Preparedness-how much it could have done to the hostage taking in the Philippine

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I'm from the Philippines and I would like to give out my opinion regarding the hostage-taking incident that happened last Monday, August 23, 2010. I can't say that I'm proud of the outcome and the decisions that happened. I am, honestly, embarrassed at how the authorities handled the situation that caused 9 individuals to die. There could be some validity of the reason to what the hostage taker did that led him to take this drastic action and to think that he was a former police officer with a high rank and he also received awards for his achievements during his duty. I am in no position to judge him and or the police officers who were at the actual crime scene while it happened. However, based on what I observed from the broadcast on the news, it showed how UNPREPARED the police officers were and to think that there were around 200 police officers who were standing by while the hostage taking was happening could have had a more peaceful result. I saw on the news that at a distance where the actual incident was happening, the police officers were training as to how they will approach the bus and this was televised on TV which could have obviously been seen by the hostage taker because there was a television on board the tourist bus that he held hostage. As a lesson that should have been learned and trained a long time ago, the police officers should have had insight and should have been knowledgeable enough on how to handle the sensitivity of the situation. It's sad to think that the aftermath of the tragedy ended with disappointment, a lot of casualty which could have been avoided, and wouldn't have been a finger pointer to anyone especially the authorities if they had been observant and patient enough from the beginning until the end of the crisis. I guess my point goes the same to anyone on any occasions in our lives. We may have difficulties in trying to come up with a solution to any problem when it is needed impromptu. I believe that no one has to be a super genius to be able to come up with an answer but for the least that any one of us can do, we can be at least observant, patient, and using a lot of common sense when we try to take some actions. These qualities are needed in being able to reach the least risk and more satisfactory result to a dilemma. My prayers go to the people who's lives were lost and I pray for their families to be able to move on with God's blessings in peace. How do you think the situation could have been handled?