Swat members blame lack of equipment

POLICE officers assigned to the assault team, who attacked the seized bus at the Quirino Grandstand last August 23, were grilled by the fact-finding committee questioning everything from their strategy to their equipment.

Members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) unit of the Manila Police District aired to the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) Saturday that they need more training and equipment to deal better with situations like the Manila hostage crisis that killed eight tourists.

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The police officers said some of them were trained by the National Capital Region Police Office a year ago while some learned through the yearly Swat competitions organized by the regional police. Some shell out their own money to train themselves.

“Saan kayo nagkamali? Sa tingin ko po kulang po kami sa equipment?" panel member Roan Libarios, governor of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, asked a Swat member.

The police officers then answered that explosives, which would make an easier entry to the bus, would have helped them aside from night-vision goggles and assault rifles.

But IIRC chair and Justice Secretary Leila De Lima was concerned of the statement that the Swat feared using their bullet-proof vests because these had expiration dates and they are not sure whether these could actually protect them.

“Yung vest po kasi dapat hindi po nababasa, ang paglinis po niyan ay pinupunasan lang po. May expiration po kasi," a member of the assault team said, but quickly assured that their confidence was not weakened because of this fact.

The Swat members also narrated the orders instructed to them before proceeding to assault the bus, creating an opportunity for the snipers to take down hostage-taker dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza.

They said it was difficult for them to monitor what was going on inside the bus because lights were turned off.

A team leader thought to throw a tear gas inside the bus to create movement. They said at that time, they had no knowledge whether some of the hostages were still alive.

They also confirmed that they did fire gun shots in an upward direction.

De Lima has ordered the police to provide the fact-finding panel a list of the equipment used by the assault team before Saturday's hearing concluded.

The hostages and the Hong Kong community has cited Manila's finest as "incompetent" after it failed to rescue the victims. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)