The chief of the Manila Police District (MPD) on Wednesday took full responsibility and offered to go on leave for the “fiasco” that attended the Monday hostage-taking bloodbath that resulted in the killing of eight Hong Kong residents and the wounding of several others.
Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay made the offer as four of his subordinates who headed the assault teams were ordered relieved as authorities started their investigation of police “mishandling” of the crisis amid demands from lawmakers and other sectors for the resignation of police officers and Aquino Cabinet members.
As the MPD chief, Magtibay acted as the ground commander of the police forces assigned to the handle the crisis when dismissed captain Rolando Mendoza took hostage a busload of Hong Kong tourists as well as their Filipino guide, photographer and driver Monday morning.
Autopsy findings disclosed that Mendoza did not kill himself and that the fatal bullet wounds he sustained came from high-powered weapons which were believed to have been fired by snipers.
In the House of Representatives, Minority Leader Edcel Lagman sought the resignation of Cabinet member for their “palpable incompetence” in the handling of the hostage crisis.
They are Secretary Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government and Secretaries Herminio Coloma and Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Group in Malacanang.
Lagman said that if the three officials refuse to quit, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino should dismiss them outright to show the whole world that he is serious in ridding his administration of incompetents who are to blame for the carnage.
Others whose heads were being demanded were Director General Jesus Verzosa, the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), and Deputy Director General Leocadio Santiago Junior, the chief of the PNP Metro Manila regional command.
But Malacanang, through Secretary Edwin Lacierda, the presidential spokesman, rejected Lagman’s demand, saying that everybody should set aside blame-throwing to enable the government to extend all possible assistance to the hostage victims and their families.
In separate radio and TV interviews, Robredo also stressed he would not resign as he called as politically motivated the demand of Lagman who is identified as a loyalist of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Santiago likewise brushed aside calls for his resignation under the “principle of command responsibility, saying he would wait for the findings and recommendations of a committee formed to investigate the botched hostage drama.
In a related development, some of the survivors and the remains of the eight hostage victims were flown to Hong Kong Wednesday afternoon amid fears and warnings of a backlash against thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) deployed there.
Due to the feared backlash, former president Joseph Estrada announced he was cancelling his scheduled trip to Hong Kong this week for a checkup on the surgery he had underwent there in 2004 for his arthritic knee.
Estrada said he would have wanted to take advantage of the long weekend starting on Friday to also relax in Hong Kong but changed his mind upon learning of the anger and strong reaction, particularly from youth groups, to the killing of the hostages.
He also asked the people to stop blaming President Aquino for the carnage, noting that the “crab mentality” of many of the Filipinos was behind this.
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