MERGED: Quirino Grandstand Hostage Crisis

[Monster23]

---

S.W.A.T.= Sorry Wala Akong Training.

[Eiso]

@chanix: boss imo fonts... tsk2...

[chanix]

nagbarog ra cya sa pultahan.
Wla pa tingali swat naabot ani.
Or basin niposing para picturan


image from gmanews

dako na kaayo ni nga chance to take em daown!!

Wala pa jud birahi

naa na na swat by that time nd mga snipers

pero nag huwat sila sa command!

[darkwing]

PRESS BRIEFING
of
His Excellency BENIGNO S. AQUINO III

After the delivery of his statement on the August 23, 2010 hostage-taking incident at the Quirino Grandstand

[August 24, 2010, Malacañang]

Q: Good morning, Sir. Many asked why it took you so long to come out and face the nation? They say former President Arroyo would assign somebody high-ranking to deal with such a situation and there would be updates on what was happening

President Aquino: Noong nalaman ko po itong insidente na to, kaninang umaga pa po, at mula kaninang umaga, tayo’y kumakausap na sa kinauukulang awtoridad. Hindi ko na siguro kakailanganing i-publicize ‘yung mga ginagawa natin dahil ang isa sa pinakamahirap na parte noong araw natin ay ‘yung pag-aawat doon sa mga nagmimiron. Mayroon for instance na taga-NAPOLCOM na nagsalita doon sa demands ng hostage taker, eh “no” kaagad. So parang sinara ‘yung avenue for negotiation. So I have tasked Jesse Robredo to call this NAPOLCOM commissioner to tell him to keep quiet because for whatever reason … greatly complicating the tensed situation already. Ngayon, the ground commander has to be given confidence. He is the person who is there on the site who will have to make the staff decisions if necessary and it doesn’t help him to have somebody looking over his shoulder and micromanaging everything he has to do. So, consciously from the morning, we were informed of the incident we were asking to be kept apprised of the developments, but consciously, it had to… we delegated the authority to the rightful persons who are tasked to carry out the functions of the state given the situation.

Q: Were you satisfied with the way the police handled the situation?

President Aquino: There are lots of things, ‘di ba? This resulted into a tragedy, obviously we can improve and we should be improving. We are also cognizant of the circumstances: training budgets for instance for incidents such as this, the equipment necessary, and the ability to deploy anywhere in the country. Ang dami talagang kailangang gawin. To be honest with you, this whole day, besides this hostage-taking situation, I was in touch with Secretary Ona about the dengue situation. I was also talking with the Secretary about the submission of the budget message. The review will pinpoint areas where skills that had been demonstrated in the past can be recovered, the provisions of new and better equipment and more training opportunities for our forces to ensure that the safety of the public will be the necessary result of this tragic incident.

Q: Sir, do you think there had been lapses in the way the hostage taking was handled?

President Aquino: When you confronted with the group, for instance ‘yung Abu Sayaff, there are different sets of parameters that you will employ if it’s a hard terrorist group like the Abu Sayaff. Now, when you have somebody who feels aggrieved by the system, who was a man in uniform, who had freed a substantial portion of the hostages under his control, parang it would tend to give you … belief that you can solve this peacefully. An assault is also called the final option and it is only warranted if there is actual harm to be inflicted upon the hostages, or [is] already happening. Now, how can I be satisfied if there are people who died?

Even in Russia with regards to their sophistication, when they had that theater hostage-taking situation, the casualties are even more severe. We’re not saying that… It’s precisely called the final option primarily because there is no guarantee that this will be successful. But in this particular case, in fairness to the police, the situation really changed from somebody who seemed to be at least not as belligerent as other terrorist groups, who was not a hardcore terrorist, or a hardcore criminal that led to the belief that this could be settled peacefully without loss of lives. Unfortunately, we would want to really fell it out to whom he was really talking to that seemed to increase his agitation, especially after the delivery of the letter.

Q: It took some time, considering they are prepared for this. It started in the morning and it took them at least one hour to finish the assault. Secondly, how can you assure the international community, investors, tourists after this? Hong Kong has issued a black travel advisory against us.

President Aquino: ‘Yung assault, it really took quite a while and it took me quite a while to ask precisely why it takes that long. As you know, during my mother’s time we had the PSG demonstrating their capabilities and specifically it’s a hostage rescue situation, ‘no? This particular case, again, the unit that eventually did the assault had to undertake what they called a hasty assault. The unit that has more capability was not in the position closest to the bus at that particular point in time. May I just point out that if you look at the Quirino Grandstand, pre-positioning people given that wide expanse of open area is not an easy thing to do. Of course, with the non-stop coverage of all the media outlets, and we now understand that the hostage taker was viewing the TV and listening to the radio throughout the whole time, ‘yung actual movements of personnel to where they can effect a successful assault were severely hampered. Now, in the increased capabilities, we’ve seen that the method they employed to breach was not successful. Obviously, we will need better equipment and more training to be able to successfully breach such a scenario. The other aspect, I think not many people are aware. Some point in time during the assault, the hostage taker had surrounded himself with some hostages. He used them as body shields, which made our forces hesitate to employ deadly force.

With the international, I think, after the training, after the provision of the necessary equipment that we are sourcing funds for, there will be demonstrations of our increased capabilities to handle this situation and other situations. Of course, they will be… so as not to reveal all our capabilities.

Q: Did you personally speak to Donald Tsang or any Chinese?

President Aquino: I asked the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to deal with the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China, and of course, to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. The Ambassador is presently not in the country. I understand he’ll be coming back tomorrow. I’ll talk to him by tomorrow.

Q: What did they say about the incident?

President Aquino: Well, they just informed us that they will be sending people both from the police and the immigration people and they asked for necessary assistance to which the Secretary of Foreign Affairs committed to render all possible assistance to their investigations.

Q: But did they express dismay? Lalo na, it was very long-drawn, you know?

President Aquino: ‘Yung long-drawn, it was a tactical decision e. If there was no immediate threat to the hostages, then you will wait him out. Why employ the final option as the first option? Why put the hostages at an unnecessary risk? Don’t forget that at the get-go practically he was releasing people. So we were hoping as the stress wore him down, then it will be more and more amendable to finding a peaceful solution. Unfortunately, that changed and it changed quite rapidly.

Q: You were prepared, as you said, to wait him out until ma-release?

President Aquino: The alternative is to force the situation, and when you force the situation, when you have a hostage taker which allegedly is armed not only with a rifle but at least a pistol or pistols and hand grenades, parang the calculus is very intense. If there’s a possibility to get everybody out without shooting a single bullet, I think that is the prudent course action to take. Practically, he has been releasing a third, or more than a third of the hostages he had.

Q: Would you call for a review of the police rules? Because apparently this was made after his dismissal, and also there are calls for mandatory psychological tests for every policeman.

President Aquino: There is a mandatory neuropsychological exam for applicants, and I think there are repeat tests depending on what you are applying for, trainings that you’ve done, etc. Will we review this particular case? Now, it’s with the Ombudsman already, but personally I’m curious whether or not there was validity to his complaints. If there was, that points to correcting the system. At the same time, the dismissal in the RTC and internal affairs service of the PNP was due not to a repudiation of evidence but rather the absence, I understand, of the complainant. So his innocence and guilt was not proven in that aspect except that we do have presumption of innocence that has been proven guilty. So, we cannot really say that he was innocent of the charges that were proffered against him. I have tasked to find the complainant and to find out the truth in this particular matter.

Q: You said that the media further agitated the situation. Do you think the government made a mistake in not ordering a news blackout early on?

President Aquino: If we ordered a news blackout you’d tell us that we are guilty of censoring you of a priory, which is frowned upon by the constitution. We cannot censor you for things you are about to do and we did vow transparency. But that points out to, actually, the possibility of further refining the rules after the Peninsula incident, if you remember. Pero I’m made to understand even in the course of several interviews, he was given a blow by blow of the developments affecting his area. ‘Yung deployments, ‘yung positions of everything were provided him. So to a certain degree, he might have had a bird’s eye view of the entire situation, which does not help the security forces in carrying out their mission. So we will be talking to you, we’ll come out with terms and conditions that will help each one of us achieve our objectives.

Q: Tuloy pa din po ba yung review ng kaso kahit na patay na yung suspect?

President Aquino: Palagay ko dapat makita natin kung nag-fail ba yung system na ‘pag may nag-aakusa sa ating patunayan ‘yung pagiging inosente natin o hindi. Dito mayrong allegations na inapi siya, so tignan natin ‘yung mga sinasabi niya kung may basehan ba o wala, kung may pagkukulang ba ‘yung sistema, eh ‘di i-correct. Kung tama naman yung sistema at nabigyan siya ng pagkakataon, eh ‘di lalong mas… na hindi natin kailangang ayusin ‘yung sistema.

Q: May plano ba kayo personally na tawagan si Mr Tsang?

President Aquino: Tatawagan ko po siya. Actually, ngayong buong gabi mula kaninang umaga hinihingi ko ‘yung developments. Ngayong gabi po sinusubukan kong maunawaan ‘yung kabuuan ng pangyayari. Pagkatapos po nito, itu-tour ko na din po ‘yung crime scene. Baka it may further develop ‘yung ating pagkakaunawa doon sa nangyari ngayong gabi.

Q: Mayroon bang dapat managot dahil parang tampered na iyung ibang ebidensya dahil sa sobrang dami ng tao na pumunta sa crime scene?

President Aquino: Pagkakaintindi ko po na-cordoned off na po ng SOCO ‘yung crime scene. Pero po ‘yun ang ide-determine natin. Nandito ‘yung ground commander, kakausapin ko. Tinanong ko sa kanya, isa sa mga unang bagay ‘yun. For instance, ‘yung revelation sa atin na ‘yung chief negotiator, after makipagusap sa kanya sila pala pinutukan noong una. So gusto nating ma-recover sana ‘yung impact area ng slug. Nandyan pa ‘yung ulan, baka na-wash out na ‘yung ibang evidence. Pero lahat ng ebidensyang ito, magtuturo sa atin ng lahat ng kaganapan na nangyari ngayong gabi. ‘Yung mga nakapasok sa crime scene, siguro secondary na lang ‘yang mga ‘yan, pero kung mayroon mang nag-violate, hayaan niyo ako hanggang bukas, pero last na admonition na sana ito na i-preserve naman sana natin ‘yung crime scene.

Q: How can we appease to Hong Kong national’s feelings, para hindi na maging more drastic ‘yung actions from them, lalo na’t madami tayong OFW na nandoon?

President Aquino: Palagay ko po iyan ay isang report na napaka-raw at mukhang hindi tama. Hindi ko alam kung officially na sinabi iyun. Ang maliwanag po may travel advisory sa Philippines na prudent gesture on their part to protect their citizens. With response to parang sini-single out sila, palagay ko hindi nila ginawa ‘yun.

Q: Saan na ‘yung family members ni Mendoza?

President Aquino: Isa lang ang nasa custody, si SPO2 Gilberto Mendoza.

Q: May possible charges ba siya na pwedeng kaharapin?

President Aquino: That is being investigated at this point in time. Perhaps I should ask the hostage negotiator to say what he overheard the brother tell Inspector Mendoza after pinabasa iyung sulat.

Col. Yebra: Actually, noong inabot na namin ‘yung sulat and ikinagalit ni Gregorio Mendoza na ang nilalaman ay hindi ‘yun ang kanyang gusto at ‘yun daw ay isang basura. While he was talking over the phone, this Gregorio Mendoza nagsabi doon kay Capt. Mendoza na, “Brod, pag hindi ini-release ‘yung baril ko ‘wag kang papayag.” Meaning wag siyang papayag doon sa usapan namin na mag-surrender siya after ma-resolve. So naging part na rin siya noong bargaining na kailangan ibalik muna ‘yung baril niya, kaya kumbaga nakatulong siya kay Capt. Mendoza emotionally or psychologically; tumulong pa sya.

President Aquino: May I just point out na si SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza was not tasked to help in the negotiations. I think based on his own statement sinabi niya narinig niya sa media kaya nagpunta siya doon, tapos pumasok siya sa zone kung saan may perimeter na dapat mag-exclude ng unauthorized personnel. Noong nasita ng isa pang negotiator, kinapkapan. Nakitaan ng baril, inescort out muna tapos lumalabas may mga pronouncements doon na hindi siya kaisa doon sa aim na pahupain ‘yung… pakalmahin ‘yung kapatid para sumuko nang matiwasay.

Q: Sino aatasan para isagawa ‘yung review sa case?

President Aquino: Palagay ko si Secretary Leila de Lima pwede na… Sec. de Lima has really quite a substantial load, agencies under her. But I might even ask the Presidential Legal Counsel, who has less of a load, as a lawyer, to conduct a parallel investigation.

Q: Fact check on casualties. Walo, tama ba?

President Aquino: I think that’s correct. That is the information I’ve gotten.

Q: Eh ‘yung mga injured?

President Aquino: Eight injured. May tatlo na ambulatory na hindi injured.

PDir. Santiago: Apat ‘yung ambulatory, sir, na naunang lumabas. Tapos, another four na carried by ambulance. Bale walo.

President Aquino: So, apat pa doon sa walo ang natitirang injured? Can I ask directly Dir. Santiago to give you the numbers?

PDir. Santiago: As of now, seven ‘yung dead on arrival na victims. Total of eight were hospitalized, two under observation, one injured mother and child. The rest, under observation.

Q: Ano po pakiramdam bilang Pangulo considering hindi pa tapos ‘yung 100 days niyo, may nangyayari ng ganito?

President Aquino: Nakakadagdag ng problema, no? Isipin niyo isa ‘yung revenues natin for job generation is tourism. We intend to double the tourism figures from 3 million to 6 million. This obviously did not help. Could this problem, being addressed earlier, could the guy not have been as desperate? Was he afforded all of his rights? But at the end of the day, that’s part and partial of the job. We have significant number of dengue cases already. You have climate change that has already affected Pakistan, even Russia for that matter. So we are trying all the best that we can in order to prepare all these contingencies, but we will not be deterred in our quest to really … a lot in the Filipino.

Q: Lesson learned?

President Aquino: At the beginning of the day, I was very confident in the capability of our security forces, especially given this particular situation. Most of the time, when there was a demo of hostage rescues, it entails a bus. I’m sure most of you managed to witness the same, and you have a hostage taker that is not hell-bent on killing himself or hurting anybody else. As I say, certain situations changed. He was obviously distressed to begin with. Something pushed me over the edge. One has to ask there really has to be a redefinition of limitations. ‘Yung when the hostage negotiator was trying to call him up, who were the people he was talking to? What were the limitations imposed to the media? I think none. Everybody wanted to get the latest tidbit and each time he got a new piece of information, that obviously factored to his equations, and it didn’t help our security forces. At the same time, you have to balance the need of the people to know, but there has to be limits to what has to be divulged to somebody who has already taken the life of others in jeopardy?

Q: Considering the situation, may magbabago pa ba sa priority niyo?

President Aquino: I don’t think so. This is another aspect that has to be… the capabilities have to be enhanced at the soonest possible time. There are incidences of terrorism in our neighboring countries. Perhaps it’s a matter of time that we will be considered as a soft target. Therefore, we need to demonstrate that we are not a soft target, then we need to have some joggling in some of the finances of the state, re-order some to put more resources where it is more necessary.

Q: CHR said hindi kasalanan ng gobyerno ‘yung nangyari, pero kailangang humingi pa din ng apology sa Hong Kong.

President Aquino: Hihingi tayo ng apology sa Hong Kong? Dahil?

Q: Kahit hindi daw kasalanan ng gobyerno ‘yung nangyari, may mga involved na Hong Kong nationals.

President Aquino: Bakit naman tayo mag-apologize sa kanila na hindi natin napangalagaan ang kanilang mga mamamayan? Ginawa ko na po ‘yun. Kung tayo naman ang hihingi ng kanilang paumanhin, hindi ko alam kung ano ang kasalanan nila sa atin.

Q: Magkakaron na po ba ng limitation ‘yung mga media coverage pagdating sa ganitong mga insidente?

President Aquino: Well, one would hope that you have yourself policing mechanisms. Ikaw ang mag-ground commander, gusto mo i-pwesto mga tao mo doon sa malapit na lugar. In other countries, pwede pakiusapan ‘yung media, “pwede ba, huwag niyo kunan ‘tong lugar na ‘to dahil dito namin dadalhin ‘yung tropa namin na kailangang mag-assault?” Dito sa atin, wala yatang harang e. Ipinakita na lahat e. So kung ikaw paano mo ipupuslit ‘yung pwersa mo para ‘wag mag-increase ng tension? Kung hindi mo naman ilalapit, pano makakaresponde in a timely manner kung sakasakali. ‘Yun ang sinasabi ko sa inyo, baka pwedeng pag-usapan natin na magawa niyo ‘yung inyong tungkulin na ipaalam sa mga mamamayan natin kung ano ‘yung nangyayari, pero sana ‘wag nang dagdagan pa ‘yung pahirap sa iba na nasa delikadong sitwasyon. Pinahihirapan nating gawin ‘yung dapat nilang gawin.

Q: What concrete steps do you want to take. This situation has caused us… ?

President Aquino: Again, we’ll want a thorough investigation in everything that transpired. Hopefully, we will find measures that can be instituted to increase the well-being and security of our people. We will be enhancing… we will be providing funds necessary to support the training and the acquisition of equipment that seemed to be so lacking today. We will source that, although we have a very little leeway in the current budget, but we will do it and then have demonstrations of the enhanced capabilities of our security forces. Again, we will cooperate with all the agents of the parties here to ensure that we will repair as fast as possible the damaged relations between our countries.

Q: Even if the investigation is still ongoing, do you think there’s a need for heads to roll over this?

President Aquino: Napaka-unfair naman yatang i-prejudge ko sila. My opinion might have swayed the investigating panel, which might hamper them in ferreting out the truth. I will not do that this time.

Q: Are you satisfied with the overall situation as handled by the PNP?

President Aquino: Mayroong ideal situation. If we look at the ideal situation, which most of you transpired, ang laki ng difference. At the same time, is it right to judge them based on the ideal situation? Were there ideal circumstances? Were we sure from the onset that this hostage taker is determined to become a killer? If that were the case, the response would have been different. The terrain was not really advantageous to those who would carry out the assault. Obviously the intensive coverage by the entire media provided a wealth of intelligence to the hostage taker, tapos ‘yung rapid deterioration of the situation. Imagine, in the morning, as soon as he got there, in a very short period of time, he released two of the hostages. He followed it up with seven others, tapos bigla na lang pinuputukan ‘yung negotiator tapos after noon nagpapaputok na lang sa loob ng bus pagkatapos inorder ‘yung driver na umalis sa area. Masyadong rapid ‘yung nangyari at masyadong nag-change ‘yung dynamics. It has always been a quest between those who would terrorize the populace and those that would safeguard the populace, and both sides try to learn from each other. Obviously, it’s high time to increase our capabilities to deal with that.

Q: Why didn’t you appoint a higher official to become a chief negotiator?

President Aquino: There was an opinion that that would lead to an increase in demands by the hostage taker. If there was a higher official that, will theoretically grant him more privileges and more concessions.

Q: Message to low-morale Filipinos

President Aquino: Darating ang pagkakataong may pagsubok talaga tayong pagdadaanan. Hindi naman dapat ‘yung isang insidente na ganito ay susuko nalang tayo. Lalo po tayong dapat magsumikap dito na hindi na po ulit mangyayari ‘yung ganitong sitwasyon. Huwag po nating kalimutan na, kung titignan natin ‘yung terrorism elsewhere, hindi naman po terrorism ‘yung nangyari. Pero tignan niyo po ‘yung Germany, sa yaman po niya, hinost iyung Olympics to launch a friendship to everybody. ‘Yung Munich massacre practically inubos po ‘yung entire Israeli delegation. They have so much more in terms of equipment, personnel… ‘yung choice of terrain to assault and all of that pero naubos ‘yung Israeli team na hinostage—and then again, they have a lot of successes in the field of anti-terrorism and hostage rescues. But up to this day, nobody can tell you that there is a guarantee that once a final option if employed that it will always be successful. In fact, that is not the case.

[joop]

makalagot
makabuang
makabungog
makaulaw

ambot oi.!.

[leo_trams]

palpak ang ground commander...ug nganong wala gyud siya gi mention sa mga reports...ambot!
Dapat gi interview to siya sa media before and after sa panghitabo. Asa na man ni siya karon? wala nay moangkon kinsa ang ground commander abi kay palpak ang operation nila? Nobody was on top of the situation! Maong nagyagaw ang implementation sa assault! klaro kaayo sa TV nga ang mga assault team wala kahibalo unsa ilang next step o plan B o plan C after nipalpak ang first assault. Ni order unta pud to siya ug news black-out during the assault.

asa na man diay to ilang pirme gipanghambug sa media nga mga special units o anti-terrorist forces?
mga artista ra diay to sila? for show only?

Unsa on nga kung naay budget, ipalit man ug mansion ug mahalon nga sakyanan unya ipalit ug mga seksi!
Ang mga opisyal mga dagku kaayo ug mga balay ug naa pa gyud mga kabit. unya ang mga ultimo naglisod ug pakaon sa ilang mga pamilya. Kafaet na lang gyud! Na hala pag pulis pa mo!



.
.

[zubanu]

IDOL JUD NAKO NI S

S/INSP. ROLANDO MENDOZA

gitugman nlng unta to nila ang g request sa HOSTAGE TAKER

PARA WALA NLNG UNTA MA ABOT SA POINT NGA MAG BANAW ANG DUGO!!

NAG REQUEST SIYA UG MEDIA PERO WALA NILA G TUMAN

PARA MAKASULTI SIYA SA IYANG SIDE NGANONG IYA TONG GBUHAT

AT D FIRST , KALMA RA KAAYO MGA TOURISTA

DD2 RA NI WORST PAG DAKOP NILA SA IGSOON SA HOSTAGE TAKER

SA TAN AW PUD NAKO DLI C MENDOZA TANAN ANG NAKAPATAY SA MGA TOURISTA

KAY ANG ARMALITE

25 ROUNDS RA

AND NAKAPATAY CGURO SA UBAN TOURIST KAY ANG MGA SNIPERS NGA NAKA ASSIGN


UG SA MGA PULIS NGA NI RESPONDE MGA TALAWAN

WALAI GAMIT FULL BATTLE GEAR

PERO WALAI GAMIT ,

USELESS KAAYO ANG PAG LABAY2X UG TEARGAS/FLASHBANG DAYON WALA CLAI GASMASK

G UNSA KAHA NILA PAG GAMIT ILANG UTOK??

ASA NAMAN D I TO ILANG G INGON NGA THEYRE WELLING TO TAKE THE RISKS PARA MA SAVE TANAN HOSTAGES

NGA KADUNGOG LNG GANI UG BOTO!! IYAHAY NA UG OK-OK

SA MGA MEDIA SAB!!

NGA NAG PATUYANG UG COVER

WALA BAH NILA GHUNA2 NGA NAAI T.V/RADIO INSIDE THAT TOURIST BUS??

MURA RA UG WALA C MENDOZA

KAI MAKAPANGANDAM CEA

TUNGOD SA LIVE TELECAST

MAKITA NIYA UNSAI MGA MOVE SA POLICE!!

S-SUGOD/SORRY
W-WAG/WE
A-ATRAS/AREN'T
T-TAYO/TRAINED

-=FU*K THE GOVERNMENT=-

comment lang bro... dili mi daut ug mata nga dili kabasa. there's no need to make your fonts as big as that.. we will read your sentiments even size 10 na font

[rjbinghay]

our media is:

well equipped

well trained

well paid

talented

smart

dedicated

and skilled

on their work

hasta hostage taking minute by minute kuha gud...

kay sa atong pulis and swat

hehehehehehehehehehehehahahah

oh.. isug sad kaayu kay also kay willing mahimong negotiator to the point mahimomg hostage hehehehehehe

[unsay_ngalan_nimo]

I DEFINITELY AGREE WITH YOU......

Where is the COMMANDER in CHIEF by that time?
The Chief of Staff?
The Mayor?

nagmeeting with the president about sa situation.. LOL... nagmeeting meeting sila wala giapon napala.. ambot lang gyud!!!

[gcc4426]

and why the hell is GMA still involved with this? LOL

are the PNPs really good during Erap's term? mura mag sa panahon rang gloria inyong gbantayan nga ngil-ad ning mga kugtunga...nga in ana nman na cla sukad²