DILG Head

The search for a name and a face to blame in the wake of the Quirino Grandstand hostage-taking incident last August 23 continues to mount. Quite plausibly, this is what fuels the incessant outflow of analyses on the tragic occurrence: the query "why did this happen?" being a precursor to the more pressing question of "who is to be blamed?"

Of recent, the names and faces (or heads, for that matter) which are frequently bobbing in the sea of cries and protests are those of DILG Secretary Jesse M. Robredo, PNP Chief Jesus Verzosa,   Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning (PCDSP) head Ricky Carandang, and Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) head Sonny Coloma. Calls for their resignation or sacking have been first issued by the opposition, particularly Arroyo stalwart Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman. This was to be expected; the opposition is going to milk this issue as fuel for their attacks against the Aquino administration which is determined to probe and prosecute the Arroyos et al for their greed and excesses.

Robredo's standard response to criticisms leveled at him had been to say these are "politically motivated." This was true when he was taken to task regarding the commercialization of the Peñafrancia Fiesta in the past years; this is true now when his bungling of the Mendoza hostage-taking crisis had him turn-over the handling of the situation to Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim. But when these same calls for courtesy resignations come from unbiased quarters from people who do not have the proverbial "axes to grind" (for instance, what does PDI columnist Ramon Farolan to gain from Robredo's ouster?), Robredo's "standard reply" becomes a lame and painful excuse to those whose lives have been scarred by the indecisive and inept response of his office.

To be clear, dismissed PNP Capt. Mendoza was responsible for taking a bus-load of Chinese hostages, of putting them in harm's way, and of murdering some of them. However, the last choice by Mendoza would have been different had the PNP-which is ultimately under the supervision and authority of the DILG-been less cocky in dealing with the situation. As the recent transcript of his last interview now reveals, Mendoza would not have been gravely agitated towards violence had his brother not been cuffed and arbitrarily declared as an accessory to the crime by those "on top of the situation." And while it is equally true that broadcast media's excessively "live coverage" of the precarious situation contributed to worsening it, Mendoza's choice to pull the trigger on his helpless captives would have been stayed had "those on top of the situation" handled the crisis more soberly. As it is, they did not and the blood staining Quirino Grandstand demands more than Mendoza's culpability. The tragic shooting of the hostages demands that someone from the Aquino government accept accountability.

This is called command responsibility; the buck stops somewhere. And in this case, it stops with Jesse Robredo, the previously esteemed and hailed DILG Secretary.

In Naga City, the long-standing turf of Robredo who served as mayor for many, many, many years, sycophants of the former mayor are mute on the DILG Secretary's clear failings in the hostage-crisis (which by now has blown into a political crisis). This is characteristic and expected; the patron is still patron even when elsewhere they ask for his head.