No cabinet secretaries in P-Noy's midnight presscon?

We got a lot of responses to our column last Wednesday about the botched hostage crisis that gave the whole world an idea that a 3rd World police like ours and their SWAT team just cannot subdue a tourist bus with a lone gunman. This crisis does not only expose the truth about the capability of the PNP, but also that there must be something seriously wrong with our training methods in our police academy. I mean, how could someone as high as a Senior Police Inspector Rolando Mendoza go so berserk as to shame our nation and cause a dip in our tourism arrivals, especially from Hong Kong?

We only learned that the dismissed Senior Inspector Mendoza went on a rampage and took that tourist bus hostage because he didn’t like the decision of the court on his case of extortion . . . an issue that no one even knew. Well, last Wednesday The Philippine STAR came up with a front-page report entitled “Mendoza victim fears for his life.” It turned out that on the night of April 9, 2008, a young Chef Christian Kalaw working with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel was apprehended by five cops led by Mendoza for driving without a license, illegal parking and possession of illegal drugs.

These policemen forced him to swallow a white substance which turned out to be shabu, while he was strapped and gagged in his car, and then he was robbed by these policemen, where he was forced to pay them P20,000 for his release. Unfortunately, Christian Kalaw doesn’t want to talk to the media and we can understand this because of what he went through under the custody of the police who are supposed to be our protectors.

So now that we know the root cause why Mendoza went crazy, I would like to know whether what the PNP hierarchy has done to the other policemen who where with Mendoza when they extorted money from Kalaw? Are these police officers still in the force or have they been dismissed? The least that the PNP should do is to tell us who were involved in that incident?

Meanwhile, one of my friends, former Senator Rene Saguisag wrote me his thoughts about this incident, but his letter was quite lengthy. However he did touch on something that I failed to notice when I was watching Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III conduct that midnight press conference in Malacañang. Atty. Saguisag wrote, “Maybe, the Executive, Foreign Affairs, Defense, Tourism and Justice Secretaries, among others, should be around to help; his Mom would have us with her, pointing to any Cabinet Member concerned for help, in dealing with questions. No Prez should ever have to conduct a long presscon by his lonesome, surrounded only by cops, in dealing with an explosive polycentric issue with diplomatic dimensions.”

Indeed Atty. Saguisag is right. How could P-Noy hold a press conference without having a single cabinet member in the panel? If at all, Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang or DILG Secretary Jessie Robredo should have conducted that press con or Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim or his vice-Mayor, but not the President all alone with only some PNP officials with him. Looking back at the video footages of that press con, it would seem that P-Noy was already abandoned by his Cabinet Secretaries at the time when he needed their moral support in the gravest crisis happening under his watch.

Atty. Saguisag went on to say, “Pity our Prez having to sound like saying SNAFU, Situation Normal All Fouled (I avoid a more colorful word) Up. Maybe the Truth Commission (TC) can focus on the Luneta incident, as its sole task, and avoid all challenges to its constitutionality. We need to know what drove Officer Mendoza to do what he did and learn Thou-Shalt-Nots for next time. Including not assaulting a bus with civvies from abroad. Or even here. Our Prez should be protected from himself when foreigners are involved.

Finally, Saguisag point out, “War is too important to leave to the generals alone, said Clemenceau. So is a hostage situation given the diplomatic, ethnic, tourism, investment, etc., nuances, dimensions and repercussions. And we have to care for the human rights of aliens — to live and leave the country safe and sound.” Thank you Rene Saguisag for your thoughts that I’m sure is shared by a huge majority of Filipinos. While I submit that the people of Hong Kong are mad at the Philippine government for this bungling incident, someone should tell them that Filipinos are equally as mad as hell by our own police force . . . after all we all live in this country under their watch!

Perhaps the most distressing news that I got from my friends in the Tourism Industry is that, a lot of hotels and resorts already experienced numerous cancellations of their hotel bookings. Is this the beginning of the decline of our tourism industry or is this merely a glitch that we can bounce back? Already talks are out about re-branding the Philippines; after all, we do have a very poor international reputation. But what good is that if we continue to have keystone riot cops disguised as SWAT team who cannot protect the tourists who come and visit our shores?

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