3 top cops ousted for 'mishandling' hostage drama

The Manila police chief and two of his officers will be removed from their posts, the interior secretary said Thursday, in the fallout from a hostage standoff in which 26 children were held for 10 hours on a bus in the name of social reform.

Armando "Jun" Ducat Jr., owner of the 145-student Musmos Day Care Center in Manila's Parola slum community, used the globally televised standoff Wednesday to demand better education and housing for poor children.

He and an accomplice were armed with two hand grenades, an Uzi rifle and a pistol.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said police failed to control the crowd of onlookers near City Hall, allowed unauthorized people into the scene, and permitted contact between the hostage-takers and other people - including media - without proper clearance.

Senior Superintendent Danilo Abarzosa and two of his staff will be asked to step down for failing to follow proper procedures, Puno said.
Abarzosa said he has not received the order to step down, but "like a good public servant, I will follow my superiors."

Senator Ramon Revilla Jr., a friend of Ducat, went on the bus to help negotiate an end to the crisis. Ducat later surrendered to a provincial governor, but not until he railed against corruption and politicians' failure to make good on promises to provide free education and housing for the poor.

Abarzosa said police later discovered the grenades did not have a detonator and would not have exploded, but that the guns and bullets were real.

Despite insurgencies in the country's south and a high crime rate in the capital, the government has been trying to portray the Philippines as a safe destination for tourists and investors.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the two suspects to be treated "with the full force of the law" to prevent Ducat, who has a history of attention-grabbing stunts, from repeating his action and to serve as a warning to possible copycats.
"The end does not justify the means. Despite the seemingly noble issues being raised in this bizarre drama, this government shall not stand for prank-terrorism," she said.

Ducat was unrepentant.

"No, I don't regret anything," he told The Associated Press Television News from the Manila police jail. "The children's wishes were fulfilled, all 145 children can now go to school all the way up to college."

Ducat, a 56-year-old engineer, chartered the bus for a field trip at the end of the school year. Instead, he had the driver take them near City Hall where he announced he was taking the passengers hostage.

Arroyo treated the children, their parents and teachers to a different field trip - an audience at the presidential palace, where she served a snack of spaghetti with meatballs and spring rolls.
Sitting on a throw pillow on the carpet at the Palace's Heroes' Hall, Arroyo chatted with the children and posed with them for cameras.

The parents and their children expressed no ill will toward "Sir Ducat," as they fondly called the man they said has provided free day care and paid for the teachers.
"My wish is that ... what Sir Ducat had worked so hard for be realized because we from the squatter area know the hardship he went through to help us poor people," said Shiela Malabo, whose 7-year-old son, Fred, was among the hostages.

Philippines most corrupt: foreign business

The Philippines is perceived by foreign businessmen as Asia’s most corrupt economy, according to a survey that also found other countries failing to tackle the problem decisively.

Singapore and Hong Kong were seen as the cleanest economies, while China, Indonesia and Vietnam posted improvements, the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said in a summary made available to AFP yesterday.

Perceptions of corruption in Thailand worsened, with the junta that seized power last September seen as little better than the government it ousted.

“The Philippines has the distinction of being perceived in the worst light this year,” PERC said after polling almost 1,500 expatriate business executives in 13 countries and territories across the region in January and February.

In a grading system with zero as the best possible score and 10 the worst, the Philippines got 9.40, down sharply from its grade of 7.80 last year. Indonesia was deemed Asia’s most corrupt country in 2006.

President Arroyo, also an economist, dismissed the survey results, saying PERC was using “old data” and noting that the country’s international credit ratings had improved on her watch.

PERC, which provides advice to private firms and governments, said the figures showed a deterioration of perception rather than a change in the actual situation in Manila.

“Our credit ratings are fine,” Arroyo told Business News Asia magazine. “The political analysis, they work on old data.”

“They don’t work on up-to-date data.”

“It is bad and has been bad all along,” PERC said in its report. “People are just growing tired of the inaction and insincerity of leading officials when they promise to fight corruption.”

Constancia de Guzman, head of an anti-graft commission that works for Arroyo’s office, insisted the Philippines was taking action.

“The government is doing something,” she told journalists, “but the people want to see actual results like convictions, dismissals and the like.”

In contrast, Indonesia — bottom of the pile last year — was pleased that its image had improved. It now lies in joint 11th place with Thailand.

“Of course we are happy,” said Johan S.P. Budi, spokesman for Indonesia’s National Anti-Corruption Committee. “At least it shows the seriousness of the government in its efforts to improve its image and in curbing corruption.”