The Way It Is

The Aquino Administration is only two months old and it is already in the middle of a crisis that will have ripple effects weeks or possibly months after the incident that turned out to be the president’s baptism of fire.

At this time, members of his cabinet are already taking the heat with regard to the blunder that I call the Mendoza Bus Hostage Incident. Expect the pressure on those officials to last several more weeks.

Since this is a new administration and all officials are new appointees, they will all have to go through the Commission on Appointments for confirmation. Members of the opposition have already issued a warning that certain cabinet members (particularly those in the Communications Group of the Cabinet) will go through the wringer in the Commission on Appointments.

Just a week after the Mendoza Bus Hostage Incident, news from the United States about a hostage situation in of the offices of Discovery Channel Building and how it ended elicited comments such as “that’s how it should be done” and “the PNP should learn from the Maryland Police”. I believe there is no one in this country who does not wish that the hostage taking last Aug 23 should have ended differently. There is no debate about that.

There is no doubt that the government failed in the handling of the Mendoza Bus Hostage Incident. The government failed not only in the application of operating procedures and crisis management principles, but it ultimately failed in securing the lives of all hostages.