Last week, TV show Wowowee turned the Philsport Arena in Pasig City in the Philippines as a source of hope for many, forming huge crowds even days before the show’s supposed first year celebration on Saturday. But unfortunately, it turned into another place of physical chaos. Videos or pictures may have failed to capture it but that fatal morning of Saturday must have contained grim cries of helplessness of hundreds of people trying to carry the weights of a crowd who just wanted to have the show’s tickets and failed to control themselves and crushed many bodies beneath. Seventy-four had been killed in that stampede, hundreds more were wounded. And moments later, the producers of the TV show just knew that they lack enough reason to celebrate the show’s first anniversary.
Months before, 2006 has not yet set-in, Wowowee host Willie Revillame was already plugging his dream of what his programme’s first year celebration will look like. They will give away prizes, definitely more than the amount of what his daily show already does. They could have provided millions of cash, a couple of house-and-lots, or vehicles that may be used to earn a living. His prizes meant hope for his main TV audience, whose daily cost of living won’t reach 2 dollars per day.
But his dream did not come true. He said that he woke up on the 4th and dreadful morning of February, with a call from the Philippine Vice-President, telling the host that many people had been killed outside the location of his show’s anniversary edition. The supposed special TV celebration later in the afternoon and the shows before and after it were pre-empted by the tragedy coverage.
I remember what I read in early January. A showbiz prediction from a tabloid article said that a highly watched television show will turn into a tragedy, and will cause the fall of the said program. ( “Isang namamayagpag na show ang mauuwi sa isang malagim na trahedya na ikababagsak ng naturang programa,” the article read if I remember it right from People’s Journal or People’s Tonight.) Many may have not believed it but the universal message should have been noted: If you organize an event, contingency should always be part of the plan.
“Prepare for the worst,” country Senator Richard Gordon told in another interview after the disaster, borrowing organizational and rescue parlance. This was missed by the Wowowee producers, the Pasig City local government, and by the Philsport stadium management.
Willie Revillame was still crying in an interview after the initial day of great grief. He said that he doesn’t know if he can go back to Wowowee. Yet I hope this is not the end of Willie Revillame’s noontime program. We witnessed how candid Revillame can get for everybody to watch him, especially in his previous shows. Even though his foul candidness caused his two suspensions from television years ago, he transformed himself to become a wholesome and highly appreciated host in Wowowee. The program is not yet perfect but it became a favorite among Filipinos across the nation and abroad because it has the “heart” that only a few shows in Filipino entertainment TV history sincerely express.
I hope, we shall not witness another tragic incident like the Wowowee stampede. Event organizers, for television or not, in the country may learn that along huge crowd gathering formulas is a plan to prevent or remedy unwanted and unfortunate issues.