The Peter Principle

The Manila Police District’s Special Weapons and Tactics team is not the first SWAT unit to bungle big time the rescue of foreign hostages.

During the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich, German police also fumbled grievously, with the consequent death toll higher than the eight Hong Kong tourists killed in the hostage fiasco in Manila’s Quirino Grandstand.

You might have seen the movie: two Israeli athletes killed and nine others taken from their room at the Olympic Village by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. When the German police responded, five of the eight terrorists were killed, but so were all the nine captives.

Deeply embarrassed especially because of their history in dealing with Jews, the Germans responded by creating one of the world’s most effective police hostage rescue and counterterrorism units. On April 17, 1973, the German Federal Police officially organized what at the time was called the Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (GSG 9) or Border Guard Group 9. Still known today as GSG-9, the elite unit’s first sensational operation was the rescue of all 86 people held hostage on Lufthansa Flight 181 by four Arab terrorists who hijacked the aircraft in October 1977 in Mogadishu, Somalia. Three of the hijackers, who were demanding the release of Red Army Faction members, were killed by GSG-9 members backed by the British SAS and the Somali Army.

Since then the GSG-9 has figured in many other successful operations involving, among others, hostage incidents, hijacking and sea piracy.

Will the Philippines be able to redeem itself in the same way in the wake of the Aug. 23 hostage debacle?

*   *   *

At the meeting of STAR editors with President Aquino last week, he again lamented that the orders he issued in connection with the hostage incident were not followed.

“Malas talaga namin, umandar yung Peter Principle (It was our misfortune that the Peter Principle was at work),” he lamented.

Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull wrote in the 1969 book The Peter Principle that “in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence.”

They also wrote that “in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out their duties” and that “work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.”

P-Noy, in his frustration after the hostage mess, watched the 1970 Burt Lancaster blockbuster movie Airport, about a mentally unstable man with a bomb who triggered a crisis situation for 12 hours in an airport in the middle of a blizzard.

The President sighed that he was still trying to find the right balance between micromanagement and giving officers on the ground the leeway to effectively decide courses of action in crisis situations.

He said the government is addressing the clear lack of equipment of the SWAT team, including the flimsy flak vests used. The crisis management manual is being reviewed and measures are being worked out to prevent a repeat of what P-Noy described as the numerous “lapses in established procedures.”

Some Hong Kong officials have expressed deep disappointment over President Aquino’s review of the recommendations of the incident investigation and review committee (IIRC).

It is tempting to dismiss that reaction as that of people who do not know how to smile and are used to ordering Filipinos around. But even Filipinos, including IIRC members, have criticized the review.

The Chinese embassy spokesman texted me a reaction to the review that didn’t seem like they were eager to move on, as earlier announced by Ambassador Liu Jianchao. Part of the long text reads: “The Chinese side looks forward to effective measures to be taken by the Philippine side to address the related issues concerning the incident in an earnest and appropriate manner.”

Shorn of diplomatic gobbledygook, were they happy with the review? The reply: “That’s all I can say for now.”

Amid criticism that he had watered down the recommendations, especially in connection with the officials close to him – Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and retired Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Jesus Verzosa – President Aquino said there simply was no “proximate cause” to merit indictments for criminal negligence.

“Puede naman ako dito magpa-cute,” he told us, but he preferred instead to avoid “frivolous suits.”

“We believe that this is the most appropriate action,” he said.

*   *   *

So are we now seeing a Filipino version of GSG-9 rising from the ashes of that ill-fated tourist bus?

P-Noy told us the PNP is in the process of upgrading its overall capability through the procurement of additional equipment.

The PNP and Armed Forces are still trying to decide if they should form a composite team or set up their own special units to respond to hostage situations and similar emergencies.

Stratfor, a Texas-based global intelligence provider, wrote that hostage situations call for specialized police skills, and such cases, when they occur, are therefore closely monitored by police units worldwide.

“Indeed, in the Manila case, the events that unfolded provided a litany of lessons for hostage-rescue teams,” the Stratfor assessment declared. “The case will almost certainly be used in law enforcement and military classrooms across the globe for years as a textbook example of what not to do.”

If it’s any consolation to us, Stratfor also noted that police forces in many developing countries are unprepared to deal with hostage situations.

Among other things, Stratfor (like many Filipinos) wondered why hostage taker Rolando Mendoza was simply not given the document he demanded, ordering his reinstatement in the police, just to end the crisis.

There is no guarantee that this mistake will not be repeated. The Office of the Ombudsman, in defending its refusal, said it did not want to lie.

Aggravating the situation, as Stratfor noted (like the rest of us) was the arrest – or whatever is the preferred word for putting someone in handcuffs – of Mendoza’s brother as the hostage taker watched.

Stratfor mentioned the possible use, in future operations, of clandestine video equipment, parabolic microphones, jamming and interception devices for mobile phones and radio transmissions, and possibly thermal imaging sets.

Beyond equipment upgrades, many quarters have pointed out that the grievance mechanism in the police and other agencies needs an overhaul.

The lapses in the hostage fiasco have been identified. After this debacle, the PNP has to emerge a better force.