Dream Paradise Trip Turned Into A Total Nightmare!

The Philippines has yet again became the talk of the town over international communities when an ex-policeman hijacked a tourist bus out of desperation to get his job back. Philippine security forces responded to the scene to rescue a bus full of Hong Kong citizen last August 23, 2010. This shocking event left the scene with 7 Hong Kong nationals dead along with the gunman. Eventually, the Hong Kong Government issued its top-level black alert travel to its citizens towards the Philippines. After the incident, the Hong Kong government was left only with disappointment towards the Philippine Forces and in an indirect way of saying, the Philippine Government.

This dramatic and shocking event started when a single ex-policeman armed with M-16 assault rifle hijacked a tourist bus along with 25 Hong Kong citizen passengers. This event took almost 12 hours to resolve which garnered a negative feedback from the spectators. The hostage taker was identified as Former Capt. Rolando Mendoza, a former senior ranking police officer of the Philippines National Police who was once decorated as one of the top ten outstanding police officials in the country. It was only last 2008 that he was discharged from service due to an alleged involvement with a drug crime issues.

His former superior officers constantly tried to make negotiations with the hostage taker but somehow along the conversation, things did not go well. By nightfall, the gunman started to fire its weapon towards the passengers while cops were trying to storm the bus. According to the Police, the situation itself was hard to resolve as the gunman knows well their attack options and is armed with a high caliber weapon. The gunman is also serious of killing passengers if another assault is initiated. Somehow, this threatening act towards the security force has become their major obstacle for solving the situation as another casualty from the victims cannot be tolerated. It was only later on that nightfall when Capt. Rolando Mendoza was struck down buy a sniper from a remote position did the commotion seized.

The gravity of this incident will reflect not only for the days to pass but also for the years to come. This sad and shocking event will render a great impact towards the country’s stand on the international community. Economic stability will once again be shaken and tourism industry, in which previous leaders have tried so hard to revived, will yet again crumble and the name of the Philippines Police Force will once again be stained with blood due to the actions of a rouge ex-member. The people will once again lose their trust and hope to the force and in an indirect way of saying, the Government. Its amazing to know that it only took 12 hours of this incident to destroy the many years of hardships and sacrifice by our previous leaders to get where we are right now. And now, everything is ruined just because someone wants to get even after getting fired in a very childish and violent manner!

Does this act show that the people governing the law are wearing the same skin as the people breaking the law? Which is which? Somehow at the end of the drama, I was amused to realize that it took almost 12 hours to resolve the situation between ONE gunman against a whole team of SWAT personnel and the Philippine National Police?

Well, no matter how much we say it or how we want to say it, the truth is that the situation left a scenario of 8 persons dead including the gunman. Everything is now over and no amount of words expressed can ever comfort the bleeding hearts of the victim's families. Nothing could ever change their perspective about a Dream Paradise Trip that turned into a Total Nightmare!