Manila Hostage Drama

In filmmaking, a quickie is a low-budget movie with a virtually unknown cast, a flimsy plot and a lousy script.

As it turned out, the hostage-taking of 32 kids inside a bus was nothing but an action-drama-comedy quickie written, produced, directed and starred in by one Jun Ducat, with a supporting cast of a handful of nameless actors and a horde of extras: the police, media people and the omnipresent “usiseros” [curious onlookers].

The plot was fairly simple. A disgruntled, possibly mentally disoriented “champion of the poor” loses all hope in government and decides to take it upon himself to inspire social vigilance against corruption and other bureaucratic maladies. To draw public attention and empathy, he lures his wards into joining an “educational field trip” and then takes them captive when their tour bus reaches a strategically selected spot, and there delivers his privilege speech.

Roll camera. Action: Bong Revilla, hands in the air, approaches bus to negotiate with Ducat. Drama: Ducat releases a feverish child onto Revilla’s arms. Comedy: Police officers flashing handwritten messages on cardboards to the hostage-takers inside the bus. Heart-stopping action: Chavit Singson with grenades in both hands, Ducat precariously inserting the pin back into one. Drama-comedy: Candle-lighting rite to mark end of the whole saga.

We spectators can draw a lot of conclusions from this incident. First, the Philippine National Police and other law enforcement agencies have shown one more time how inept they are in handling situations like this. (Remember the other hostage-taking incident at the Taguig City Regional Trial Court early this month?) Why did they allow a civilian, a senator at that, to approach and board the bus to negotiate and become an easy target or another hostage?

Second, the police are ill-equipped: They were toting bullhorns and other communication equipment; why were they not using these to communicate with the criminals? Ducat seemed to be more technology-savvy. He had a portable wireless public address system on hand, through which he aired his gripes.

Third: Were the police so helpless to end the incident that they allowed Ducat a dramatic candlelit stage bow? Or were they simply exercising maximum tolerance?

Fourth, a politician is the most cunning animal alive. What with Singson’s perfect timing to enter the scene. He should henceforth be called “Sabit” Singson. (Sabit is Tagalog street-speak for hanging on for a free ride.) He took a free ride on this “hostage crisis” to forward his senatorial bid; and the media fell for his ploy, scrambling head over heels trying to interview him. How Sabit must have laughed to himself.

On a serious note, Ducat and his “aide” must not be treated with kid gloves. We understand that it was not his first time to go on this kind of (mis)adventure. And the police must be more vigilant: Ducat might have inspired other criminal or even terrorist minds to follow his footsteps and improve on them in the face of police ineptness.

JOEL VALENCIA (via e-mail)