I know by now, everyone must've heard about the Quirino Grandstand Hostage Taking on August 23rd, 2010. Its an incident that wasnt held the way it was supposed to be. Police officers were careless, and at the same time afraid of what could've happened. But its too late for sympathies, the damage has been done.
Well, this is just my own insight on what had happened. I dont even think it is Capt. Rolando Mendoza's fault. Its the government's too. Well, the past administration, I can say. He was dismissed on 2008. P-Noy was elected only this year. So, none of this was his fault. Anyway, why not blame him? According to the people who know him.. He was one of the best policemen our country has. He was kindhearted and didnt mean no harm to anyone. He was caught in a case, "hulidap", which I believe was extorting money from a client. I dont exactly know what it is, so correct me if I'm mistaken. :) People were telling the media that he wasnt really a part of it, damay damay lang talaga, because he was handling the case. The government didn't analyze the problem and dismissed him asap. They were even talking about a 7-month period? Whatever that is. He said that it was past the 7-month thing and he needed his benefits, his job back.
Now back to the said story, he wasn't a bad man. There were even stories from the survivors that he treated them well, and promised to let them go after everything is okay. But the authorities just had to blame his brother, and drag him violently to the mobile vehicle. That possibly triggered his anger, which made him shoot bullets in every direction. If they didnt do that to his brother, nobody would've died or got hurt. So I say, blame the careless policemen, not the dead guy. He just wanted his job back. His job which he loved. He was so dedicated.
Because of the authorities' carelessness that evening, we are now banned from most countries, making foreigners think that every Filipino would do that to foreign people. Thanks, though. You just made our country the worst place to be in. ><
