Violent encounters happen anywhere in the world. We see hostage-taking in other countries including the United States. The difference, it is argued, is how the police authorities respond to the situation. There is a chorus of criticisms lambasting the authorities for the bungled hostage negotiations with, and the succeeding assault against, former Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza.
We know it was terribly wrong for Mendoza, who was previously dismissed from police service, to use force to air his grievances. In the morning of 23 August 2010, a Monday, Mendoza boarded a tourist bus and held hostage more than 20 tourists. Many hostages were released, while many died during the ensuing assault on the bus.
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- Black ribbon in Memory of the hostages who perished
We know that the police committed a number of serious tactical errors during the negotiations and during the actual assault, something which is admitted by the PNP’s brass. We all know that there’s a whole lot of changes and improvements that must be done with the capabilities of the authorities.
We know that many from Hongkong protested how the crisis was handled by the Philippine authorities. We know that the Hongkong people have the right to make such protest — we’ve done the same thing in this instance. We express our sincerest condolences to the family of those who perished. We have to wait for a week to keep our anger in check.
Yet we also know that it’s wrong to attack other Filipinos for what happened. We share the same frustrations like anyone else. While we cannot bring back the lives that were lost, we can honor their memory by always remembering what happened — and insisting that continuing measures be set in place to effectively address peace and order concerns.
This is the least we could do, for ourselves and for all non-Filipinos.
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This is symbolized by this black ribbon. Feel free to use it in your blog if you want. Here’s the code:
<a href=”http://visitpinas.com/we-shall-always-remember/”><img src=”http://visitpinas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Black-ribbon-for-hostages.jpg” width=”70″ height=”100″/></a>
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