Managing a crisis

Comments, analyses and criticisms on last Monday’s bloody hostage crisis have been aired everyday. It is easy enough to analyze an event after its occurrence, give an “expert” opinion on how it could have been avoided and find fault. Thus, this column will resist the temptation of joining the chorus of comments on the bloody carnage whose backlash is just beginning. How and to what extent this backlash will impact on the economy, we cannot say at this time.

But if I may say my piece, it seems some of the President’s men may have been given shoes too big for them to fill. In just sixty days of the new administration, “fumbles” too big to ignore have been committed. Sen. Joker Arroyo noted that three cases assailing the constitutionality of the first three issuances of Malacañang have already been filed with the Supreme Court.

I do not wish to disparage the qualifications of several high officials chosen by the president or question his judgment in appointing them, but if some of them may be compared with athletes – they may have been good for provincial or regional contest – but not for national competitions. A local public official may have been a good executive of a provincial city but may not be seasoned enough and ready for a national position with the administrative power of supervision over all local government units, nationwide and over the national police force. If last Monday’s hostage drama was this official’s first test in managing a crisis, can we give him a passing grade?

A Malacañang official who was a professor at the Elite Institute of Management and a former columnist, was saying before the hostage crisis turned into a bloody carnage – that the incident is an isolated one and will not affect Philippine tourism. The hostage crisis was a ticking time bomb, ready to explode anytime but the palace official spoke like a business professor that he used to be, seemingly unconcerned with the safety of the hostages.

If indeed Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim was actually the head of the “Crisis Management Committee”, by age, temperament, and track record, (though he is a good law enforcer) he may not be the ideal choice to head the crisis management committee. For his no-nonsense tough way of dealing with law breakers, Lim has been dubbed as Manila’s “Dirty Harry” after a tough law enforcer named Harry Callahan played by Clint Eastwood in a series of movies in the 1970’s. We all know how “Dirty Harry” dealt with criminals.

Those saying that the root cause of last Monday’s hostage crisis that went out of control and caused nine lives is – failure of leadership opined that if only there was an Eduardo Ermita in Malacañang, the crisis might have been successfully managed or contained. Well, what might or could have been if this or that action was taken is now a lot of water under the bridge. As I said it is easy to say how a disaster could have been avoided or prevented, after it has occurred. What is important is that henceforth, no more bloopers, big or small, are committed that will further aggravate an already disastrous situation, like the draping of Mendoza’s coffin with the Philippine flag. Or, the remark of a cabinet official that the request of Hong Kong police officials to assist in the investigation of the hostage crisis cannot be allowed because the inquiry is an internal affair of the country, which refusal may be misinterpreted as a sign that local officials will cover-up for the PNP whose guns may have accidentally killed some of the hostages in the bus. Refusing this request is rubbing Hong Kong officials the wrong way.

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There is a good TV movie that is highly instructive on crisis management. The movie “Thirteen Days” is about the October 16 to October 28, 1962 Cuban Crisis when the world stood on the brink of a nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Russia on account of the installation of Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in Cuba by Fidel Castro, compliments of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Of course, the Quirino Grandstand hostage crisis is absolutely nothing compared with the Cuban crisis in 1962 that US President John F. Kennedy was confronted with. But the historically accurate movie depicts how the forceful 45-year old president saw the bigger global picture of the crisis, discussed the problem and the options with the Crisis Committee of his cabinet, and overruled the hawks in the committee led by the generals and the admirals of the Joints Chiefs of Staff who insisted on a surgical air strike of the Cuban missile sites, followed by an invasion. What would have happened if instead of Kennedy, the United States had a feeble president who agreed with those insisting on a surgical air strike and invasion of Cuba? Such an air strike would have surely killed Russian engineers and army officials in the missile sites forcing Soviet Russia to retaliate.

After Kennedy succeeded in having the Russian missiles removed in Cuba insuring peace for the world, British Prime Minister Harold Mc Millan said John Fitzgerald Kennedy, by this singular act alone, earned his place in history.

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Three recent road accidents involving buses franchised by the LTFRB resulted in the death of 73 passengers. As always, the government’s reaction is: suspension of the bus fleets to which the reckless buses belong; prosecution of the reckless drivers whose excuse is allegedly “faulty brakes” of the fatal buses; and inspection for road worthiness of the operators’ buses.

This usual reaction does not delve into the ROOT CAUSE of the problem which is – the corrupt franchising in place at the LTFRB as well as the equally defective registration system of motor vehicles at the LTO.

The franchising of public utility vehicles is corrupt simply because there are corrupt officials issuing franchises like commodities in the market at LTFRB. They have been appointed by Malacañang without regard for their backgrounds and qualifications. If Malacañang wants a safe, adequate and efficient transport system or network, then the LTFRB and the LTO should not be regarded trash cans for garbage. Both agencies should be professionalized like the NEDA and the Board of Investments with competent and honest professionals. Only then can this country have a vastly improved transport industry with good players – meaning financially and technically qualified operators running new or better buses maintained properly by acceptable support facilities.