It could have ended differently

It will take a long time before our country and the world, especially Hong Kong, will be able to go beyond last Monday's yesterday's hostage drama. Sadly, lives were lost, including that of Sgt. Mendoza, the hostage taker.

We hope sincere offers of prayers and condolences, as well as sincere apologies, will lighten the grief and pain experienced especially by those who lost loved ones. We understand, however, how extreme pain and deep loss can numb the hearts of those affected whose only concern now is to have their loved ones back in their midst soonest, those who survived the drama as well as those who did not.

Locally and globally, there is a very loud and angry consensus that the hostage crisis should have been handled more efficiently, more systematically, more professionally. Then, precious lives could have been spared.

We do not know what went on in the mind and heart of the hostage-taker but perhaps, deep in his heart, he may also have wanted a bloodless ending?

So many questions to ask the hostage-handlers. One, who was in charge of the situation? There seemed to have been so many "merons"- so many doing this and that. What was clear was the lack of coordination among those handling the hostage drama!

The hostage-taker was clearly desperate, wanting to be heard, wanting his demands answered. Did the hostage-handlers ever think of consulting or getting the services of a psychologist who could have given them advice about how to handle the hostage-taker?

The more he would have given the chance to ventilate his gripes, the more he was made to sense the assurance from the authorities that they would treat him and his family fairly, the better and greater the chance of that hostage crisis to have ended peacefully, without any deaths at all.

But that is not what Sgt. Mendoza saw on tv and from the actions of the hostage handlers. He saw his brother surrounded, manhandled and outnumbered by so many policemen. In his desperate state, seeing his brother unexpectedly being taken into custody was a major tipping point that pushed him even more to believe that his demands would not be listened to, much less granted.

If they thought that the brother was a possible accomplice, because of a gun that they belated discovered after he had met with his brother, why did the police not wait till they could corner his brother quietly, discreetly, away from the reach of media, and away from the hostage-taker who was monitoring the hostage-handlers through the tv inside the bus? Also, why did the hostage-handlers not frisk the brother before allowing him to meet the hostage-taker?

Did the hostage-handlers consult with other known hostage experts? The crisis situation demanded so much behind-the-scene consultations among various types of experts. The absence of expert handling was very obvious to all who saw how the crisis ended.

Expert hostage-handling may have taken more time, more patience, more negotiations, more coordination (including asking media to follow instructions), more reassuring moves to convince the hostage-taker about the sincere intent of the hostage-handlers to listen to him and to seriously consider his demands and more. That expert hostage-handling could have saved lives of the hostages and also of the hostage-taker.

A more sensitive expert handling of the hostage crisis could have spared our country the unnecessary shame of a thoroughly bungled.rescue operation which exposed so much weaknesses in this society.

It will take time and much effort to erase the image of that horrible, tragic hostage crisis locally and globally. Tourism will certainly be adversely affected, but so can other businesses and migration flows to Hong Kong and even a sympathetic China and even other countries of the world.

People power earned for us the world's accolade and respect. One bungled hostage-taking, in an instant, negatively redefined our country globally.

The local and national government, the military, the media, the rest of the Filipino people need to review the lessons of this tragic event and move on in unity and strength to provide better security for all.

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