THE HEIGHT OF STUPIDITY…or my two-cents worth on the hostage-taking incident in Luneta!

The country is once again in the eye of the storm these past few days because of the seemingly inadequate government response to a hostage-taking incident that happened a few days ago, last August 23, 2010. It happened when a tourist bus was boarded by a disgruntled police officer at Rizal Park in Manila. The bus, then carrying 25 people, mostly tourists and a tour guide from Hong Kong was hijacked by a cop hoping to get reinstated as he felt he was summarily dismissed in 2009 for allegations of corruption. However, ten hours into the stand-off (yes it took them that long!) negotiations broke down when the police arrested the cop’s brother and incited him to open fire. The bus driver escaped but Mendoza and eight of his hostages were killed and several others injured. I guess what really got everyone’s ire was the way the Manila Police District SWAT team conducted its ‘rescue attempt’, which took around 90 minutes and showed to the entire world just how inept and bumbling Philippine cops truly were. The incident commander on the ground was Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and Superintendent Yebra was designated as the negotiator but the hostage-taker kept in constant touch with media man Erwin Tulfo. He at first demanded that the Ombudsman review his case and by afternoon, Manila Vice-mayor Isko Moreno personally delivered a letter from the Ombudsman to the hostage scene. But Mendoza did not like that the Ombudsman refused to reinstate him but instead just promised to review his case. Another thing that went terribly wrong was the fact that they allowed live media coverage of the event and since the tourist bus had a TV on board, Mendoza was able to learn about the presence of SWAT teams and snipers in the vicinity. Mendoza became further agitated upon witnessing his brother get arrested on TV while hoping to negotiate on his behalf (they said he was seen carrying a gun, that was why he got arrested). Mendoza demanded that they release his brother or he would start executing hostages. At this point, some shots were indeed fired and later on they learned from survivors that two hostages were shot point blank by Mendoza. It was during this stage that the SWAT team showed its total incompetence when it surrounded the bus and attempted for so many minutes to break the windows with sledgehammers…but they took so long because apparently the windows of the bus were made of Plexiglas…well, they could have done some research first right!?!? So they won’t look outright bumbling to the rest of the world!?!?!Imagine…their attempts to board the bus took ONE HOUR! The attempt to open the door of the bus was also laughable – they tied a rope to a police vehicle and it resulted to the rope snapping – WTF!?!?! For a while, there I thought I was a watching a police comedy show!!! Finally, they were able to do something right coz when Mendoza attempted to go out the door and shoot back at the cops, a police marksman shot Mendoza in the head. By then, eight hostages had already died, including the Hong Kong tour guide while the others were brought to nearby hospitals to be treated for minor wounds and injuries. Sentiments on social media about the affair ranged from shame, sadness and sympathy for the hostage victims, anger at the police for their bumbling response, annoyance at the media for their overzealous coverage, rage at the seemingly inadequate government response during and after the incident. But most of all, there was overall concern over the damage the incident would bring to the country’s image as a tourist destination. But I guess more than that, the government should learn from this sordid affair and start with the basics with regards to handling crisis. This is not the first and last time that an incident like this may happen…let’s just hope that the government would do better the next time. P.S. A few more months later, both the Philippine and HK governments conducted separate investigations into the incident. Their findings both revealed that the victims had been unlawfully killed and identified some lapses in the way the Philippine government handled the incident. Among the findings include – failure to activate the crisis management committee, lack of involvement of the DOJ, the arrest of Gregorio Mendoza that triggered the hostage-taker to become hostile, the absence of Mayor Lim and MPD Director at a ‘crucial time’ during the negotiations, the lack of training, equipment and tactical competence of the SWAT officers, the lack of vital information about the bus, the rejection of the use of the PNP SAF and failure to preserve the crime scene, and failure to block televised proceedings. The Hongkong government issued a ‘black travel alert’ for the Philippines as a result of the affair. A few more months later, Deputy Ombudsman Gonzales was dismissed for his inordinate and unjustified delay in handling Mendoza’s appeal.