After President's rebuke, cops review hostage crisis handling

After being rebuked by President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III, Manila policemen have started reviewing the way they handled the 11-hour hostage drama where 10 people where killed, including the hostage-taker, a former police inspector. "Masusing ina-analyze namin ang situation, malalaman natin ang magandang nagawa at di magandang nagawa. Ito naman ay magiging transparent analysis," Metro Manila police chief Director Leocadio Santiago Jr. said in an interview on dwIZ radio. (We are analyzing the situation. We will find out what we did right and what we did wrong. This will be a transparent analysis) Santiago hinted that heads will roll but declined to give a timetable on when. He said they expect to learn many "lessons" by analyzing what happened. "Ito ay isang malaking bagay na maraming leksyon na mapapalaman talaga. Nasa umpisa pa lang ang aming analysis, di pa kami tapos (We expect to learn many lessons. We have just started our analysis)," he said. At least 10 people died in Monday's incident, including hostage taker, dismissed police Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza. President Benigno Simeon Aquino III said he was not satisfied with the handling of the situation. “How can I be satisfied when there are people who died?" Aquino said. Santiago explained that their priority had always been to protect lives. "Ang priority po na binigay ng ating kapunuan simula presidente sa ground commander, ang first priority ang kaligtasan ng buhay ng hostages (Our first priority, from the president to the ground commander, had always been to protect the hostages' lives)," he said. Initial findings Santiago admitted that while they were prepared to hold negotiations indefinitely just to protect the hostages' lives, tension erupted when the police was arresting the hostage-taker's brother, SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza. One of their initial findings was that the arrest of SPO2 Mendoza changed the complexion of the crisis, because the hostage-taker Mendoza flared up. "Sa aming sequence analysis kahapon, yan nga po ang malaking factor sa kanyang flare-up at pagbago ng masasabi nating disposition (Our sequence analysis showed the attempt to arrest SPO2 Mendoza was a factor in hostage-taker Mendoza's flaring up and change of disposition)," he said. "Yun nga po ang sudden deterioration biglang ni-report sa amin na binaril ang hostages, yan ang naging trigger para sa tactical options (When the incident deteriorated suddenly and Mendoza started firing, that was the trigger for us to take tactical options)," he added. Santiago admitted that while they used a sledgehammer to force their way into the bus, they had no idea the bus' windshield could withstand strong blows. He also admitted the sledgehammer was the only item left in their inventory in dealing with the situation at the time. "Sa inventory natin, yan lang ang gamit natin sa ganoong sitwasyon. Ang di natin expected, yung tibay ng window o materyales na kanilang babasagin," he said. (In our inventory, the sledgehammer was the only thing we can use in that situation. What we did not expect was that the bus' windshield was strong enough to withstand blows from a sledgehammer), About the way they controlled the crowd, Santiago said they did their best to isolate the bus from the crowd. He also said they were not lacking in personnel, saying that the entire Manila Police District, and the regional public safety management unit were involved. When asked if heads will roll, he said it will depend on the results of the investigation. "Kung ano ang resulta yan ang pagbabatayan ng decision (The results of the investigation will be the basis for our decisions)," he said. –VVP, GMANews.TV