang dating class ABC now ABCDE na....

will it happen again? i hope and pray never.....but

[JdelaCruz]

The irony is that people at the ULTRA were there in the hope that their lives will improve somehow with the instant cash they can win. Now, that very life is gone. And irony upon irony, their families may well get the cash after all -- as abuloy from ABS-CBN.

[jekoy]

It's one thing for another network to portray these stories (but even that can be done bad taste), or if the tragedy in question is natural, but for the news arm of the corporation who is most probably culpable to run these is just in very bad taste. It's like they had nothing to do with the incident!

Don't they get it that if they had done their job, their would be no need to look at the "silver lining" because there would have been no storm?

my thoughts exactly! seemed like they did nothing wrong and we should compliment them with their good deeds!  when in fact, it's their responsibilty mostly to help the victims!

[Mr. Big Boy]

About the network wars...

GMA-7 was the only other TV station to give full coverage to this incident.   Their reporters really emphasized with their interviews on people disgusted with ABS-CBN.   They showed footages of the corpses, injured people and repeated it again and again and again.  One of their reporters even commented that this incident was one of the worst tragedies in modern Philippine history. GMA-7's intention was obvious, they are trying to give their rival a real shot of bad publicity as long as possible.  To cap all these ironies, they stopped the coverage to air Wowowee's rival show..."Eat Bulaga!".    Vic and Joey reportedly spent a few minutes to pray for the victims, but were not good in hiding their smirks during the course of the show as they felt they have put away the show's biggest threat...Willie and Wowowee. 

Their Saturday night GMA FLASH REPORT was surprisingly long enough to give injustice to the word "flash".  Repeatedly showing footages of the victims and their weeping families, once again focusing on people who were saying that they would never go to that noontime show in their lifetime and victims lashing out on ABS-CBN's irresponsibility.    Even the staff at Jessica Soho's show did a astonishingly fabulous job, possibly with the order of GMA management, as they instantly came up with a segment on the Ultra stampede.  These segments usually take days to produce.   

Certainly, GMA-7's actions were as indigistible like the stories of people who asked for raffle tickets right before stepping on corpses.   Has the rival for network dominance gone this low?   I hope they won't go low as throwing out a party for ensuring their "No. 1 Kapuso" title for years to come.

Exactly.  I think the rival station of ABS-CBN saw this tragedy as a blessing for them and gladly took the opportunity to destroy ABS-CBN, especially now that GMA is loosing their audience share in the ratings very rapidly.  It's no secret in the industry that ABS-CBN has been performing very well these past few weeks and is gaining very significant ground in the ratings war. They practically retaken 75 percent of the primetime pie, plus the recent phenomenal performance of the Pacquiao-Morales bout will surely leapfrog it to the daytime lead.

It's hard to believe that the Network War have reached this callous state.  I don't know what's worst - ABS-CBN doing damage control on the wake of this tragedy or GMA using this tragedy and the corpses as a bullet for ABS-CBN.

And btw I think it's about time that someone teach Joey deLeon when to shut up.  When Joey made a joke about the death of Ernie Baron even before the guy was burried I thought he wont be able to top that, guess what, he did with this stampede.

[jeckjeck]

What was Joey de Leon's joke on Ernie Baron? On the stampede? I heard that he did say something...

I remember an ABS CBN reporter interviewing one of the victims (an old lady) who was treated for minor injuries at around past 11am on the day of the stampede. The questions being asked were very leading (and distasateful given the situation) but Ted Failon was actually the one asking the reporter to ask the questions...

(Reporter just found out victim was from the province and Ted goes and asks reporter... Pakitanong nga sa kanya...)
Question: Bakit ho kahit pagkalayo layo ng pinanggalingan nyo ay pumunta pa rin kayo dito at nagtiis na pumila sa ULTRA ng ilang araw para lang makapasok sa Wowowee Anniversary?  
Answer: Mahal na mahal kasi ho namin si Willie....

[Mr. Big Boy]

I don't know what the joke was about in Ernie Baron's case, but suffice to say that it was disrespectful and in bad taste.  Regarding this stampede, it was reported and many people I know confirmed it to me, that Joey said in Eat Bulaga something like,"dito na lang kayo manood, kasi ang mga tao dito buhay" then made a cut gesture across his neck using his finger.

Then at the end of the show, they offered a prayer and a minute of silence. lol  I think that's their version of their own damage control.

[Mr. Big Boy]

What has been bugging me about this is that Gabby Lopez announced that ABS-CBN Foundation will shoulder all the medical and burial expenses of the victims. Why would the non-profit arm shoulder the expenses? First of all, this will be a big tax break for them, secondly, the foundation sources its funds partly from donations from third parties like other corporations and well-meaning individuals. This only means that other people's money would be used to pay the expenses of the victims, when the accident happened within the jurisdiction of the broadcasting arm.

It would have been different if Lopez said that the broadcasting arm will shoulder all the expenses but it will be dispensed by the non-profit arm.

ABS-CBN clarified this already.   ABS-CBN Foundation said that they are not soliciting funds or donations from the public and that they are not shouldering the expenses.   ABS-CBN Foundation said that they were merely facilitating for ABS-CBN and it is ABS-CBN that's funding this operation not them.

[Great Buys]

randy david had said it in an interview, "mass media should be party be blame for what had happened. they have been exploiting the situation of the people."

Whether media is to be blamed or not isn't really the thing we must focus on. People have died because a certain game show has promised them a slice of heaven if they will come and watch its performance live. A real, solid plan for crowd control was sorely lacking and (sadly) it's the fault of the event's organizers. Media may have contributed  to the build-up of tension before, during and after the tragedy, but they are not the main culprits in this unfortunate incident. I'm no great fan of irresponsible media myself, but let us identify first who is the biggest contributor to this event.

i believe it, too! wowowee may have all the good intentions in mind i.e. helping to "alleviate" the conditions of the poor but exploitation is definitely on the other other side of the coin.  they have overlooked that part.

As they say, "The road to heaven (or was it hell?) is often paved with good intentions". 

I have always believed from the start that Wowowwee's premise is flawed.  The show gives away money to (needy) people in order to rake-in huge rating points.  It is not new that ABS-CBN bigwigs have resorted to such tactics.  If you still recall then, Boyet de Leon's Who wants to be a millionaire? game show has been a consistent top rater though it was being shown by a run-of-the-mill (pardon my expression) TV network.  ABS came up with (that idiotic show) GAME KNB?, hosted by no less than you know who.  Game KNB's premise is the same, offer much higher prizes to mostly poor folks by just answering super easy questions.  Of course, the show became an instant hit, toppled WBAM and up til today is raking huge ratings points using more or less the same formula, with celebrities as contestants to boot.

Wowoweee (did I spell it right?), is no different. After losing consistently to the Kapuso channel's noontime show for such a long period now, it employed the same offer-stupendously-huge-prizes sheme just to get noticed.  And predictably, people (especially the poor) have began to pay attention.  There's no business really like show business. And wowowwee exploited this to the hilt.  It has huge prizes, packs in big audience every show date and the STAR power of ABS-CBN.  Those who have been watching the show consistently can't help but hope that someday they too may win the stupendously big prizes being offered to common folks like them.  If you offer a poor person food and money just to watch u perform live (no matter how boringly stupid your performance maybe) what will you expect? Chances are that person will applaud you everytime you make a jig, dish out whatever lame joke you can hold of, or worst have the delusion that you can actually belt out a note or two.  For poor folks,  being eligible to win those big prizes being offered is worth the effort of applauding (even glorifying) every moronic action that their supposed benefactor performs for them.  And for what? Poor folk just want to survive.   And that, in my opinion, is what Wowwowwee has ingenuiosly preyed upon.

ABS media power has made sure that this (get rich quick) promise will be viewed by all common folks all over the country.  It made no qualms in giving away millions just to solidify the illusion that anyone loyal enough to watch the show live stands to win huge amounts of prizes.  More viewers means more ratings, more ratings mean more commercials, more commercials mean more MONEY for the network!!!  It's just like spending a million pesos but getting five million pesos in return, that exactly is what Wowowee is bringing to ABS-CBN.  ABS bosses have made sure that the show continually give away huge prizes to common folk while airing it live for all to see.  ABS has been preying on common folk's vulnerabilities, they drive it hard to common folk's psyche that Wowwowee is the answer to their financial problems, that in order to win big they should watch the show live. An that, common folks did. And what happened next, is TRAGEDY.

When will ABS ever learn? How many more lives have to be sacrificed just to pacify it's greed for ratings leadership and money? 

Now, they are in serious damage control. ABS offered to pay for the hospitalization, burial, etc. of each victim and compensate the departed's families as well.  But how do they do it?? Why does the ABS foundation(s) do it, why not ABS the media company itself compensate the victims? Is it because whatever amount that the ABS foundation will incur in compensating (and pacyfying?)  the victms' families can be deducted from it's tax liabilities because it's foundation(s) have shelled out the money? If so, then ABS is guilty of another sin - HYPOCRISY!!!  Saying it is sorry and yet finding a way to decrease whatever taxes is due to government by using its foundation(s) as tool.  I surely hope I am wrong for the sake of ABS-CBN.  And they should really pray hard too that no opportunistic lawyer will try to convince the victims' families to file a class suit against them for negligence.  It won't take a glib lawyer to convince people that there is more money to be earned by filing a case against this network, potential payment for damages could run into the hundreds of millions.  Enough money for every loyal watcher of Wowwowwweee to partake off just to make their million peso dreams come true.

Really?!! When will ABS-CBN ever learn??                 

[jerix]

It is for the people affected who risked their lives or even the mere recepients of the prizes, or even the viewers who enjoyed the show who should condemn ABS-CBN if there is really a need to condemn the company and not by people whom we know may not even have watched the show. I noticed that contradictory to the calmness of the affected people, the level of passion and furiousity of the mere observers is incredibly outstanding.

The supposed to be fair head of the Committee investigating the incident, no less than an undersecretary of the government is one person full of personal biases against the station and judging from his words, he is a typical example of a person who wants revenge no less. Why that degree of hate from him is something perplexing. Instead of reading the findings and conclusion of the committee he heads, he took that as personal opportunity to divulge supposedly what he had in mind about the situation which to my mind done only for one reason - for his personal aggrandizement or to make himself somehow at that instant, popular and "pogi"in the eyes of those who hate the station, among them - the powers that be. One thing for sure here, he has now made himself "kakampi" of the appointing authority.

[oweidah]

sirs, sa hirap ng buhay ngayon lahat ng gameshows ay papatulan ng mga mahihirap. eh malake magpa-premyo abs-cbn kaya d2 tayo. yesterday at the presscon someone asked if anybody called 117 for help. WALA!!!pag tumawag sila ng pulis eh baka mawala pa ang pagkakataon nilang makapasok pag binuwag at inayos ang hanay. people stepped on dead-people walang pakialam basta makapasok lang! nangyari na ang lahat, hindi pa rin umalis ang mga tao sa ultra, gusto ituloy pa ang show. Monday may nakapila pa rin sa abs-cbn hoping show will go on back to normal...desperado na ang mga tao!

maski anong daming NGO nagtuturo ng livelihood programs etc, eh sa dami ng mahihirap...at bakit ayaw na nila magtsaga at magsikap? eh nakikita nila ang  kaliwat kanan ang kurap yumayaman, at yung mga masipag at malinis ay napag-iiwanan....