By Thea Alberto
President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III on Tuesday revealed he received the wrong information on the Qurino Grandstand hostage crisis.
“I was informed that the SAF [Special Action Force] will be the primary unit task in case there is a need to employ the final option—a lot of these things did not happen,” Aquino told reporters.
Instead of Philippine National Police’s elite unit SAF, it was members of the Special Weapons and Tactics who stormed the bus taken hostage by former policeman Rolando Mendoza. It took the SWAT hours before they were able to neutralize the lone gunman who held at least 15 tourists from Hong Kong.
“At the end of the day I’m Commander in Chief, I was in touch with [PNP] Director General Verzosa, I asked who the ground commander was, I was informed it was Magtibay, I was also informed that the NCRPO was there to back up Magtibay,” added Aquino, lamenting that things turned for the worse.
At the height of the crisis, Aquino was in a meeting with several officials in a restaurant in Manila.
Aquino said the misinformation will also be among the key points of the probe into the hostage crisis that left eight foreign tourists dead and a blackeye to the new government.
Napolcom official’s fault?
Aquino also noted that a member of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) was at fault for the failed negotiation with the hostage taker and even made matters worse by acting as the government’s talking head.
“There was this member of the Napolcom who was on TV, who was performing a role as a talking head and I’m not sure where he got the permission to do so. While he was talking he was already shutting the door on the demands of Captain Mendoza,’ said Aquino.
He refused to identify the official pending investigation.
Aquino said this Napolcom official complicated the situation and even refused to heed his order to stop talking.
“He should have thought best before uttering those utterances…unfortunately that person contrary to my wishes proceeded to become a talking head again in an evening program, so he will be disciplined,” added Aquino.
Aquino also defended his appointed Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo by noting that it was Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno who was designated to be in charge of the PNP.
Investigation finished in two weeks
Aquino said he is hoping investigations will wrap up in three weeks.
“It will definitely not be three weeks, probably it wont even be two weeks, but rather that I put a fixed date to it, in case there are some new developments, new forensic evidence that crops up, I’d rather not give them a fixed deadline,” said Aquino.
