Comments on: Our Condolences and Prayers…

By: peanut

peanut — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:40:52 +0000

The inept way that this crisis was handled was so bad it was just too absurd..police trying to break the bus doors open using rope which obviously would break which it did..what?no budget for cables?…..police trying to break perspex windows with sledge hammers..obviously it won’t shatter..which it didn’t…no crowd control..potential for a by stander to be hurt..which happened….and the list goes on.SO FRUSTRATING!Also police snipers had clear shots so many times of the hostage taker..why couldn’t they have shot him in the shoulders to disable and “neutralize” him thus end the situation..no one would have died then including the hostage taker.

By: rhegz

rhegz — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:27:44 +0000

Nakakalungkot ang pangyayari. Ang dami pa namang mga filipino na nag tatrabaho sa hong kong. Paano aasenso ang bansang Pilipinas kung wala ng mga dayuhan na gustong dumayo ng dahil sa isang pulis na nagsira sa pangalan ng bansang Pilipinas.

By: ted

ted — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:59:46 +0000

The PNP should watch this training material from the Serbian forces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjUABwZ3sKA&feature=related

By: GJO

GJO — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:06:05 +0000

it was my husband who told me what is happening in the phils when he came home from work and when we watched it from BBC I was cringing from embarrassment of what is being shown, swat (kuno) are smashing windows and doors in a very inept manner why did they not wait for special forces as it is very clear they are not capable of handling the situation or are they arrogant enough to think they can do it. I was very sad for those lives lost for senseless reasons, will our government ever learn or just put these as one of those things…now when people ask me in the streets of what/why it happened i honestly told them i really dont know. very sad indeed

By: Blaise

Blaise — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:35:44 +0000

My thoughts go to OFWS in Hong Kong. I pray that they would not be harrassed or mistreated badly because of this very sad, and tragic incident.

As for HK government getting so mad at ours, could we really blame them? Perhaps, all the “bad talk”, for a lack of a better term, about our country, perhaps, we deserve it.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:19:26 +0000

James, I sent you an email in answer to your email to me. I hope you received it, my emails tend to end up in people’s junk mail folders these days… :)

By: James

James — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:00:50 +0000

This is a tragedy. I’m not sure it will affect tourism as much as many think. I suspect many pinoy do not know how much our governments warn us against problems here (I’m a foreigner living here … “mystiso na ako”).

To those who are calling for media silence: be careful what you wish for. Too much exposure is better than too little. Sunlight is acid to corruption. Always remember that.

“Sorry, Wala Akong Training” … that much is obvious from watching the tapes. What, no appropriate explosives to quickly and safely blow the doors off the bus? The PNP really needs to get training for these guys. It’s like insurance. You don’t want to use it. But, when you need it, you REALLY need it.

By: thefoodarchitect

thefoodarchitect — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 05:16:10 +0000

Its very sad that it happened to innocent people. It is good that your comment showed that your not being biased, compared to different opinions online. I believe that the way HK officials blaming our government is not necessary, the lack of skills our police force is shown but why put the whole country down because of this mistake, they even placed our country in BLACK alert that they advise not to travel to the philippines.. the philippines consists of 7k+ islands with millions of residences, its only a small chances that it happened to them and i hated the way they speak about us, making it too general.. nobody wanted it to happen in the first place, even us filipinos are mourning over the incident but they making it look like we dont care about what happened.. time will heal all wounds i guess..

btw i love your site :)

By: crabbychef

crabbychef — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:36:11 +0000

MM, thanks for this post. Like your family, my husband and I watched in disbelief as the tragedy unfolded and I agree, it seemed like an unbearably long time before the SWAT team could get to the hostage-taker. I think it is very unfortunate that Capt. Mendoza could not see the bigger picture when he did what he did – regardless of the outcome. I’m a teacher by day. When I get the chance, I tell my students that all it takes is one person in one critical incident to ruin the reputation of an entire school, people, or country. The kids get it – why couldn’t he?

My hope is that our people’s faith in our institutions and processes can be restored – that cases can be heard fairly and we can channel our concerns properly. If this is not done then we might see this again.

As I watched the outrage and sorrow with which the world reacted to the killings, I felt like digging a hole in the ground and putting my head in it. :(

By: Chris Davis

Chris Davis — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 22:18:40 +0000

MM, I learned of this tragedy after the fact and my heart sank when I learned of the news. My prayers go out to the souls of the victims, the survivors, their families, as well as to the other individuals involved, and to the healing of our nation.