A Distorted Image

We are back in the limelight.

The hostage-taking incident last Monday showed the weaknesses of the PNP and the media. The incident could have been peaceful if the MPD conducted negotiations with dismissed captain Mendoza. The hostages could not have been exposed to the trauma of the incident for 12 hours if the MPD assured Mendoza that he can be reinstated in the PNP. Mendoza was not asking for too much. He was only asking for a single piece of paper from the Ombudsman to be reinstated.

The SWAT team obviously lacked training. They somehow forgot that they were dealing with a man who is probably as skilled as they were. They should have calculated the possible moves of Mendoza to disarm him.

The local government should be taking a lesson on good governance. When a sudden incident like this happens, they should secure the area. No civilians can go inside a crime scene. When a civilian was accidentally wounded, they should have started to close the area to prevent another accident to happen.

The media forgot their code of ethics. As a media practitioner, you must know what and what not to take footages of. The live coverage of the incident was obstruction to justice. The media should know when to cross the borderline. Their coverage on the capture of Mendoza’s brother only aggravated the tension inside the bus.

President Noynoy was himself a picture of his government’s passivity in incidents like this. His statements were all too late to alleviate the battered image of the Philippines. This is a test of his governance and ability to rule. His passive attitude towards this incident somehow sends a message across. He is a raw leader in need of more exposure to national threats and issues.

One hostage-taking incident proved to be enough to distort our country’s image. The hostage-taking incident was not the fault of Rolando Mendoza alone. The unskilled hands of the SWAT team and the MPD should also carry half the burden of betraying the Philippines’ image in the international limelight. The media’s obstruction of justice in the immediate scene only made matters worse.

This is one incident the world will find hard to forget. It was a showcase of a media too unethical and a government’s ineffective governance.