Cops to be Retrained on hostage situations

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Calderon has ordered officers of the Manila Police District (MPD) to undergo new training to avoid security lapses in handling future hostage crises.

The role of mass media in such situations will also be tackled, he said.

Calderon held a conference with other security officials at the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame yesterday to map out measures to ensure that mistakes made by the Manila police in last Wednesday’s 10-hour hostage drama will not happen again.

"I have ordered the (PNP) director for operations and director for human resources and doctrine development to train MPD members on hostage negotiations," Calderon told a press briefing after the conference.

Earlier, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno ordered the relief of MPD director Senior Superintendent Danilo Abarzosa and two other police officials for lapses that Puno said could have endangered the lives of 26 children and four teachers that day care owner Armando Ducat Jr. held hostage in a bus.

Calderon has appealed Puno’s decision while Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said he would ask Puno to reconsider.

Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando, who was appointed by Malacañang to head the Crisis Management Committee (CMC) in the hostage crisis, and Deputy Director General Avelino Razon Jr., PNP deputy chief for administration and Director Jesus Verzosa, PNP Chief Directorial Staff, attended the conference.

Calderon said policemen should also be reminded of how the Crisis Management Committee works.

"We will later on invite members of the media to also inform them of their role in this kind of situation," said Calderon, who noted that the respective roles of local government officials and the police would be explained.

Other police districts and stations will also undergo training after the MPD, Calderon said.

As the global news media zoomed in, beaming images of the standoff around the world, Ducat railed against government corruption, demanded free housing and education for his pupils and threatened to explode two grenades if police mounted a rescue effort.

Senior Superintendent Cipriano Querol, spokesman for the negotiating team that helped end the hostage drama outside Manila City Hall, told local television Thursday that police allowed the reporters to approach the bus and let Ducat speak on air because it would "calm" him and lessen the risk he would harm himself or the children.

"We saw this as a way of easing tensions inside the bus," he said, while conceding there were "lapses" in controlling the gathering crowd, elements of which chanted Ducat’s name in support as the crisis neared an end.

"We needed a captive audience for him," Querol added.

Puno, who watched the hostage drama unfold on television, said he was so upset last Wednesday that he nearly threw the remote control at the television screen.

"The good news is that no one was hurt, the children are safe, there were no unfortunate incident that occurred," Puno added.

"But really this is not the way our rules specify that such things should be handled. There are hard and fast rules on how to handle hostage situations like this. We are lucky and fortunate and God has been kind to us that this did not result in any disaster, but we can’t let this thing be handled this way. We are going to have to be more disciplined about how these things are handled."

Puno has ordered an inquiry to know why police procedures were not followed and who were responsible.

Puno pointed out that police procedures in handling hostage and terrorist situations were meant to protect lives. "If we don’t follow these rules we will basically risk the safety of the entire community."

Puno was particularly irked that relatives of the hostages, reporters and onlookers ignored police lines and came too close to the bus.

"If anything unfortunate or untoward had happened, the casualty might have been larger than they needed to be," he said.

Metro Manila Police chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Varilla maintained, however, the police still had the situation well under control despite the lapses.

Varilla said the crisis committee was immediately activated with Atienza as head. Fernando was in the committee.

"All the time, Mayor Atienza was there, perhaps because his office was near there. When I found out that the CMC had been activated with the mayor as chairman, being the head of the peace and order council, we even had a meeting when Chairman Fernando arrived," Varilla told reporters.

Varilla said he gave Puno and Calderon regular updates during the crisis. He conceded that he didn’t inform Puno that a crisis committee had already been formed on the presumption that the DILG chief knew that someone was already on top of the situation.

"We don’t have to announce that the Crisis Management Committee has been established for as long as it was functioning," he said.

Puno earlier said that he saw on television that "Atienza was apparently besieged like everybody else." It was already too late and a crowd of onlookers was already around the bus by the time he gave Varilla instructions in handling the crisis.

Puno pointed out that the local police failed to form a perimeter to clear the area and keep people out of harm’s way.

Police officers later pushed the crowd back as negotiations with the hostage-takers continued.

Fernando, meanwhile, warned yesterday against crossing police lines. "Crossing a police line is a criminal offense. It’s interfering in official functions."

Varilla said he ordered MPD officers to secure the perimeter but for some reason this went unheeded.

Additional forces from Regional Special Action Unit were also rushed to the scene but they also failed to cordon off the area.

Onlookers, including parents of the children taken captive, were only meters away from the bus when Ducat and his alleged accomplice Cesar Augustus Carbonell freed their wards and surrendered.

Ducat and Carbonell were mobbed by reporters and photographers as they were herded away by police officers to a police cruiser. – Cecille Suerte Felipe