The curse of the bus

After more than three and a half years, there are bright indications of a final closure to the tragic case of botched police rescue of a bus hostage-taking incident that took place in front of the Quirino grandstand in Luneta. Barely two months into office in August 2010, a popularly voted President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III miserably failed in this initiation of his administration on how not to handle a crisis situation.

Eight Hong Kong nationals were killed and several others were wounded in gunfire by police rescue team with a disgruntled Manila cop who took over their tourist bus while trying to negotiate for his exculpation from a pending case at the Ombudsman.

Former President and now mayor of the city of Manila Joseph Estrada and certain Manila councilors flew yesterday morning to Hong Kong. President Aquino’s Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras and Philippine National Police (PNP) director-general Alan Purisima fly today to join Estrada in time for the afternoon meeting with the victims’ families. Their trip is the culmination of backdoor talks initiated by Mayor Estrada with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) officials on how best to settle with the families of the dead victims and survivors of the bus hostage incident.

With the blessings of Beijing, the HKSAR proceeded with the settlement talks, first with emissaries of Mayor Estrada, and later with the official representatives of President Aquino led by Almendras and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). After so much hemming and hawing, the Aquino administration agreed to these joint efforts with Estrada as Manila mayor to make formal apology and pay additional compensation to the surviving victims who are still undergoing treatment for their serious injuries.  

Stepping up to the plate, Mayor Estrada spared P-Noy from making the formal apology and doing it with much aplomb and dramatic flair of an award-winning actor that he is. Just a few days after he quietly celebrated his 77th birthday, Mayor Estrada flew all the way to Hong Kong to make the personal apology to the still grieving families of the slain victims and to the survivors.

Though it happened during the watch of his immediate predecessor, former Manila mayor Alfredo Lim, Mr. Estrada did not hesitate to accept responsibility in behalf of the city government. Mayor Lim, as the local commander-in-chief on the ground directing the Manila police operations, was subsequently found liable by the special fact-finding body created by President Aquino to look into the botched bus hostage rescue incident. 

Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima and the late Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo were among the signatories to the fact-finding body report and recommendations. Robredo later died in a plane crash.

De Lima is still justice secretary in P-Noy’s Cabinet.

Perhaps, the DOJ secretary can tell us why the President did not act on the fact-finding body’s recommendations to administratively punish Mayor Lim. The administrative sanctions against Mayor Lim, who ran and won under the Liberal Party (LP) ticket with P-Noy as presidential standard-bearer, inexplicably did not prosper. Incumbent DILG Secretary Mar Roxas, who is LP chieftain, has not said a word on the case.

However, punishment belatedly came to Mayor Lim, not from the Chief Executive but from their true bosses — the Manila electorate. Mr. Estrada defeated Lim’s re-election bid for a third and last term. Taking cognizance that the Manila police is under the employ of the city government, Mayor Estrada convinced the new City Council to issue a resolution authorizing him to express the formal apology for the reckless endangerment of the lives of the bus hostages.

Inheriting so much unsettled financial obligations from the previous city administration, Mayor Estrada’s next problem was to find money to pay for the additional compensation being sought for the victims and survivors of the bus hostage tragedy. With a lot of goodwill from the local Chinese communities in Manila and businessmen friends and supporters, Mayor Estrada was able to raise the required amount. Until he left Manila yesterday, Mayor Estrada declined to reveal. 

As far as Mayor Estrada is concerned, the amount is irrelevant to around 160,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) whose jobs and livelihood would be seriously affected if this matter were not settled once and for all. For the past three years, the Philippines has remained under black travel advisory and recently HKSAR imposed another sanction by removing the visa-free privilege against official and diplomatic Philippine passport holders traveling to Hong Kong. Mayor Estrada and his official delegation had to secure first HKSAR visa for this trip.

Since the Quirino grandstand bus hostage incident happened three and a half years ago without a closure of this unfortunate case up to now, it is not far-fetched to look at it as one bad curse.

In fact, in the recent report of the PNP-Highway Patrol Group, of the 3,000 road accidents reported in January-February this year, 217 involved passenger buses. It included the most freaky one that happened when a mini-bus flew off the Skyway and killed 19 people on board and injured several others on the ground.

Last month, another bus going in Bontoc rolled down a deep ravine, killing 14 passengers, including TV personality Tado. Only last Monday, a Victory Liner Bus bound for Olongapo City in Zambales took a nasty fall into a five-meter deep ravine after the driver tried but failed to avoid hitting and killing a pedestrian on the road. At least 20 or so passengers were injured.

Other than that bus accident in Olongapo, thankfully there was no major bus accident that happened during the just ended Holy Week vacation road trips all over the country.

Mayor Estrada returns to Manila today after signing a formal agreement to end this sad chapter in our bilateral ties with Hong Kong. Hopefully, Erap’s mission has succeeded in exorcising this ghost of the bus hostage incident hounding our country and to put an end to this bus curse.