Command (ir)responsibility

More than a week after that tragic hostage-taking incident in Manila, one detail is still wanting: who was really in charge?



In the US, when an emergency involves national interest, the federal government comes in and local authorities are immediately stripped of their powers of jurisdiction. The hostage-taking of scores of Hongkong tourists last Monday not only involved national interest but that of the whole world.



The national government, with all its might and power, should have come in and took over from local authorities. The Philippine National Police has an elite Special Action Force (SAF)- a well-equipped, battle-ready unit- that was relegated to the sidelines. Also joining the ranks of spectators were soldiers belonging to the elite light reaction company of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.



The LRC is an elite commando unit composed of military specialists. Name it, they have it. It is a US-funded and trained unit formed to confront the Abu Sayyaf and other Muslim extremist groups in the South. These soldiers, too, weren’t tapped.



The PNP-SAF alone could have done better and could have ended the crisis much earlier than the fumbling Manila SWAT. But the PNP chief was somewhere else attending a pre-arranged meeting down South. Sad to say, the man in charge during the crisis was the hostage-taker, Sr. Insp. Rolando Mendoza, himself.



Mendoza was in full control in and out of the ill-fated Hong Thai Travel bus. Verzosa, who is retiring soon, claimed he was closely monitoring the events from wherever he was that time. Management by remote control. Lame.



To me it was the height of command (ir)responsibility.