MANILA, Philippines?Contrary to Malacańang?s claims that the botched assault on a hijacked tourist bus was a result of lack of resources, police officials Thursday told a Senate inquiry that the commandos actually had key equipment and that elite forces were available.
But for some reason, the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) group failed to use face masks and ladders?or crack troops?when they launched the rescue operation that killed eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage-taker, dismissed Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza.
?The sledgehammer that you used was your own? Or did you borrow it from the (nearby Manila) Ocean Park?? Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano asked Chief Insp. Santiago Pascual, the SWAT commander of the Manila Police Department.
?It was the property of the office,? Pascual replied, adding that save for a ?frame charge,? or explosives, his unit had items such as face masks and ladders.
The assault that exposed Philippine police to international condemnation and ridicule also went according to the ?plan? rehearsed by Pascual?s SWAT unit under the direction of Chief Supt. Rodolfo Magtibay, head of the Manila Police District who has been relieved.
In fact, the team?which took nearly an hour to seize the bus parked in front of Quirino Grandstand?was fresh off an intensive training this month, according to Pascual.
But no less than Director Leocadio Santiago, the chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), admitted that he would have conducted the assault differently.
Santiago said he would have ordered a ?multiple entry? of commandos, going by pairs to cover each of the windows of the bus. He said there were two other ways to breach the vehicle aside from using a sledgehammer, which was used in the assault.
He said police could have used a ?punch and pull? device to crack open window panels or ?frame charges? as a ?last option.?
Pascual said he had ruled out the third option because it would endanger the lives of the hostages.
SWAT?s call
Asked why the assault team did not use face masks after it dumped tear gas canisters inside the bus, he said: ?It?s the call of the SWAT team leader.?
?So the SWAT did exactly what they were trained to do?? Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked Magtibay, who replied in the affirmative. ?They just did what they were taught to do? So there is a problem with our training.?
The Senate committees on public order and justice and human rights opened the investigation by putting Magtibay on the spotlight for things like his failure to tap the more experienced Special Action Force (SAF) to do the job.
Sen. Miguel Zubiri showed a video of how Serbian special forces seized a bus in a training camp using ladders and high-tech explosives.
Zubiri criticized the team leaders for pushing through with the assault when they were clearly ill-prepared and they made ?band-aid solutions? along the way.
Magtibay said the assault plan had been ready by 11 a.m. or about an hour after a rifle-wielding Mendoza had commandeered the bus. He said actual rehearsal took place around noon.
?Ultimate decision?
Later in the day, the SAF, the Philippine National Police?s most elite unit, was called in and was placed at the disposal of Magtibay. Still, he said he opted to use the SWAT upon the assurance of Pascual that the team was ?ready and capable.?
?The ultimate decision is mine and I take full responsibility,? Magtibay told reporters after the six-hour hearing.
Asked by Cayetano if he was in a position to decide whether the SAF was better than the SWAT in conducting the assault, Magtibay said: ?I know my men and I trust the word of that SWAT leader that they could handle the situation.?
But the general admitted that he did not bother to check if the SAF unit in attendance had a ?ready assault plan? of its own.
At Camp Aguinaldo, Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said that the AFP also offered a Light Reaction Company, a composite of highly trained men from the Navy Seals, Army and Air Force. He said the team was deployed at the scene but it was not used.
?The Light Reaction Company which we presented as a very viable alternate is highly trained, highly equipped, standards coming from the US armed forces,? he told a media briefing.
?Its specialty is hostage-taking and release of hostages.?
Light Reaction squads are used to fight Islamist militants of the Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippines, Mabanta said.
False promise
Cayetano also quizzed police officials on whether negotiators could have resorted to false promise if only to appease the hostage-taker and, ultimately, secure the safe release of the hostages.
?Can you send a fake reinstatement paper then once the hostage-taker is out, you cuff him? Because obviously, nobody in his right mind will demand reinstatement, taking hostages, knowing that once he gets out, he would be arrested?unless you?re asking for a presidential pardon,? he asked.
Santiago replied: ?The negotiator cannot promise anything just to get a resolution. He can deviate a bit, meaning play a little but not promise anything because it will open the floodgates to anybody who wants something (to) demand the same. So there was a play of sleight of hand, which, I think, my ground commander did and which I acquiesce (to) also.?
At one point in the negotiation, Magtibay said Santiago had prepared a letter assuring Mendoza that the implementation of the dismissal order against him would be suspended pending a review of his case.
Chief Supt. Herold Ubalde of the police legal service said the hostage-taker became calm when negotiators broached the idea of his reinstatement.
Brave men
Santiago said the SWAT members were brave but that they required more training and equipment. He said the PNP was asking for an annual budget of P100 million to maintain a world-class strike force for crisis situations.
Palace officials have blamed the Arroyo administration for the fiasco, saying that police did not have the proper equipment.
Magtibay claimed the assault team?s main problem was their inability to breach the entry doors and windows. ?Their attempts were prevented by the shots coming from hostage-taker,? Magtibay said.
When asked why he ordered the assault even if he knew his men were ill-equipped, Magtibay said: ?Because our primary concern is the safety of the hostages, we have to act quickly in spite of the problems the SWAT men are facing.?
Gas masks left behind
He maintained that all members of the SWAT team had gas masks but they failed to bring it with them when the assault was hastily called.
Pascual said his men had to act quickly and surround the bus after the first shots were fired because ?our primary concern was to save the hostages and throwing the tear gas was just a last option.?
He said that the tear gas was the last option to flush out Mendoza with snipers waiting for him to run out because of ?zero visibility? under a heavy rain.
Pascual said the SWAT team could not set up a ladder because the hostage-taker could shoot them down, which was why they decided to set up ?human ladders? instead. With a report from Cynthia D. Balana
