News coming out of the country the last few weeks have been dismal. In the middle of President Duterte’s trip to Russia and just when Ramadan was just starting, the Maute group with elements from Abu Sayyaf and other foreign jihadists took over the City of Marawi, an urban center of more than 200,000 people, mostly Muslim. The terrorists are still embedded in the city and the fighting has not diminished.
Then as if that were not enough, an addicted casino gambler, banned from all casino premises, flipped and vented all his anger on Resorts World Manila. He caused the death of 37 innocent people who were just out enjoying themselves. He then took his own life. We will never know his exact motivation because Jesse Carlos is already dead but the way the police initially responded to the situation does leave much to be desired. It was in simple terms a demonstration of how not to do things.
Ordinarily, there are standard operating procedures that prescribe the way operations of this nature are conducted including media briefings. In this case, the commander of the area where the incident took place is the ground commander. Since the incident was located in the Southern Police District, Chief Superintendent Tom Apolinario Jr. should have been in charge.
This apparently was not the case. The operation appears to have been taken over by the Regional Office under Police Director Oscar Albayalde who was the one issuing bulletins as to the progress of what was happening. This was supplemented by statements coming from PNP Chief Bato dela Rosa who proceeded to the site in full battle fatigues, and gave a media briefing right in the middle of the street contributing to the impression that the incident was indeed a terrorist act by the ISIS.
From the beginning, the police started to issue statements without verifying exactly what the accurate picture was. One was the initial statement of Police Director Albayalde that the perpetrator was Caucasian because he spoke English and was tall and big. I can understand that Albayalde did not want to label the incident as a terrorist act because it would be a black eye to our reputation and could jeopardize his professional future.
Also, both Generals dela Rosa and Albayalde were issuing separate statements in the morning of June 2, 2017 that were not accurate. This was before the public was informed about the identity of the perpetrator and the death of 37 people due to smoke inhalation. When De la Rosa left the scene, only then was the public informed of the number of casualties.
Although we can now agree that the incident was not perpetrated by the ISIS, this is no consolation to the families of those who lost their loved ones because of what a deranged individual did. If we contrast the way our police handled the media in the Resorts World incident and the way the United Kingdom Police handled the Manchester bombing and the London incident, we can see a big difference. There, only the police spokesperson or the chief constable of the area issued statements. Also, the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary, the equivalent of our Secretary of Interior and Local Government could issue statements. No other politician issued any statements. It was orderly because of a system they call COBRA. This defines how emergencies are handled from the top down to the lowest operating element. Everyone’s duty is defined and if a higher authority goes to the site of an emergency and wants to take control of the operation, he signs a document stating that he or she is taking over from that specific time and date.
We tried to study and follow this system but as soon as the Aquino administration took over, the system was discarded.
As the Resort World incident showed us, the media handling which is very important was not up to par. Many government officials have been issuing statements. Even the Speaker of the House joined the fray by insisting that the incident was an act of terrorism by definition when the police was trying to down play the incident.
Other politicians also had a thing or two to say about the incident. This fueled more speculation. Government officials must at times avoid the temptation to plough into any emergency situation to offer opinions that might aggravate or add to speculations. The police should just have set a media center where accurate and timely information was released to the media and public instead of giving impromptu briefings that turned out to be inaccurate. The public will appreciate this more because they are not stupid.
Now that it is over, I hope that the authorities will not just leave it at that because there are a ton of questions begging to be answered. Was the security adequate? How was it that Jessie Carlos simply walked in to the casino without even being accosted by security? Was the building compliant with the fire code? How was it that there appears to be no fire escapes other than the entrance doors? And for the government, what happened to that long standing order that government officials are strictly prohibited from entering casinos? Remember the late Land Transportation Office Director Virginia Torres who was spotted inside a casino and was forced her to resign? That order should be strictly enforced because there are many government workers out there like Carlos earning very little but can afford to bust millions in the casino.