Coast Guard adopts preventive measures vs hostage-taking

Three weeks after the bloody August 23 hostage drama in Manila wherein nine people were killed, the Philippine Coast Guard has taken preventive measures to thwart potential hostage-taking crises at sea. Coast Guard commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said he ordered personnel in all ports to heighten their alert against guns and bladed weapons. "Ang pasahero na maaring magpalusot ng baril at bladed weapons sinisiyasat natin para di magkaroon ng oportunidad ipasok sa pantalan at sa barko. Prevention aspect ng hostage taking ito para di makapasok ang kontrabando," he said on government-run dzRB radio. (Our personnel have instructions not to allow weapons, particularly firearms and bladed weapons, to get through the ports and especially into the vessels. This is the prevention aspect of hostage-taking.) No passenger is exempt from searches and verification if he or she is found to carry weapons, he said. Tamayo said security will focus on handcarried and check-in luggage to make sure that weapons are intercepted at the ports. Tamayo reminded the Coast Guard to tighten security in ports especially during the students' midterm break and the Christmas season. He also expects sea marshal teams– composite units that include police, Navy and Coast Guard personnel – to deal with hostage crises promptly. He ordered his men to keep watch against overloading and attempts to smuggle firecrackers and contraband goods. Sea marshal teams have been on board passenger vessels since 2004, after an explosion hit a SuperFerry vessel in February that year. On August 23, a dismissed policeman, Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, hijacked a bus carrying 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos. Mendoza was demanding for his reinstatement and the dismissal of a pending case against him in the Office of the Ombudsman. At the end of an 11-hour standoff, Mendoza and eight Hong Kong tourists were killed. –VVP, GMANews.TV