Awarding of outstanding cops deferred after hostage tragedy

Metrobank Foundation has deferred its annual awards for outstanding policemen originally scheduled on Tuesday, but officials said it has nothing to do with the tragic end of the Aug. 23 hostage-taking incident that is largely blamed on inept law enforcement. The foundation, however, pushed through with the awards ceremony for teachers, with President Benigno Aquino III as the guest of honor. “We just want to concentrate on the teachers," said Metrobank Foundation president Aniceto Sobrepeña. Ten teachers — four each from the elementary and secondary school levels, and two in the tertiary — were honored during Tuesday’s ceremony. Sobrepeña said in the past, awarding ceremonies for the Search for the Outstanding Teachers (SOT) and the Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service (COPS) were held separately. The foundation was supposed to award 10 outstanding policemen whose names were even included in a Malacañang press release Monday. Sobrepeña could not say when the COPS awarding would be held, but assured that it will push through within the year. “They (policemen) will be honored similarly at a future time. They have been chosen already, we will just find another date convenient to the Office of the President for them to be awarded," he said. Eight tourists from Hong Kong were killed in the 11-hour hostage-taking incident that has caused tension between the Philippines and China. The hostage-taker, Rolando Mendoza, was a decorated police officer but was dismissed from service after he was implicated in a robbery-extortion case. Mendoza, who was slain by police operatives, demanded his reinstatement into the service when he took over the bus carrying the tourists in Manila. - Jam L. Sisante/KBK, GMANews.TV