EDITORIAL - Beyond rhetoric

MANILA, Philippines - The city police chief was fired and members of the Special Weapons and Tactics team were ordered to undergo a refresher course following a bungled response to a hostage crisis. An investigation was launched and orders issued to prevent a repeat of the botched rescue.

This was not Aug. 23, 2010 in Manila’s Rizal Park, but May 31, 2002 in Pasay City, when four-year-old Dexter Balala was stabbed dead in front of horrified onlookers and the SWAT team before the man who took the boy hostage, Diomedes Talvo, was shot dead.

Talvo had grabbed the boy at the Philtranco bus terminal in Pasay City, holding the hostage at knifepoint. Even at close range, SWAT members could not take a shot that would disable Talvo and make him free the boy. The bungled rescue cost Superintendent Eduardo de la Cerna his job as Pasay City police chief. The interior secretary at the time, Jose Lina, ordered retraining for SWAT members.

What happened since then? The story faded from the headlines, Lina left government, and everyone went on with business as usual. The quality of SWAT work obviously deteriorated over the years, as vividly manifested in the bungled response of the Manila police, supposedly the nation’s finest, to the hostage crisis in front of the Quirino Grandstand.

Following last Monday’s hostage incident, other countries including China have conducted drills on hostage rescue operations. Philippine SWAT teams in other cities have also been staging similar drills. Malacañang officials said an elite force would be organized to handle hostage incidents and special counterterrorism operations. Military officers have pointed out that they already have elite units with special training and equipment for those types of operations and that they had offered Manila the help of those special forces during last Monday’s hostage crisis.

Even with the proffered help from the military, cops are the first to respond to hostage situations particularly in Metro Manila, and they should have the competence to do their job. There have been promises in the past to improve the capability of SWAT teams. Last Monday’s incident showed the tragic consequences of leaving such pronouncements in the realm of rhetoric.