911 call makes Fil-Am poll looks like carnival of thugs

"In war, truth is the first casualty."
--AESCHYLUS

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Was the 911 call necessary?
When feuding officials of the Philippine Independence Day Parade, Inc. (PIDCI) could not agree on who should be hustled off and who should remain in the polling place, there was no need to call the cops and interrupt the proceedings.
Those involved in the election of PIDCI's new set of officers on October 7 were adults and professionals, not kindergarten pupils, thieves, thugs, pagans or nincompoops.
In the first place, why proceed with the election if there was a fundamental flaw in the system: the unmatched and squalid membership list?
And was the 911 call not an insult on the authority of Philippine Consul-General and PIDCI honorary chair Tess Dizon-De Vega, the highest Philippine official in th event?

AUTHORITY

Dizon-De Vega was in full command and authority over anyone else present; and the police had no business to gatecrash an affair participated by consulate personnel unless their services or help were solicited like what a losing candidate for the board did when he dialed 911 after the Comelec had ordered a membership watchman ejected from the polling venue.
The cops could only interfere if somebody had been mugged or manhandled; if someone had collapsed as a result of an act of violence, ailment, or natural calamity.
We dial 911 if there are near-death crises--flood, fire, hostage-taking incident, vehicular mishap, collapsed building, among other violent scenarios.
Not because one party in an election did not agree with its rivals in assignment of personnel; not because an alleged election fraud was taking place.

DIAL

When we dial 911, so many people are caught flat-footed, piqued in suspended terror, and are inconvenienced.
Drivers and commuters are delayed in a traffic jam; ambulance, patrol car, and a firetruck wheeze off frighteningly in busy intersections like a whirlwind, risking the life and limbs of everyone in the vicinity.
Only to find out when they arrived that a punk had been ousted from the election venue after emotions skyrocketed.
No blood. No injury. No fatality. Only forlorn faces of hot heads and disgruntled lackeys.
That 911 call was uncalled for and unnecessary.
It made the PIDCI election look like an assembly of hooligans or a carnival of thugs.