EDITORIAL - Day of mourning

MANILA, Philippines - Whether or not his dismissal from the police service was unjust, former senior inspector Rolando del Rosario Mendoza’s way of getting redress could never be justified, and simply showed how truly unfit he was for police service. Last Monday night a sniper finally put Mendoza out of his misery, about 11 hours after he hijacked a busload of tourists in Hong Kong and started playing God.

The sniper did his job, but many observers, watching the hostage incident unfold live on television, were anything but impressed with the way the negotiations and the assault were conducted. The people of Hong Kong, watching the same coverage, did not mince words, saying they were “furious” over the “unprofessional” government response to the hostage crisis. President Aquino himself conceded that the Philippine National Police could use better training and equipment.

Coming on the heels of the cell phone video showing a robbery suspect being tortured by a Tondo police officer, Mendoza’s caper gives added urgency to the need for a thorough housecleaning in the PNP and an upgrade in its capability. This should include a review of procedures involving dismissed or suspended cops. Why does a dismissed police officer, especially one sacked for extortion, have an M-16 assault rifle and a pistol?

Until yesterday, the former hotel chef whose complaint led to Mendoza’s dismissal from the service refused to come out of seclusion for fear of his life. Christian Kalaw, in a complaint that reached the Office of the Ombudsman only because his father followed up the case, said Mendoza and four other Manila policemen made him shallow shabu in an effort to extort P20,000 from him in April 2008. Apparently terrorized by the family of cops, Kalaw did not follow up his complaint with the police Internal Affairs division and the courts, leading to the dismissal of the cases. But the complaint prospered before the Office of the Ombudsman, which ordered the dismissal of Mendoza and the four other cops from the service in January this year.

The dismissed cops’ appeal is pending, and they can elevate it to the Court of Appeals. Instead Mendoza opted for terrorism and went on a shooting rampage. As news of the deaths of the hostages filtered out, Hong Kong issued a top-level black travel alert for the Philippines.

The nation mourns with the families of the fatalities from Hong Kong. Beyond mourning, the Philippines must show to Hong Kong and the rest of the world that decisive steps are being undertaken to prevent a repeat of the tragedy.