After the Smoke Has Cleared in the Hostage-Taking Crisis, What Now?

"President Aquino accepted full responsibility over the bungling of the operations just to save the head of Local Government Sec. Jesse Robredo, especially since Congress has warned that it would make it difficult for Robredo to get its confirmation. Good for Robredo, but did President Aquino really realize his own accountability over the bungled operation?"

Investigations on the reasons behind the bungling of the police operation in the August 23 hostage-taking incident is ongoing with Justice Sec. Leila de Lima at the helm. The Senate is also undertaking its own inquiry. As of late, President Benigno Aquino III has taken "full responsibility' over what happened during that fateful day. Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno admitted that he had no experience in handling crisis situations. Puno was supposed to be on top of things and was the link to President Aquino. Police Director General Jesus Verzosa, on the other hand, admitted that he underestimated the impact of the hostage taking incident by deciding that it was merely a local crisis situation and proceeded with his normal business for the day.

After a week of evading their accountabilities, those government officials who are supposedly responsible for the handling of such situations are now admitting their faults and responsibilities. But the question still is, what happens next? How would the Aquino government address the problems that surfaced during the hostage-taking incident?

Admission of responsibility and accountability is the necessary first step at assessing the handling of any situation, for coming up with resolutions to prevent the same things from happening again, and to address the problems that surfaced in the process. Thus, it is a positive sign that government officials are beginning to admit their accountabilities in the bungled operations.

However, with the way the Aquino government is reacting, it seems that it is still missing the mark. First, President Aquino accepted full responsibility over the bungling of the operations just to save the head of Local Government Sec. Jesse Robredo, especially since Congress has warned that it would make it difficult for Robredo to get its confirmation. Good for Robredo, but did President Aquino really realize his own accountability over the bungled operation? Clearly, nobody was in command of the situation from the national government. President Aquino should have been on top of the situation and could have rallied his men behind him.

Second, it appears that President Aquino has not realized the fallacy of his decision to set clear boundaries over who is on top of what in the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) instead of placing the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the DILG secretary. And for what? for political accommodation?