We regret hostage-taking incident, Aquino tells Chinese media

XIAMEN CITY (via PLDT) – President Aquino told the Chinese media the other day that the Philippines regretted the Aug. 23 hostage crisis last year and assured them that much-needed reforms had already taken effect to avoid a repeat of the incident.

In an interview with the Yanglan-Sun Media Group in Shanghai, the President was asked about the first “unexpected challenge” that he had to face after he took office – the hostage crisis that led to the death of eight Hong Kong tourists.

“We still stick to what we said, we regret that happened. We were focused on trying to save everybody,” the President said, adding there were things that should have been done better.

He cited the control of access to talking to the hostage taker.

“The isolation of the spot wasn’t complete, availability of cell phone communications by people who were talking to the hostage taker and those not trained in handling such a situation. There was also the assumption that the ground commander was competent and he needed the forces at his disposal and utilized the right forces for the right opportunity,” he said.

The President said the country’s security forces are now better trained and the government is modernizing their equipment. “We are punishing to the extent possible those who were involved (and) who didn’t do what they were supposed to do. We’ve been tackling corruption in very wide spheres of government. We expect to file major cases within the end of the year. But again, there is no absolute security anywhere in the world,” Aquino said. “If you can go to a more recent one, a very peaceful place like Norway, having somebody who can kill 70-plus individuals.”