Triumph and tragedy

Triumph and tragedy hog the headlines today.

First, the tragedy. A botched attempt to end the hijack of a tourist bus by a dismissed police officer at the Quirino Grandstand leaves the hostage-taker and eight hostages dead, dozens of families grieving and the Philippines shamefaced. Grief was accompanied by frustration at the inability of the police — due to lack of equipment, training or gall — to accomplish an Entebbe-like rescue of the hostages. Or at least, if that is near impossible, to have at least ended the 10-hour siege with minimum loss of lives.

Some are unfairly putting new meaning to the word SWAT, which really stands for Special Weapons and Tactics. They now say SWAT stands for Sulong, Wait, Atras and Tago. OMG, that’s exactly what I saw the team do on television! Others are saying SWAT means, “Sorry, wala akong training.” It rings so close to the truth, it hurts.

You hear cries of “Sayang.” “If only.” “If only” is harder to live with than, “It was my call and I took it.” There was lightning in the sky but not in the police’s actions.

“Sayang” because the bloodbath could have been avoided. From where I stood, separated from the drama by a TV screen, and not privy to what was going on in the ground, I think the carnage could have been avoided if it was clear from the start who from the police was calling the shots. Literally and figuratively. I remember during the time of President Cory Aquino, during a visit to a collapsed school building in Nueva Ecija after the 1990 earthquake, she angrily asked: “Who’s in charge here?”

She was angry at the lack of synchronization and coordination of the rescue efforts and time was running out on some of those still trapped in the rubble.

In the Quirino Grandstand, it was helter-skelter. If only for her organizational abilities amidst chaotic circumstances and a million meddlers, I think Maria Montelibano should have been in charge of the rescue. But that’s just me.

Even if it was taking all day, no one cordoned off the crime scene from uzizeros (bystanders) and enterprising media. Of course, if I were a cameraman, I would get as close as I could to the bus. President Noynoy Aquino said some of the shots of media compromised rescue efforts because former police senior inspector Rolando Mendoza could see the SWAT teams’ exact positions on a TV set inside the bus — so why were they allowed to get as close to the crime scene as they did?

On the media’s part, they were putting their own lives at risk. They would be getting commendations from their bosses. Like the paparazzis trailing Princess Diana, they had a job to do and at the very moment, they probably had no idea they were telegraphing the police’s punches to the hostage-taker. It was hard for media to police their own ranks at the time, so the police should have gone by the book and kept them at a distance. Maybe, with a little help from the MMDA if they were short-handed.

Also I heart GMA’s Mel Tiangco complaining that there was no crowd control, that bystanders with umbrellas were just flocking around the bus, hampering the entry and exit of police and medical personnel. Attention was even diverted when a little boy was hit by a stray bullet. Son, I hope you learn your lesson and I hope your guardians end up in jail.

The poor members of the SWAT team didn’t have the protective masks that would have allowed them to penetrate the tear-gas filled bus. You could see them balking and backing out.

But the sniper lived up to his job description. At the end of the day, Mendoza was felled.

* * *

Psychiatrist Angela Halili-Jao, who contributes articles to this paper, says a hostage-taker should be handled with a combination of force and care because he is both “suicidal” and “homicidal.”

“He knows that when his options are narrowing, his last option could be to kill the hostages. He knows that when he cannot get what he is asking for, he could die himself.”

 Dr. Jao hopes that a PNP psychiatrist was part of the rescue efforts, and that a psychiatrist was sent to the house of Mendoza so he/she could have an idea of how he has been behaving.

As we look at further training our SWAT teams and equipping them with state-of-the-art gear, let’s not forget to also train those who will be second-guessing the minds of hostage-takers and criminals. It’s as much a mind game as it is a firefight.

Or maybe I’ve just been watching too many episodes of CSI and Law and Order.

* * *

Collateral damage is the reported backlash against Filipina maids in Hong Kong, where most of the hostages came from. If you lost a loved one in that ill-fated bus, it is perfectly understandable that you let your Filipina maid go. In fact, maybe you should let her go, lest you take out your anger on her. But if you happen just to have a Filipina maid, and you know the killings were the act of one disturbed man, please don’t take it on the entire Filipino race.

Now I know how some Muslims feel when they are discriminated against because of the acts of some of their fellow Muslims. The sin of one is not the sin of all.

* * *

President Aquino and most government officials should be commended for their transparency and accessibility to the press after the unfortunate incident. They were there to take all the questions even if they did not have all the answers. Rumors thrive and anger festers when there is a news blackout. This government faced the music.

Venus Rising

For at least two hours, the nation was diverted from monitoring the aftermath of the Quirino Grandstand bus siege because of the Miss Universe beauty pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada. Many had pinned their hopes on Miss Philippines Venus Raj in bringing home the crown that has eluded this beauty queen-crazy nation since 1973, when Margie Moran bagged the title. Gloria Diaz first won the same title in 1969.

Venus was a crowd favorite and she looked all set to balance the Miss U crown on her head — till the Q&A portion. Venus isn’t dumb. I think she just got a bad question. Asked by William Baldwin what her greatest mistake in life was and how she “made it right,” Venus seemed stumped for an answer. At 22, what big mistake is a provincial lass expected to have made, and whose retelling would have shaken the very foundations of Mandalay Bay? If she were a former drug addict, a hostage-taker, an abusive mother — maybe she could have left no eye dry in the audience with her answer.

But at 22? Maybe she fell in love with a jerk? Or cheated in an exam? And will you tell that to the world on Miss U Coronation night?

Venus’ fate was sealed not because she didn’t have the right answer but because she didn’t get the right question (you know, the one that has to do with saving the planet, the children and the rights of women).

Still and all, she is a winner. A major, major winner.