EDITORIAL - Defective gear

MANILA, Philippines - It has an expiration date and it shrinks in the rain. This was how members of the Manila Police District’s Special Weapons and Tactics team described the protective vest issued to them, which they used in their assault on the tourist bus hijacked by dismissed cop Rolando Mendoza on Aug. 23. Facing the panel conducting a marathon “clarification hearing” on the hostage incident last Saturday, the SWAT members said they also lacked assault rifles and explosive devices to shatter the windows and glass door of the bus.

Considering the way the assault was carried out, it was probably just as well that there were no explosive devices, or the death toll among the tourists from Hong Kong might have been higher. The Manila police – and whoever was really in charge, if there was any at all, of the bungled operation – had an entire day to prepare for an assault, which is always a possibility in a hostage incident. If Manila police and city officials did not want to cede turf and borrow better trained teams from other organizations, they could have at least made sure their SWAT team had the equipment needed for a successful assault.

Even without the testimony of the SWAT members, the woeful lack of equipment was plain for the whole world to see. The team moved in with tear gas canisters but without gas masks. Most wore caps instead of protective helmets. As Mendoza fired away with his assault rifle, with the gunshots heard on television, the SWAT team had to take cover around the bus and behind each other. Unable to break into the bus with a sledgehammer, it took them an hour to disorient Mendoza with tear gas, after which he was finally shot dead by a sniper.

Beyond the jokes now proliferating about the SWAT and Manila’s Finest, the government must make sure the nation – and the world – will never again be treated to such a pathetic police response. There are many instances when a SWAT team must again be called in. The next time the need arises, in the city of Manila or anywhere else in the country, the cops must be properly equipped to do the job right.