Luneta bus hostage, Take 2

At the height of the tourist bus hostage-taking crisis at the Quirino grandstand in Rizal Park on Monday, the first voice of a government official I heard on radio was that of Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Alberto Lim. He was urging the police to quickly resolve the hostage-taking situation “so that there will be no big effect” on our country’s tourism business.

The DOT Secretary, at the same time, also appealed to the media “not to sensationalize” the reportage of the hostage taking. Lim’s appeals, however, obviously fell on deaf ears, especially from our colleagues in the broadcast media who were trying to beat each other in the name of TV/radio ratings game.

Understandably, that is the biggest concern of the Tourism Secretary whose office has to pick up from whatever mess such hostage taking of tourists will inflict upon our country’s image abroad as a travel destination. The scene of the hostage crisis happened at the Rizal Park in Manila, the capital city of our country and is the point of entry for most tourists coming here for holiday tours and travels.

Twenty-five people, including 22 Chinese from Hong Kong and three Filipinos were taken hostage by a dismissed police officer who commandeered the tourist bus they were riding on. The hostage-taker, former Senior Inspector Rolando del Rosario Mendoza, boarded their bus at gunpoint.

Dressed in fatigue uniform, Mendoza ordered the bus driver to take them to Luneta where the standoff started around past ten o’clock on Monday morning. And for the next 10 hours or so, he held everyone at bay while demanding for his reinstatement in the police service. The Office of the Ombudsman dismissed Mendoza and four fellow accused Manila policemen for extortion in January this year.

While this hostage drama was taking place, the DOT Secretary could only express helplessness. He could not do anything to salvage the situation. It was already in the hands of the police for them to resolve it in the best possible means and quick, at that.

In the course of the talks with crack Manila police negotiators, Mendoza released nine of his hostages in batches. He let go off first with the children. The Filipino photographer who accompanied the Hong Kong tourists was freed unharmed while the bus driver escaped. But the eight other hostages were not as lucky as they were felled by the bursts of gunfire from Mendoza’s M-16 rifle and 9 mm hand gun. It was also the end of the road for Mendoza who was hit in the head by precision sniper shots.

It is not clear up to now why Mendoza chose to push his hostage-taking stunt in Luneta. Was he inspired to do this in Luneta where a similar bus hostage taking took place on March 28, 2007? The hostage-taker, Armando “Jun” Ducat took control of the school bus with 26 children on board the vehicle of his own “Musmos Day Care Center” in Parola, Manila.

For almost 10 hours also, Ducat kept everybody on the edge with grenades in his hands and threats to blow up the busload of hostages with him. He was the focus of media attention here and abroad while he regaled them with his denunciation of corruption in government as the evil that causes the poverty of people.

Thanks for the heroics of Ducat’s Cavite provincemate Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. whom he requested to talk to as negotiator, as well as the “charitable” contribution of Luis “Chavit” Singson — then eyeing to run for the Senate — who put up money for a supposed ransom. The hostage drama thankfully ended without anyone getting hurt, including Ducat himself.

It turned out later, the grenades of Ducat were fake but he indeed had a real gun with him. After one year and nine months in jail, Ducat is a free man again and is in fact, reportedly doing field trips with his wards at the day care center.

Fast forward. Mendoza was initially cooperative with the hostage negotiators from the Manila Police District to whom he released unharmed the children and the elderly. But he ran amuck reportedly after he saw on the bus TV live, the media coverage of the hostage drama as his brother Gregorio, also a policeman from the MPD Traffic Bureau was arrested.

The comic relief of sorts that we saw on TV news coverage on the hostage drama came when the MPD-SWAT Team finally jumped into action late in the night for the rescue operations. SWAT stands for Special Weapons and Tactics. But after their bungled rescue operations, the acronym took many other meanings. The funniest one I heard yesterday came from the DZRH radio interview of Police Gen. Vicente Vinarao (Ret.) SWAT, Vinarao rued, now stands for Sugod, Wait, Atras, Tago.

Vinarao organized the first-ever SWAT Team in the Philippine National Police (PNP) and he therefore lamented the seeming unprofessional handling of the rescue operations. He said he was very “dismayed” at the sight of bungling SWAT operatives. “It was the worst rescue operation!” Vinarao said without mincing words. 

Amid crisis and disasters, we Filipinos have the ability to make fun of our own follies and foibles. Other SWAT jokes are now being passed around: Sorry, Wala Akong Training; Special Weapons, Alang Tactics.”

There were supposedly police snipers already positioned to shoot the hostage-taker. Why then did they not fire at Mendoza when he came out of the bus and exposed himself without any human shields as cover? Was it because Mendoza was a fellow policeman?

In fairness, there were many unknown factors that our poor SWAT Team had to contend with. Was there anyone else with Mendoza at the bus helping him? Were there any booby traps or explosives that Mendoza had with him?

I am no expert and the only nearest things I know about handling hostage situations are the ones I watch on Hollywood movies and on TV. So I’m not qualified to pass judgment except based on my assessment and commonsense.

But there are many questions begging to be answered on the manner by which the government under President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III handled the hostage crisis. For one, none of President Aquino’s Cabinet appeared to take charge of the crisis management team.

Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo emerged at the scene in Luneta after the hostage drama was over. Did they suddenly turn media-shy in case of foul up like this? But then again, how the media played out the hostage crisis also left much to be desired.