Hostage crisis top negotiator reveals force's shortcomings
Source: Xinhua |
September 7, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
LACK of coordination combined with the absence of a dedicated hostage negotiating unit led to the collapse of the negotiations for the release of hostages inside the hijacked tourist bus in Manila on August 23.
This was revealed yesterday in the ongoing public hearings in the Philippines by a team headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. The panel is probing the crisis that left eight tourists from Hong Kong dead.
Superintendent Orlando Yebra, who acted as chief hostage negotiator, told panel members that they followed two different protocols during the hostage crisis.
"I have no idea what the other people are doing, the set-up is topsy-turvy. I was busy with negotiations," he said.
Yebra said under the crisis management manual, the Crisis Management Committee should be headed by a local chief executive who has direct supervision over the ground commander. Under him are action groups such as the negotiating team, a service group that includes the intelligence team and medical team, and a public affairs group that coordinates with the media.
But during the hostage-taking incident, Yebra was directly communicating only with Manila Police District Director Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay.
Yebra also revealed that the national police has neither a dedicated negotiating team nor a manual on hostage-taking crises.
Yebra himself is not a member of any hostage negotiating division. His official position is chief of legal department of the Manila Police District. He attended several hostage-negotiating courses in the US.
"What we have is a manual in crisis management, hostage negotiation is only integrated there," he added.
Yebra said that he wasn't given any intelligence support during the day-long standoff. He said information on the structure of the bus, the identities of the hostages and the mental state of the hostage-taker would have helped in the negotiation.
Gregorio Mendoza, the brother of the slain hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza, told the review panel that his fear for his life spurred him to make a commotion to get media attention at the height of the crisis.
The police arrest of Gregorio, which was witnessed by the hostage taker at the television monitor inside the tourist bus, is said to have angered Rolando, pushing him to kill some of the hostages.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Philippine police arrived in Hong Kong yesterday to meet witnesses of the hostage crisis, Hong Kong police said.
The Philippine officers will also take back three mobile phones that were earlier handed over to Hong Kong authorities but later found not belongings to the Hong Kong victims, the Hong Kong police said.
This was revealed yesterday in the ongoing public hearings in the Philippines by a team headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. The panel is probing the crisis that left eight tourists from Hong Kong dead.
Superintendent Orlando Yebra, who acted as chief hostage negotiator, told panel members that they followed two different protocols during the hostage crisis.
"I have no idea what the other people are doing, the set-up is topsy-turvy. I was busy with negotiations," he said.
Yebra said under the crisis management manual, the Crisis Management Committee should be headed by a local chief executive who has direct supervision over the ground commander. Under him are action groups such as the negotiating team, a service group that includes the intelligence team and medical team, and a public affairs group that coordinates with the media.
But during the hostage-taking incident, Yebra was directly communicating only with Manila Police District Director Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay.
Yebra also revealed that the national police has neither a dedicated negotiating team nor a manual on hostage-taking crises.
Yebra himself is not a member of any hostage negotiating division. His official position is chief of legal department of the Manila Police District. He attended several hostage-negotiating courses in the US.
"What we have is a manual in crisis management, hostage negotiation is only integrated there," he added.
Yebra said that he wasn't given any intelligence support during the day-long standoff. He said information on the structure of the bus, the identities of the hostages and the mental state of the hostage-taker would have helped in the negotiation.
Gregorio Mendoza, the brother of the slain hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza, told the review panel that his fear for his life spurred him to make a commotion to get media attention at the height of the crisis.
The police arrest of Gregorio, which was witnessed by the hostage taker at the television monitor inside the tourist bus, is said to have angered Rolando, pushing him to kill some of the hostages.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Philippine police arrived in Hong Kong yesterday to meet witnesses of the hostage crisis, Hong Kong police said.
The Philippine officers will also take back three mobile phones that were earlier handed over to Hong Kong authorities but later found not belongings to the Hong Kong victims, the Hong Kong police said.
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