MANILA -- House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he will back a full-blown investigation into the bloody hostage-taking incident that took place in Quirino Grandstand in Manila on Monday night.
“Yes. I agree that there should be an investigation on the incident. We have to check what rules should be reviewed in connection to crisis management situations, among others,” Belmonte said in a press briefing.
This developed after three representatives have separately filed resolutions to investigate the hostage-taking incident.
Quezon City Representative (second district) Winston Castelo and Akbayan Representatives Arlene Bag-ao and Walden Bello filed the resolutions.
Castelo said the following committees should conduct hearings, in aid of legislation: Public Order and Safety, Justice, National Defense and Security, and Civil Service and Professional Regulation.
“Let us put an end to all these grim scenarios especially so when it puts our image in a purely negative light for government failure to protect the lives of our citizens as well as other foreign nationals who happen to be our guests,” said Castelo, a member of the Justice committee.
Bag-ao and Bello, on the other hand, said in a separate statement that there is a “need to review the standard procedures of the PNP in handling hostage-taking situations to prevent future “tragic mistakes.”
“There is a need to review the protocol on media coverage and crowd control during the extremely volatile situations like the Quirino Grandstand hostage-taking incident where the civilians are at stake,” the two added. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)