QC SWAT shines at Crame assault

Tuesday’s gun battle at Camp Crame was every police officer’s nightmare: a suspect armed with an M-16 assault rifle, holed up with a hostage in a building that had only one way in.

To storm the building meant running into a hail of bullets. The situation was for no ordinary policemen. It was time to get help.

Over a dozen members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit of the Central Police District responded to a call from the National Capital Region Police Office at about 7 a.m. Along with other police officers, the unit quickly surrounded the building housing the detention cells of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group where Abu Sayyaf suspect Buyungan Bungkak was holed up.

The QC SWAT team is one of the best in the police force, trained to respond immediately to a situation and fight in close quarters.

Two members of the team were the sharpest snipers while two others trained in the United States to disarm bombs, according to Chief Inspector Rodolfo Hernandez, chief of the unit.

Half of the 60-strong unit is trained to fight a gun battle on motorcycles, while some are veterans in operations against Muslim rebels and other hostage situations.

Just last April, the unit bested other SWAT units in a competition.

By coincidence, the QC-SWAT team was scheduled to make an appearance at the Camp Crame grandstand for a television news crew that wanted to take pictures of their equipment, also said to be the best in the police force: bullet- proof vests, shotguns, 9-mm. pistols, a portable x-ray machine for analyzing bombs, a bomb disposal protective suit, among other equipment, all provided by Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr, for the city's anti-terror readiness campaign.

Then the call came. Their only option was to storm in. Being the only unit at the scene with protective vests which can defeat M-16 fire, gave them the confidence to do the job.

"I think there was really no more space for negotiations at the time because the Abu Sayyaf member already killed policemen at that point," Hernandez said.

"I think the suspect was also in a do-or-die situation already, so the plan then was to really neutralize him," he added.

Other details of the incident remained sketchy and investigation is still ongoing to determine how a detained Abu Sayyaf suspect got hold of an M-16.

Bungkak retreated from room to room when the officers burst in — firing as he went until he was backed into a toilet.

With only one way to get to him Bungkak had an excellent firing position, like a pillbox or foxhole, while the police had no line of fire because the toilet’s door blocked their vision.

"And so we thought that the only way for us to also have a good view of his position was to destroy the comfort room’s door, which was only made of wooden boards," Hernandez said.

Using a bag of water attached to a detonating cord from their new bomb disposal equipment, normally used for setting off bombs, the officers blasted the door.

Apparently thinking that the police were throwing grenades, Bungkak charged with his rifle ablazing. But he ran straight into the SWAT and the camp's Special Action Force units lying in wait, and was finally stopped by aimed fire.