Everybody becomes an expert and I guess that includes me. But honestly the tragedy on Mendoza Hostage Taking is an eye opener for all of us. I felt bad for President Noynoy because he is less than 100 days in his presidency. My question is why didn’t the Ombudsman make a deal or some sort of a compromise --given Captain Mendoza’s tenure in the government. After all, he was only asking for his job back so he could get his retirement benefits. It could have been a win-win scenario for the Philippine government. I know that the government wants to save money but how much money are we really talking about if Captain Mendoza was reinstated.? With the current situation -- 8 tourists killed, tourism marred, distrust of Philippine security system, and probably the Aquino government would be paying blood money to Hongkong deceased families besides hospitals bills, mortuary bills. It would have been cheaper to just give in to Captain Mendoza demands and save the government money and reputation, or work a deal with Mendoza like paying-off the total bribe money he received, and probably a demotion but with retirement benefits but less pay. Like I said this could have been a win-win scenario for everybody.

I disagree that Philippine police are not trained or equipped to handle this crisis. More money is not the issue here. For one, they could be ill-prepared or out of practice. They could have instituted a mandatory internal monthly training with emphasis on lessons learned. Media is another story. Media should try not to report everything they see. Sometimes less is more in this type of event. If the element of surprise is not there the negotiator would be ill-equipped to do his job. The media exposes and diminishes that advantage by reporting everything. The disaster like this one could have been prevented if a 15 minute news delay was implemented. But again nobody could have foreseen the tragic sequence of events. My other observation is, who was really-in-charge of t his hostile take-over? Besides the President?

I felt sorry for the Chinese nationals who lost their loved ones in this unforgivable tragedy. I felt sorry also for the Aquino government whose young governance was tested and failed. His people failed him. But I know P-Noy will come back because the Filipinos all believe in him. Again, discretion is a better part of valor.