Forward, Backward

In the title, I have just outlined the method of the Philippine SWAT Team in handling extreme hostage-taking situations. Silly but its true and it is honestly painful to admit that that the people who are supposed to handle life-threatening situations are only armed with guns and an elementary dance step.

 

No matter how much I hoped that I will hear, see, feel none of the hostage taking, the media coverage was just impossible to ignore. Of course, being a Filipino, I had to react, not necessarily in defense of our country but in showing that I honor the gravity of the event.

First of all, I am not ashamed of being a Filipino. I have never been and I assume I will never be. I am only ashamed by our fondness with 'rude awakenings'. We wait for a bomb to explode before we decide on the budget for training a bomb disposal team. We like learning the hard way.

Of course, I detest the SWAT. I also hate the idea that there were at least a dozen brains who decided on the proceedings in the negotiations. I suggest they should have established a group that managed everything. If you let a lot of people to decide, you will only get confusion.

There is a lot to scrutinize about the whole ordeal but I am very tired and too stressed to even note the most obvious. Common sense will do it for you, I guess. (But it didn't for most of the authority.)

Follow-ups:

• During the final assault, 15 hostages were in the bus. 7 of them survived.
• The (fly)SWAT(tters) deployed tear gas and later realized they forgot their gas masks in their service vehicles. Genius!