Hostage-taking in Manila
i know the police know the protocol in hostage-taking situations. This protocol- playbook is uniform and internationally practised/ recognized; and so, i never Monday- quarterback hostage-taking situations. (when the hostage-taker started shooting inside the bus, the breach, by protocol, was necessary; on the other hand, the daytime early negotiations done by the book, resulting in the release of more than half-a-dozen hostages, to the credit of the local officials, went well; this however leaves us with the 7:20pm spectacle, which resulted in disaster, leaving eight hostages dead). Since the 7:20pm fiasco involved media facilities, maybe i’m allowed to Monday- quarterback that.
The police did not manage the hostage-taker’s access to media facilities; nor to who else was communicating with him from the outside. At worst, the police did not know the hostage-taker had access to television and what kind of media/ communication facilities the bus had.
Because of the mismanagement of the hostage-taker’s access to media facilities and various communication lines and to the media, the hostage-taker viewed the spectacle of his brother, and young nephews and nieces, on the floor, being roughed up by the police in television news blow-by-blow; was enraged, and started shooting. The usual practice is that individuals who are allowed to talk to the hostage-taker are also secured, and their media-interviews, managed. These went south today.
i will not Monday- quarterback the warrantless arrest of the brother even if that involved legal issues because this was a hostage-taking situation maybe he had to be restrained because earlier he reportedly further inflamed his brother- hostage-taker when he allegedly told his brother- hostage-taker “don’t give up until they return my gun to me”; the situation became more volatile when the grappling and scuffle occurred, because the hostage-taker could see it in full, living color on TV. (for that matter, the so-called “arrest” was such a show of bruteness it shouldn’t have been done in such manner but i’m trying not to second-guess that at this time because the hostages’ lives were on the line).
Even with the tried-and-tested hostage-taking protocol-playbook, the police might have missed out on something. Teeny-weeny. The terrain. The terrain is not just Quirino grandstand. It’s the bus. They didn’t research it; what facilities it had inside and outside.They also didn’t manage who else and how many were talking to him from the outside. (okay, i limited myself to media facilities; this incident has a whole a lot of legal and ethical issues — maybe another day.)
