August 24th, 2010 Posted in Drama, News | 3 Comments »

The recent bus hijacking event in the Philippines reminds me of the movie Speed which stars Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock and the villain Howard Payne characterized by Dennis Hopper. However this real-life “movie” should be called Halted! rather than Speed cos the bus was stationary at the famous Manila’s Rizal Park.
What is remarkably similar to the movie is the villain or nemesis were formerly highly decorated police officer. In the movie Speed, Payne used to be in the LA Police top bomb disposal unit, hence his choice of destruction was to use explosives. In the Manila event, Rolando Mendoza was also a highly decorated officer, reportedly to be best top 10 cop in the Philippines. However, Mendoza was dismissed from the force and was supposedly on charges of drug trafficking and extortion.

I believe Mendoza had the same feeling of vengeance just like Payne did. The last straw was when he hijacked a bus packed with tourists from Hong Kong last Monday. The drama ended however when police SWAT stormed the bus which saw Mendoza killed as well as eight other hostages.
Looking at the SWAT storming the bus, I can’t help noticing how sloppy the operation went. I believe more lives could have been saved if only they (SWAT) had acted swiftly and decisively. In the end I also felt pity for Rolando Mendoza for being a victim of circumstances. He should have registered himself at the healthcare job bank and more lives could have been saved. My heart also goes to the tourists who died tragically, who happened to have their bus picked.