I came home with such sad happenings on TV. A hostage taking was being done at the Quirino Grand Stand this Aug 23, 2010.
I tried watching as I do my daily routine sticking my ears and glimpsing once in a while and it was such a sad sight. An individual has hijacked a tourist bus and managed to take hold of around 15 hostages and things aren't going so smoothly considering this has been going on since morning and it was already around 7pm.
It was about a disgruntled ex-officer Rolando Mendoza who hijacked a tourist bus carrying Hong Kong nationals demanded to be reinstated back to his position after being relieved from service for alleged drug, extortion, and robbery cases.
So I finally bothered lifting my bum to watch the scene and was pretty funny and disappointing and sad all at the same time.
Media was totally all over the scene, that's understandable. But given the situation wherein they indicated that the suspect was watching TV from inside the bus, and yet they were doing the commentary on how the police would "smoothly" do a sneak up from certain directions was just so downright retarded. No special secret tactic could esuppresver be done successfully if media would keep splurging out the secret even before it's done. It just pisses me off how this continued on throughout the whole incident without anybody even suggesting discretionary comments given the situation.
Then I ought to punch that driver in the neck for exclaiming everybody was killed but maybe he was just hyped and scared, so I guess we should understand that.
I then noticed how some policemen managed to get a sledgehammer to break open any glass part of the bus. So they position themselves at the back, try to but fail breaking glass, rather just cracking it. They move towards the middle, but fail yet again. They move towards the door where they managed to break part of the glass but decided not to push through. Then they positioned themselves in front of the bus, try busting the windshield but end up letting go of the mallet through the hole they made. It's a wonder how it's supposed to look like an attempt to surprisingly break the windows but they just rang the bells to alert the suspect.
I wonder why the police was carrying some rope.
Anyway I wasn't able to catch the scene at an earlier frame but as of what I know, the policemen tried capturing the brother of the hostage taker. Observations like dragging the suspect's brother like a pig is much of a 'smart move," that's being pointed at as a cause for such provocation that basically started the shooting. Hostaging back against a hostage taker instead of rationalizing and tactically conditioning the situation for the betterment of all output was just a bad choice. IMHO, they watch too much action movies and thought they could just do stuff like that. The last thing we would ever want to happen is piss the suspect off.
Police was able to throw teargas in but didn't manage to save themselves as well. This time, I pity our police force for under equipment of such necessities in their line of work. Now don't be a puss and blame it on the previous gov't for allegedly eating up all of the funds causing such lack of budget. If the government wanted to, it can and should work things like this out.
I really don't want to push it but our police force badly needs a makeover in terms of discipline and training... most definitely in training. Looking at the way the police was moving, it tells much of how scattered and unruly and poor their function is strategically. There was no solid plan but to get to the point of saving hostages. It was simply a matter of "we want to get the hostage taker, bust him, probably kill him, and save the day" type of move. Damn. This led to so much Facebook rants over the so called SWAT team giving the acronym different meanings like:
- Sana Wag Ako Tamaan (I hope I don't get hit)
- Sayang Wala Akong Training (Too bad I had no training)
- Sorry Wala Akong Trainign (Sorry I had no training)
- Shit Wala Akong Tactics (Shit, I have no tactics)
- Sugod, Wait Atras, Tago (Charge, Wait, Fall Back, Hide)
- Sir, Where Ang Teargas (Sir, where's the teargas)
...and the puns go on and on and on. Bottomline, we should've realized through this how much our police force lacks in terms of training and co-ops strategies that should've somehow managed to smoothen up the situation a whole lot better. It's a sad fact that we need to straighten up.
Now I just want to share, thought it's a sad fact. Hostages who managed to survive were blaming the government for such a poor performance in the given crisis. They were claiming the Mendoza did not want to kill anybody if possible. This leads us back to the way cops were too stupid to hostage back against a hostage taker via the brother. In addition to this, the survivors also claimed that some of them were killed by bullets from outside the bus. This proves how hasty the actions were back when they assumed everybody was killed (thanks to the driver and media speculation and hyping). Come to think of it, the police force never actually bothered checking if there were any survivors did they? They just barged in with the sledgehammer and started firing and throwing teargas grenades without any regard if there were really any hostages still alive. Just poor performance.
Anyway, when the last round of gunshots came, what we saw next was a man buckled and hanging from the bus door's broken glass - it was Mendoza. Soon enough, the police were doing hand signs saying 'it's over' and by this time, a ton of civilians flocked towards the bus. Talk about Crowd Control Fail. Police was not able to manage bystanders who simply wanted to have a look-see compromising clearance and safety for anybody else in the bus.
What's even worse is the fact that there was a grenade/bomb threat that could harm anybody within the perimeter. But I guess, the crowd was too hard for the police to handle. Pft.
Overall, it was a matter of strategical implementation and negotiation on the part of the authorities, which made everything blow up. As far as I know, the suspect even managed to ask for food and gas to feed the tourists and continue airconditioning, and released a couple of hostages as well. It was all but a sad ending that was brought about by poor training, IMHO. They were also too lax probably comfortable enough to know that the hostage taker was kind towards the hostages so yeah, they decided to capture his brother anyway. Our police could've given maximum tolerance for the safety of our Asian brothers. They could have foreseen the danger agitating the suspect by capturing his brother. They could also have performed well and done a smooth operation towards success.
I don't want to totally blame the police force on this though. We should also consider the fact that our government does not actually fund this sector good enough hence the underequipment and probable lack of training.
On another note, media should also know what to forecast. They should not speculate a lot to harrass the thoughts of their audience, nor should they relay every bit of information, specially ones that could spoil an operation. It's a nobrainer, you tell your strategy and you're done for. You know that freedom of speech you guys are always yappin about? Well, you should know your limits on that as it is not absolute. Media should realize how much danger they pose for every little bit they declare and release. There should be some kind of discretionary censorship if you ask me...
Now I know how much this has affected our image starting with Hong Kong discouraging travel to the Philippines, but I say that's completely understandable, yeah? [Updated as of 08/24/10, 6 other countries followed the ban including Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Russia, Pakistan, and Iran]. We would probably do the same should something similar happen. Then again, when our OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) are being tortured and killed abroad, we don't do anything drastic yeah? Nevertheless, it'll pass. I guess the bottomline here is how we should hold our ground and let this not put us in shame. The doing of one man can be overcome by the responsive action of millions if we really wanted to. And yeah, I believe we can. It was a sad day for the Philippines, Hong Kong, and the whole world. Things like this will surely come. But despite that, let's keep our heads up. Let's start to actually learn from such and start moving towards the dream of having Philippines rise up again.
...oh and hey, this is such bad taste but somebody managed to make a game out of the tragedy. Of all the things that could have been done, it's making a game that some nerd managed to think of - Bus Hostage by Policeman.
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