The bottom line

After everything has been said and done the question still remains. Why did the hostage bus incident turn into such a disaster? In President Noynoy’s Harapan with broadcast journalism he said pretty much the same thing that both Filipinos and Chinese alike have been saying all along.

It became a disaster because no one was in charge. That is the bottom line.We have been told the reasons for this: President Noynoy was busy with more important things ie the budget and dengue epidemic. As for the men he had entrusted the job they also did not think it that important: Mayor Lim was in Emerald at the most crucial moments, DILG chief Jesse Robredo was not there because he claims he was not in charge of police matters, and DILG Asst. Secretary Rico Puno who was but said “he did not know anything about how to deal with hostage taking. And to cap this apologia which was not an apologia, he then admitted he could have been more active. So what was that grand show of explanation all about except to confirm why the tragedy happened the way it did.

What President Noynoy brought out in his press conference are clues on how his mind works. On one hand he said that his “priority was to ensure the safety of the foreign hostages”. On the other hand he said he did not micromanage because the hostage taker might become too swell headed and think that just because it is the President of the Philippines talking to him, he can ask for more things.

The statements contradict each other. If the priority was to ensure the safety of the foreign hostages then the strategy should have been focused on that and not on whether it might swell the head of the hostage taker because he is talking to the President of the Philippines. That the hostage taker could become swell headed is a trivial matter against the responsibility of making sure the hostages were safe. That does not require expertise, only common sense.

Indeed, as many others have said, what was wrong with telling the man that his case would be reconsidered especially if the assurance came from the President. 

Or if the President did not think it necessary to do it himself, he should have instructed the negotiator or whoever was in charge on the ground to take that line of approach. That puts us back to square one. If there was no one in charge on the ground and the President did not want to micromanage, we can hardly expect avoiding the disaster.

Regina Ip Lau Suk Yee who understands security matters was appalled at the insensitivity and directed her words of reproach to President Noynoy, not to his subalterns nor to anyone else.

“I think Hong Kong people are really very unhappy at the way President Benigno Aquino III responded to questions. He appeared frivolous and dismissive to the losses of Hong Kong people again.” She probably did not understand what he meant by his excuse — when a smile is not a smile.

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The ball is in our court. In the next few days and weeks, it is us, Filipinos, who will have to reckon with this tragedy. He has admitted that he had not been active enough and that his men did not do their job. It points to bad judgment and bad judgment springs from the mind as well as the character of the person. More is demanded from a leader.

It is against this background that we whom he calls his “boss” must decide what to do with a dangerously bumbling ‘employee.’ What guarantee do we have that in the next crisis the same kind of judgment will not be made. There is none.

Are we prepared to allow such incompetence in the running of our country? Neither can the hostage bus tragedy be treated in isolation. It had a context of personal history and past actions. It may have been a wrong decision in hindsight as he accepts but leadership has its responsibilities and if the leader fails in decision and action he puts that leadership on the line. 

President Bush could also have said that in hindsight he made the wrong decision in bringing America to war in Iraq. Americans now know he made the wrong decision and they are paying for it.

Hendrik Hertzberg <www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/hendrik_hertzberg> writing in the New Yorker on the difficulties of the Obama government to end the war makes an important comment on how to understand the misfortune of Bush’s invasion of Iraq.

“The prospects of that war are unknowable, but there is a sense of foreboding. Obama must feel a little like the narrator of “Moby-Dick,” who, at the beginning of the story, describes what is to come apart of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more extensive performances.”

 Likewise have you ever wondered why the hostage bus tragedy should happen to Chinese tourists a few days before President Noynoy goes to the US? I did, but this is a topic for another column when we shall have known what he will commit to the American government on our behalf.

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To all my Muslim friends “Eid Mubarak”. This is the equivalent of greetings for a Merry Christmas among Christians. I have attended Eid ul Fitr celebrations at the Saudi and Libyan embassies.

Eid is the festivity to mark fitr — the end of Ramadan, the month long fasting for Muslims. It is a time for feasting together of the community, not just with families but also with others to renew communal bonds. A laudable practice is the raising of hands to the ears and saying “Allahu Akbar” (God is great).

Muslims are also encouraged on this day to forgive and forget any differences they might have had with others during the year. Eid ul Fitr celebration is usually held in big halls to accommodate as many members of the community as possible. Making it a national holiday in the Philippines celebrates “the celebration of togetherness of Muslims and Christians” as one nation.

Unfortunately, we have lost touch with Eid ul Fitr of our Muslim antecedents. It is good to hear that Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara has pushed for the study of Moro history and culture in our schools. This would reconnect Filipinos to a past in which the people of these islands had once lived and belonged.”

“This is the cornerstone of the edifice of peace that each Mindanaoan — Christian or Muslim — must build,” Angara said.