Manila Doctors Hospital

Advisory on Hostage Taking and Kidnapping Situations

 

  1. When Hostage Taking is discovered, notify immediately the Hospital Director, Disaster Control Officer or Chief Security Officer for proper disposition.

 

  1. Promptly identify when and where the crisis is happening, present situation, how many persons are involved and the type of arms they have or used.  (These are the primary information needed by the local police before responding to the emergency call for assistance) 

 

  1. The Hospital Director, Disaster Control Officer or the Chief Security Officer shall quickly activate the Disaster Response Team by announcing code Tango of the Security Team thru the Communication Team of the information desk. 

 

  1. The Cordon Team shall quickly seal the scene of the crime and keep people at least 50 meters away except for those involved in the negotiation and rescue operation.

 

  1. All available guards along with the Rescue-Evacuation Team should be posted at the possible exit routes to prevent the escape of hostage taker/kidnapper.  Office doors, clinics, and patient’s room near the scene of the crime should be closed or requested to be closed by the Communication Team until the crisis is declared under control.

 

  1. The most senior Management of MDH shall assume the job of a hostage negotiator until the crisis response team of the Western Police District (WPD) is dispatched to take over the negotiation.

 

  1. The security guards shall not engage or try to attempt shooting on the suspect without any order from the Management especially when the life of the victim and innocent person is directly threatened. 

 

  1. When the crisis response team of the WPD arrives, the Security and Rescue-Evacuation Teams shall remain in their positions and serve as back up of the police.

 

  1. The First-aid Team and clinical staff shall be alerted of what is going on.  The nurse on duty shall be ready to respond to injured persons and coordinate for their treatment.

 

  1. Make sure that a stretcher and wheelchairs are present in case of rescue-evacuation operation and it should be situated to an unobstructed area.  Elevator should also be on standby and available during the negotiation for emergency reason.

 

  1. The Communication Team shall be alerted and be prepared to make calls with the local police and hospital doctors for reinforcement purposes.

 

  1. The security office, like in other emergency situations, shall be designated as the Central Monitoring Station or Command Post where direct lines and communication system are available to get in touch with the negotiating team.

 

  1. Do not discuss the incident to anybody instead maintain news black out particularly to the media and other personalities.  All inquiries about the incident should be referred to the Public Relations Officer. 

 

References:

1.  Handbook on CSP Review Program

2.  Hand-out on Negotiations

3.  Hand-out on Terrorism, Anti-Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTER OFFICE MEMO

 

REF NO.:         DPC-05- 020

 

Date:                May 11, 2005

TO:                  All SMT Members and Heads of Divisions, Departments, Services and Committees

FR:                   Disaster Preparedness Committee

RE:                   Advisory on Hostage Taking and Kidnapping Situations

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Hostage taking and kidnapping is a scare tactics being employed by terrorists to initiate fear among the populace. 

 

The word terror comes from the Latin word “terrere” meaning “to frighten”.  Terrorists intend to instill fear into the population at large.  Terrorism is the calculated use of violence as fear, intimidation or coercion, or the threat of such violence to attain goals that are political, religious and ideological in nature.  It is a criminal act that is often symbolic in nature and intended to influence an audience beyond the immediate victims.  

 

Hostage taking occurs when a criminal being chased is cornered and could not escape and will use his victim as human shield, jilted or jealous lover of somebody exacting vengeance, or the suspect is psychologically imbalanced or obsessed.

 

Hostage taking further occurs during kidnapping situations after demands for the safe release of the victim have not met. Kidnapping, a classic act of terrorism, has been classified into two (2) general categories, political and criminal.     

 

In political kidnapping, suspects normally do not harm their victims because they are aiming for a greater propaganda impact in the release of kidnapped individual.  Unintentional harm sometimes occurs due to an accident when victim himself resisted.  On the other hand, criminal kidnapping is usually motivated by personal gain and so will be involved in the more traditional form of abduction, the kidnap for ransom.

 

Whatever situation happens in the hospital, attached is the advisory on Hostage Taking and Kidnapping that can be used by concerned teams of the Disaster Preparedness Committee.

 

For information and guidance.

 

 

 

GERARDO A RAMOS, CSP

Chief Security Officer/Security Team

 

 

 

DANIEL DE LA PAZ, JR., MD

Disaster Control Officer

 

 

 

REYNALDO O. JOSON, MD, MHA, MHPEd, MS Surg

Chairperson, Disaster Preparedness Committee

 

 

Noted by:

 

 

 

REX M. MENDOZA, MD

OIC and Administrative Director