Hostage Taking Crisis

“Right Insight Leads to Right Action”

---A Position Paper on the Quirino Grandstand Hostage Taking Drama Incident---

Presentation of Issues

            “Why did they do this to us?” This is the question of a Hongkong woman whose husband and two daughters were among the eight tourists killed in a bus hostage siege in Manila last August 23, 2010. It was an incident that really trembled not only the Filipino people but most especially the foreign nations such as the Hongkong citizens in particular. It was a drama that left a scar to everyone especially to the families and loved ones of the victims. Thus, after the incident and as expected, the what we called “blaming game” is now happening among Philippine authorities. The international communities assess this as a terrible outrage and believe that there were some irregularities and anomalies happened during the hostage taking drama. Such facts includes poor handling of the hostage negotiation; side issues and events that further agitated the hostage-taker; inadequate capability, skills, equipment and planning of the assault team; improper crowd control, and inadequate training and competence of the assault team leader; and non-compliance with media relations procedures in hostage situations. Due to these realities, questions arise; “What went wrong?”, “Who should be blamed?” or “Is there really someone who should be blamed?”     

  

The incident

Born on Jan. 10, 1955, Former Senior Insp. Rolando del Rosario Mendoza was a multi-awarded officer who was cited in 1986 by Jaycees International as one of the 10 outstanding policemen of the Philippines. He was a decorated cop with 17 medals of honors. A good, responsible, and loving husband and father according to his families. An honest and a good police officer as described by his colleagues. However, the saying goes on that “there is always the other side of the coin.” 

While it was not specifically cited in the police records, it was believed that trouble began for Mendoza in 2008 when he and at least four other policemen were accused of extorting money from a chef whom they accosted allegedly for parking violation and possession of illegal drugs. The chef was allegedly forced to eat shabu after failing to produce P200,000, but was later released when a friend allegedly gave P20,000 to one of the arresting officers. As a result, Mendoza was meted with 90-day preventive suspension which was imposed from June 16 to September 14 in 2008 and later on dismissed from his service. This was confirmed by Mendoza’s updated service records which stated in the February 16, 2008 order that the dismissal has accessory penalty of forfeiture of retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from the government service. Due to depression and other inevitable human emotions, Mendoza held the bus of tourists  last August 23, 2010 for over 12 hours, claiming that he had been unfairly dismissed from his job, and demanding that the charges of extortion which resulted in him being fired be reconsidered. Attempts at negotiation broke down by nightfall, when Mendoza saw on the bus’s TV that his brother – who was brought in to help with the negotiation – was being arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. Live coverage of the police surrounding and attempting to break into the bus as Mendoza returned fire was broadcast by local and international news organizations. It took police several failed attempts to enter the bus and throw in a canister of tear gas to subdue Mendoza, who was eventually shot by a sniper.