Who Is to Blame for the Ineptness and Vulnerabilities Exposed by Hostage-Taking Incident?

It is shocking how a single hostage-taking incident has shook the country and exposed its problems and vulnerabilities, as well as the ineptness of government and police officials. The late Senior Police Inspector Rolando Mendoza merely wanted to clear his name of corruption charges - by using unarguably condemnable means - but he ended up exposing the nation.

The hostage-taking incident revealed how deep-seated corruption is, and no amount of grandstanding and flowery speeches could effectively address it. Mendoza's case - that of policemen extorting money from big-time criminals they are arresting - is not isolated. Stories of similar irregularities being committed by persons who are supposed to enforce the laws are regular fare for the media. Added to this, the ineptness and lack of training exhibited by the supposed elite crime fighting unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP) the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and their sore lack of basic equipment amplified how corruption has been plaguing the country's police forces. The way the SWAT unit conducted the rescue operation is not idiotic, it is pathetic. The police tried to make up for the lack of training and equipment by employing brute force. This is best exemplified when the police, instead of tinkering with the built-in safety mechanism to unlock the bus door, tried to break it down by using sledgehammers then tried to pry it out by tying it to a police vehicle, which, of course, utterly failed.

Because the rescue operation has been so embarrassingly bungled, nobody wants to take responsibility for it. The commander of the Manila Police District was sacked. He, in turn, is pointing to Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim. Lim reportedly denied his involvement in the ground command. PNP director Jesus Versoza and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo also claim that they were not involved in the details of the operations. This passing of the buck has reached Malacañang. And what is Malacañang's response? Pass the buck again. According to script, the army of spokespersons of President Benigno Aquino III claimed once again that the president need not know the details of operations and activities supposedly being led by lower officials; then President Aquino declared that those responsible for the bungling of the operations would be held accountable.

And now, Malacañang is blaming the previous Arroyo administration. While the Arroyo administration is the most hated and deemed as the most corrupt post-Martial Law government, the Aquino administration could not forever put the blame on it to escape its own accountabilities.