Philippines can recover from siege tragedy by facing truth

This is one time when multiple approaches to a full reckoning of a public controversy are not only welcome but necessary. At the same time, we must remind ourselves that the Aug. 23 hostage-taking incident must not, in its horrific aftermath, old the nation itself hostage.

By this we mean that while we must do all we can to understand what seems almost incomprehensible, our focus must be to find the way forward.

To dwell on the past, whether it is to indulge in an orgy of self-flagellation, or to take part in an endless shouting match about so-called national traits, or to engage in a consuming quest to list all the what-ifs and what-might-have-beens of the televised fiasco, is to be unjust not only to the victims killed by ex-police captain Rolando Mendoza but to the nation as a whole.

The first thing to do, then, is to assert The Philippines national capacity to do right — to uncover the whole truth about the incident by ourselves, and to do it within a matter of days, perhaps a couple of weeks.

No pro-Philippine publicity blitz in Hong Kong or China will work at this time; for most viewers, the outstanding aspect of the Aug. 23 tragedy was the fatal incompetence of the Manila police. This matter must be explained first, and remedial measures must be seen to have taken effect, before any new information drive can even be considered.

A reshuffle in both the Manila city police and in the Philippine National Police itself must be included in the must-do list of remedial measures.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim must be held fully to account for his order to handcuff Mendoza's policeman-brother — he has denied that he had ordered the brother arrested, only handcuffed, but he misses the point. It was that order, carried out on live television, which Mendoza saw on the TV set inside the bus and which triggered his deadly rampage.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email