Enough! We Symphatize but Don’t Blame the Filipino People. Again Enough!
It’s been two weeks had past since the hostage drama took place that killed Hongkong tourists in Luneta grandstand. But news about it still the headlines of the newspapers locally and abroad especially in Hongkong. I am posting here a letter that I think sensible enough so that what happened will be put behind us once and for all – both Filipinos and Chinese – and let’s move on to our dear lives…
Dear Chinese People,
You hate the Filipino people for the hostage fiasco – that unfortunate incident that went out of control at the end. This was a hostage situation that was under control and which netted 7 Chinese tourists to be released upon the efforts of our policemen…
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Noy Takes Over PNP
By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated September 04, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino yesterday took over control of the Philippine National Police (PNP) after senior police officials admitted serious lapses were committed in the hostage crisis in Manila that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.
Mr. Aquino also told reporters that he was taking full responsibility for the Aug. 23 hostage debacle.
The President said he was temporarily taking over supervision of the PNP from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) under Secretary Jesse Robredo.
“I will retain for the interim control over the PNP,” he said. “I will retain direct supervision of the PNP until such time that all other concerns have been addressed.”
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Mendoza’s Woman Friend Faces NBI
(The Philippine Star) Updated September 02, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – The woman who reportedly accompanied dismissed policeman Rolando Mendoza to Manila surfaced Tuesday and told investigators that she had no knowledge of his plan to hold hostage passengers of a tourist bus that resulted in the death of eight Hong Kong tourists last Aug. 23.
GMANews.TV reported that the woman, identified only as “Rose,” executed a two-page affidavit at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Rose said she had nothing to do with former senior inspector Mendoza’s plan to hold hostage a busload of tourists. But she confirmed that she accompanied him in her Toyota Vios from Batangas to Manila.
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Noynoy: Heads will roll over hostage rescue lapses
By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated September 01, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – Heads will roll in connection with the tragic hostage incident last Aug. 23 in Rizal Park, President Aquino said yesterday, even as he held security forces accountable for the rescue operation that went awry.
Mr. Aquino said he was misled into believing that the police had properly coordinated their operations, which eventually ended in the deaths of eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage taker, dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza.
Mr. Aquino said a National Police Commission official would also be “disciplined” for meddling in the negotiations for the release of the hostages.
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Palace orders PNP: Shut up
By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated August 31, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang has ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to stop issuing statements and let the Department of Justice (DOJ) do the talking in connection with the progress of the investigation into the hostage incident last week that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said only Justice Secretary Leila de Lima would be allowed to brief the media and the public on developments in the investigation being conducted by an inter-agency body headed by the DOJ. The NBI is under the DOJ.
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No hostage killed by SWAT – PNP
By Cecille Suerte Felipe (The Philippine Star) Updated August 30, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – Dismissed police senior inspector Rolando Mendoza shot and killed all of his eight hostages, according to initial forensic analysis on the spent shells recovered at the scene, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said yesterday.
PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said of the 65 spent shells from an M-16 rifle recovered at the scene, 58 of them came from the firearm used by Mendoza in executing the hostages.
Cruz said the seven other spent shells that were recovered inside the bus are still being studied to determine their origin.
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Bus Undergoes Forensic Test
By Sandy Araneta (The Philippine Star) Updated August 29, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – The tourist bus that was the scene of last Monday’s tragic hostage-taking incident at Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park in Manila is now the subject of a technical forensic test by a joint team from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
The bus is now in the safekeeping of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
NCRPO commander Director Leocadio Santiago said the joint technical forensic inspection would be conducted under the supervision of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
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‘Lim headed Hostage Crisis Committee’
By Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star) Updated August 27, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim was head of the crisis management committee handling the hostage incident last Monday that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead, the chief of the city’s police force told a Senate hearing yesterday.
“It’s Mayor Lim,” Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, Manila Police District (MPD) director on leave, told a joint hearing by the Senate committees on public order and on justice, when asked who was in charge during the 11-hour standoff in front of the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park.
Magtibay said Lim, as head of the committee, ordered the arrest of the policeman brother of the hostage taker, dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza. The arrest was said to have triggered Mendoza’s shooting rampage. Mendoza was later killed by a sniper.
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Hostage Taker’s Brother is partly to blame
Latest News and Update about the Hostage Taking as of 12AM August 24, 2010
No less than President Noynoy Aquino expressed disappointment on the bloody end-result of the Manila hostage taking yesterday at the Quirino Grandstand Luneta Rizal Park, the exact place where he took his oath-of-office on June 26, 2010.
The hostage taking drama is again another slap-in-the-face for the Philippines as a country in the eyes of international community
especially that the victims are mostly foreigners from Hongkong who are just taking three days vacation. The tourists are scheduled to fly back to Hongkong at noon Monday August 23, 2010 but unfortunately the Hong Thai tourist bus was hijacked where they are on board. However, most of the children who are part of the tourist group were freed earlier before the bloody assault by the police happened.
In a TV interview, Vice Mayor Isko Moreno of Manila City said that partly to be blamed is the hostage taker’s brother who allegedly did not cooperate well to police authorities.
Mr. Moreno also expressed disappointment about how media irresponsibly aired footage of what was happening outside the hijacked bus. Every scene is being monitored by the hostage taker thru the installed TV set inside which common for tourist buses.
Hijacker Rolando Mendoza started becoming mad and wild all the more when he heard and saw his brother shouting thru the media camera that he was being arrested and maltreated by the police. At that instance at around 6:30PM, gunshots started being heard inside the bus prompting the SWAT policemen to start the assault.
French Expert syas “It’s an Ill Prepared Police Assault”
The motive of the assault maybe correct but you don’t need to be a police to understand that the assault taken was ill-prepared and
lacked technical planning.
The police who stormed the bus in Manila did not have specialist training and “visibly lacked adequate equipment and tactical competence,” said Frederic Gallois, who once commanded France’s elite hostage rescue unit.
After seeing live television images of the operation, the former colonel told AFP that “one cannot understand what justified this badly
prepared and risky assault.”
The police, for example, did not attempt a surprise tactic like entering the bus at several points and had also stayed too long
outside the vehicle before launching their assault, he said.
A disgruntled ex-policeman armed with an M-16 assault rifle hijacked the bus. Police said he used some of the hostages as “human shields” before he was shot dead by a sniper.
At least eight Hong Kong tourists were killed in the drama which ended when police stormed the bus, firing dozens of bullets into the
vehicle.
Gallois was the commander of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group between 2002 and 2007.
The unit in 1994 freed 173 passengers and crew from a plane hijacked by four Algerian Islamists, who were killed in the operation.
China Condemned Hijacking Bloody End-Result
China on Tuesday strongly condemned a Philippine bus hijacking that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead as an “atrocity”, and urged Manila to ensure Chinese citizens are safe.
The Chinese embassy said: “The Chinese government strongly condemns the atrocity by the hostage-taker, expresses grave condolences to the victimised Hong Kong compatriots and conveys profound sympathy to the bereaved families.”
“The Chinese side has urged the Philippine side to take concrete measures to ensure the safety and security of the Chinese citizens in
the Philippines,” it said in a statement.
Latest News and Update as of 9:15 PM about the hostage taking in Manila City, Philippines Monday August 23, 2010
There are at least two so far who are alive and are out of danger. Unfortunately, most of the body being taken out of the bus are feared to be dead. They are wounded and are soaked with there own blood and were taken to the nearest public hospital. The hostage taker who is also dead is now of the bus as well. Police officers are still looking at the possibility that there are still alive.
Some reports are saying that a total of 5 wounded were brought to Philippine General Hospital, one of the few nearest hospitals in the exact location of the hostage taking – Luneta Rizal Park.
Watch Video taken by Civilian spectators
Latest News and Update as of 8:45 PM August 23, 2010
The hostage taker was finally shoot dead by a sniper. The police officers are now totally got inside the bus and are checking whether the hostages are still alive. As usual, out of nowhere, there about hundreds of civilian spectators who got into the bus right after the policemen signaled that the hostage drama has been over.
Latest News and Update @ around 8:00PM August 23, 2010
Police SWAT tean is now assaulting the bus being hijacked by a former police officer. There has been about eight persons freed out of the original 20 mostly tourists. The policemen are having difficulties getting inside the bus because it is totally locked aside from lacking of technical tools plus the strong pouring of rains.
It has been reported earlier that the bus driver and conductor are among the freed hostages.
Manila Police Agency already got the statements of the freed bus driver and his assistant but details can’t be disclosed until this case is totally solved. The hostage drama is happening Quirino Grandstand Luneta Rizal Park.
Gun fires has been heard and seen inside and outside of the hijacked bus as of 8:25pm, and there is no clear indication if the hostages are still alive. However, a civilian is reported to be wounded and immediately brought to the nearby hospital. The wounded civilian is one of the few spectators common to this kind of eventualities.
The hostage taker is a disgruntled ex-policeman armed with an assault rifle hijacked a bus carrying more than 25 Hong Kong national tourists including children in the Philippine capital on Monday, police said.
Mendoza’s demands are reportedly to be reinstated as a police officer and the return of his salary and benefits. To be exact, the 25 hostages is composed of 22 HK Chinese nationals and 3 Filipinos. Mendoza was dismissed after he was found guilty of grave misconduct.
Earlier @ 3pm about the Hostage Taking August 23, 2010
Joseph Tung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, said the tourists on the bus were aged between four and 72. They were on a three-day tour and were scheduled to return to Hong Kong late Monday.
“We have never had anything like this before — we are very much concerned,” Tung said in Hong Kong.
It was not clear whether Mendoza had released all the children on board, or whether there were still others being held hostage.
Television footage showed some of the adult hostages looking tensely out from behind the bus curtains, but showing no signs of being injured.
The bus was parked in front of a grandstand at Rizal Park, a popular tourist destination just a few blocks from police headquarters. As the crisis dragged on, police called in Mendoza’s brother, who is also a police officer, to help in the negotiations.
Monday’s bus hijack recalled a similar hostage-taking in 2007, when a troubled civil engineer armed with a grenade took over a bus and held 30 children but freed them after a 10-hour standoff with police.
The 2007 drama took place near Manila city hall, just off Rizal Park.
Monday’s hostage-taking came hours after a South Korean man was killed in a separate attack on a vehicle by gunmen elsewhere in Manila. Police said the incidents were not related.
