Gunman hijacks tourist bus in Philippines

[Ilya Muromets]

But I have to ask, no offence, Filipino sounds pretty harsh when I hear it (though Cantonese probably does too to a non-speaker). Is it always like that or is it kind of a exposure bias, since the maids probably come from rural areas and urban poor?

Oh, trust me, it doesn't just sound harsh or rough to outsiders. A lot of the Central Philippine languages (the most geographically prominent) tend to sound rather harsh or rough since, for the most part, every phoneme is enunciated hard. As such, Central Philippine languages often sound somewhat forceful. Of course, each of the speakers of said languages have their own views on the enunciation of the other languages as well. For example, Tagalog speakers often consider the Cebuano language rough and angry sounding, Cebuano speakers find Boholano (a very close dialect of a neighboring island) bumpkin-like, etc. Although, most of such opinions are mostly just regional jabs at each other.

[Thanas]

You can extend it a couple more years until the RAF started to kick in, if you want. But from all i've gathered, it looks like you have the same problem the german police had back then - no idea how to deal with a hostage situation at all.

In fairness, back then nobody did. Terrorist hostage taking was in its infancy and nobody really had the playbook down well. Also, the German police had a lot of baggage that restricted what they could be seen training to do. And they were pretty thoroughly infiltrated by the East.

I really doubt that infiltration was as high reaching as you make it out to be and in any case, it should have had no bearing on the competence of the forces back then, who did not even have sniper training (in contrast, the west berlin police force had such training because they were expected to be employed in urban combat in WW3).

[Ilya Muromets]

I really doubt that infiltration was as high reaching as you make it out to be and in any case, it should have had no bearing on the competence of the forces back then, who did not even have sniper training (in contrast, the west berlin police force had such training because they were expected to be employed in urban combat in WW3).

From what I recall of the Munich crisis, weren't the marksmen supposed to have been backup anyway? Didn't the plan mostly go to hell when the police team waiting to ambush the terrorists in the plane they were about to board just unilaterally decided to go "fuck this, we don't like this plan" and got out of the plane without telling the rest of the ambush team?

[Tritio]

Isn't there a term for European types that means red-faced hairy jerk-offs or something like it...?

That's probably the term "Ang Moh Ren" or "Ang Moh Gui", a Hokkien term meaning "Red Haired Person" which is more commonly used or "Red Haired Ghost" which is seldom used. It can be used in a derogatory manner, but in Singapore nowadays it simply means foreigner in a non-derogatory way.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Isn't there a term for European types that means red-faced hairy jerk-offs or something like it...?

That's probably the term "Ang Moh Ren" or "Ang Moh Gui", a Hokkien term meaning "Red Haired Person" which is more commonly used or "Red Haired Ghost" which is seldom used. It can be used in a derogatory manner, but in Singapore nowadays it simply means foreigner in a non-derogatory way.

Or rather most people in Singapore can't care less to speak English properly.

[Zinegata]

I don't really get all the criticisms against the President. He's been in office for like, three months. Not really enough time to overturn many years of police incompetence and corruption.

At least he sacks people who screwed up. The weather agency head was sacked after a shitty forecast that got people killed. Four police heads had just been suspended. That's considerably more accountability than the previous administration's shuffling of appointments around when they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar. (Hell, how long did it take the last president to even call for the arrest of the Ampatuans?)

[Ypoknons]

Eh, emotions are (still) running far too high right now for most people to research the President's track record. At the same time, I wonder if the whole smiling thing is a cultural misunderstanding - the SCMP has quoted Filipino government officials as saying, that's just Aquino's style. That said, given that his office missed calls from CE Tsang and showed apparent lack of attention during the crisis, I'm still not sympathetic.

There have been no additional reports of Filipino worker sackings or hate crimes in Hong Kong, by the way, to the best of my knowledge. Other than mean comments on Aquino's Facebook.

[Sephirius]

Filipino S.W.A.T. : Sorry Wala Akong Training (Sorry, I don't have training)

I have never seen a fuckup such as this. Hammers? What the hell were they thinking? This also illustrates the need of the PNP for a larger caliber sniping rifle, PNP SWAT has at best only 5.56 platforms, and iirc there was concern as to whether or not the shatterproof glass on the bus would cause significant deviation to such a light round, hence precluding its use unless 'absolutely' necessary.

[Kanastrous]

This is creepy and unpleasant to watch. Which is of course why I posted it.

[Marcus Aurelius]

This is creepy and unpleasant to watch. Which is of course why I posted it.

I see they couldn't resist the temptation to give him a classic "action movie magazine", that is something that can fire hundreds of rounds like a belt-fed machine gun without reloads, complete with sound effects to match. That kind of ruined to seriousness of the reenactment for me; it looked like a John Woo flick at places.

[Kanastrous]

I didn't have the volume up and hadn't realized they laid in gunfire SFX. Oof.

[Shroom Man 777]

That was very beautiful.

[Thanas]

What the heck is wrong with you people?

[Kanastrous]

The answer could fill volumes.

[Thanas]

^It was addressed to you as well. Why did you felt the need to post this?

[Kanastrous]

I figured as much. I posted it because it it as relevant to the thread as can be, provides an additional perspective on the event, and while it's admittedly creepy and unpleasant to watch it's also informative. When people are discussing the tactical situation with which the police were presented, why wouldn't one post a visual representation of events that may inform that conversation?

If you find it sufficiently problematic of course I respect your modly prerogative to delete it.

[ray245]

This is creepy and unpleasant to watch. Which is of course why I posted it.

That's not Japanese by the way. It was made by a Taiwanese Tabloid company.