Hostage situation already over!

@basqui (3888)
Philippines
August 23, 2010 7:53am CST
The hostage-taker was gunned down already and the hostages that are alive are taken out of the bus. The reporter is even not describing the drastic stature of the dead body of the hostage-taker. There are still survivors but some are unconscious. Just thanking that the situation is already over after almost more than 12 hours of the hostage drama.
5 people like this
11 responses
@saphrina (31551)
• South Africa
23 Aug 10
Honestly sweetie, i am not impressed at all. We have been hearing this the whole morning. What the hell is wrong with those people? TATA.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
is it safe to say, situation gone wrong
1 person likes this
@saphrina (31551)
• South Africa
23 Aug 10
No sweetie, it is not safer to say that. basqui, i don't think so, sweetie. There goes my freaking holiday. I should have gotten to him freaking first.
1 person likes this
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
Maybe the dismissed cop has gone out of his mind and so he did that terrible thing...
@youless (112586)
• Guangzhou, China
24 Aug 10
This is a real disaster. Today my colleagues are talking about this issue. We think the rescue is totally a failure. We don't understand what's wrong with the rescue team. At the beginning the hijack person still had a peaceful attitude, and actually his requirement was not that much. What's wrong with the negotiation? This person was not asking for millions of dollars. He just wanted to be back to work. And at the end the situation was out of control. The negotiation and the rescue are fatal failing. As to the hostage taker, now I wonder whether he is innocent. He did this because he had unfair judgment. He used the mistake to correct another mistake. At first his purpose was not to kill the innocent people. If he wanted, he could have killed more. In brief, this situation could solve better. I just don't understand why it will have an ending like this.
1 person likes this
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
24 Aug 10
The superiors didn't give in to his demands to get reinstated. And he was even agitated when the other cops arrested his relatives who were on the compound when the situation was happening...
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
24 Aug 10
They have mishandled the situation and so the lives of the hostages were put at very high risk resulting to loss of some of them. Tsk, tsk...
• Singapore
24 Aug 10
It was a tragic event which made our headlines today. Although this was an isolated event sparked off by the anger of a senior police officer angry at the organization for dismissing him from work, it seems that there were other kidnapping events around, all targetted by tourists or foreigners. Also, HK has cancelled all booked trips to the country. This is going to have a large impact on the tourism trade.
1 person likes this
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
24 Aug 10
There have been more incidents in other parts of the country but it was not that open to the international media and also the negotiators have been good in addressing the hostage-takers demands. Maybe the impact of the wide media coverage of the hostage drama has escalated the emotion of the hostage-taker yesterday especially when they covered the arrest of his relatives.
@greenpeas (998)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
It's really tragic that it has to end violently. I know a lot of people worked hard to bring this situation to a peaceful and safe end for everybody, especially the hostages. But things went wrong and I think the problem is the lack of hostage management skills by police personnel involved. The could have stalled Mendoza and tell him some soft lies and make him believe that the authority was working on his demands. At this point, they could fool him into going to the door...Where a designated sniper will finish will off with a single shot to the head. It would have been a better conclusion. I hope this will be a practical lesson for the police when dealing with same situation next time.
1 person likes this
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
The situation has lasted for 12-hours and I think that long hours should have been enough for the cops too find a very good hostage negotiator. or do we really have one? I agree that they should have made use of the snipers instead as it's what we have. They should have executed him at the daylight time if he was really that hard to negotiate with and so that the situation would not have lasted until the night time and to the tragic and bloody end.
@genevy04 (793)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
I agree with your opinion greenpeas. A single ex-police against a lot of policemen? They shouldn't have let this tragic thing to happen.. They should've planned it well enough to save the lives of the poor victims.. Poor tourists have to deal with the anger of the hostage-taker and have their lives lost in a glance. I can't imagine how that ex-police did the killing. With an M-16, I'm sure it was terrible. And a reporter has mentioned that a victim was slashed through the neck. I feel deep remorse for the victims..And sorry it has to happen in the hands of a Filipino.
1 person likes this
@incus99 (1083)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
There is selective news black out ... this hostage drama is being viewed in the international community... I don't know what will happen to our trip advisory tomorrow?
1 person likes this
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
i guess black list our country from tourist there's no news black out when there's a hostage situation. they can't cover it up.
1 person likes this
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
Yes, a real stain again to our tourism biz. Maybe the tourism that the government is promoting will lose investors and so it will recover slowly after a while soon. Let's hope that this will not affect the country permanently.
@genevy04 (793)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
Yes it's over, so as the lives of the other tourists..and even the hostage-taker. I've heard from the news and some of their descriptions about the victims are: " blooded, and soaking in blood, one was reported to have been slashed on the neck, others unconscious and injured, but aren't sure if they're to live". I sympathize for what happened to them.. And in the back of my mind, I was thanking the Lord that I, nor my husband, or my child, not even my loved ones were not the ones who were put into a situation like that. It makes me realize the worth of our lives.. The hostage situation may have ended, but the struggle of our country is just starting to happen.. Let's all expect negative effects to our country because of this incident.
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
I think that this does happen to other countries and there were more than like this but what the cops did not do is to control the mediamen covering the scene. They should have fed fake news to the TV because the hostage-taker was watching in the bus' TV set. argh, whatever, it's done and over now. What we have to do now is to think of ways on how to regain interest of tourists coming back to the Philippines. They already fear for their lives next time they come back, that surely did not help the tourism industry...
@genevy04 (793)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
Yes indeed.. What image will our country redeem anyway?? Is there any image at all besides the negative ones like one of the most corrupt country, or the worst country to go to? We all do not know what will happen next.. Prayers is all we can offer right now..
1 person likes this
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
23 Aug 10
I have not been watching the tv news of late so I am totally out of date with the latest happenings around the globe. This incident of hostage taking have not only shame the security of the country but will also affect future tourism in the country.
1 person likes this
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
The video from the start of the situation is already on youtube...so the international community already would watch it over and over again. Another shameful happening!
@kun2349 (23381)
• Singapore
24 Aug 10
Yeah, i saw that on the news as well as on yahoo.. THe drama is finally over.. Though it's 12 hours long, but it's a successful operation with the hostage taker been gunned down. What's more important is the safety of the passengers in the bus.. I wonder what makes him do that and is gunning him down the very last resort? IF so, why the need for 12 hours?
1 person likes this
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
24 Aug 10
Yes, you're right. If they could not give in to his demands then they should have assumed that he will surely make foolish moves which he did. So they should have gunned him down earlier in the day when it was still bright so that they have had the advantage of daylight. Maybe if that was done earlier then there would have been less casualties.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
23 Aug 10
hi basqui I am glad the hostage situation is over and done with as the hostages are now taken off the bus. I hope the unconscious ones will recover quickly. I missed that so should turn on my online newspaper and catch up as I had not heard about this.
1 person likes this
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
IT's all over the web already, I even watched it on youtube. A real tragic day for the families of the hostages, especially the casualties. You could watch the news at http://www.abs-cbnnews.com - it's not a referral link...
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
25 Aug 10
It is very good that the situation was able to come to an end, but it would be much better if there hadn't been fatalities. I completely understand the reason that the person that took the hostages had to be gunned down, but the fact that there were innocent people that lost their lives is really a distressing thought to me. I will never understand why it is that there are people that feel it is necessary to take the lives of other people.
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
The hostage drama was over but lasted for almost 12 hours and has a very tragic ending. Obviously there's a failure on the negotiation between the hostage taker and the policemen. They failed again to control this kind of incident which results the loss of lives of innocent people. Yes, the hostage drama was over, but it's effect on our tourism has just began.
1 person likes this
@basqui (3888)
• Philippines
23 Aug 10
Real big effect if you would ask me. The Chinese Nationals taken hostage inside the bus will surely point fingers into the authorities who mishandled the situation right from the start. And they will surely not recommend Philippines for excursion again when they get back to HK.