House to conduct own probe intotourist bus siege 08/29/2010

House to conduct own probe intotourist bus siege
08/29/2010
The House of Representatives has decided to conduct a separate investigation into the 11-hour tourist bus siege last Monday which resulted in the killing of eight foreign hostages.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, author of House Resolution 277, has asked the concerned House committees to investigate and evaluate the incident.

“It is an unfortunate incident that cost the lives of the Chinese tourists precisely because the stand-off lasted for possibly an unreasonable length of time without skilled and careful planning on how to make the assault without endangering the lives of the hostages and the hostage taker as well,” Castelo noted.

“The manner the crisis has been handled reflects utter lack of skill of supposed-to-be trained police authorities to contain or neutralize life threatening incidents that put the lives of hostages on the line and at grave danger not just in the hands of the hostage taker but even more in the hands of the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) assault team,” he said.

The Senate started last Thursday its probe into the hostage-taking perpetrated by a dismissed police officer who was also killed in the incident.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100829hed3.html