Albay First District Congressman Edcel Lagman, in the Unang Hirit program at GMA-7 this morning, is calling on high ranking officials in the Aquino Administration, including Interior and Local Government Secretary, Jesse Robredo, to resign for the fiasco in the handling of the Manila Hostage taking. If they will not resign, then the President should remove them from office the way the President removed PAG-ASA official, Frisco Nilo, for the latter’s inefficiency in the weather bureau.

Sabi ni Lagman dapat may managot sa kapalpakan kasabay na diyan ang dai pag-pugol sa media sa live video kan inaaresto si SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza, an tugang kan hostage taker na si Capt. Rolando Mendoza; sa dai pag-pugol sa mga usyusero; sa dai pag-takeover o maski pagtao ki abiso sa ground commander lalo na sa implikasyon kaini sa standing kan Pilipinas sa international community. (Lagman said somebody should be axed for the fiasco which includes the failure to control the media for the live video feed of SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza, the brother of hostage-taker Capt. Rolando Mendoza; the failure to control the crowd/kibitzers; and for the failure to takeover or at least gave advice to the ground commander especially on the implications of the actions in the standing of the Philippines in the international community.)

But while Lagman is right that heads should fall, maybe we should also look into the extent of control of those he wished to resign or get axed. If we do not establish standards, then maybe we can include the members of the Congress especially the senior members like him for failure to pass the necessary budget for the gears and training of the members of the police force.

We should also impeach the Ombudsman for its pace on acting resolutions is one of the complaints of the hostage-taker. The impeachment is not anymore in the realm of the executive but on the legislative department and that means the Congress where he, Lagman, is a member.

We should also remove the members of the Congress, including him, as they failed to strictly ensure that laws with appropriate remedies are available to those who feel wronged like Mendoza. Add to this the lack of appropriate laws on social services like education as had been the subject of the 2007 Manila Hostage Drama perpetrated by Jun Ducat.

A very good treatise on the 2010 Manila Hostage Crisis is The Manila hostage crisis handling: Problems, lessons and things to watch by Snippets while a rebuttal on the idea that the live video feed is the major cause of the fiasco (entitled Common Sense, not Live Video, is mistake No. 1), also appears on the same site.

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