Manila Police to blame for deaths

Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. on Thursday said that police may have caused the bloody ending to a hostage crisis on Monday in Manila.

During a Senate hearing on the hostage-taking that played out at Quirino Grandstand in Manila’s Rizal Park (Luneta), Revilla noted that the arrest of Senior Police Officer 2 Gregorio Mendoza by fellow policemen agitated the hostage-taker into killing eight of mostly Chinese captives.

Gregorio is the younger brother of hostage-taker and former Police Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza, who was said to have been killed by a police sniper toward the end of the incident seen live on television worldwide.

“Isa lang nag-trigger niyan . . . yung order ng pagkaka-aresto ng kapatid niya [Gregorio] [Only one factor triggered the violent ending . . . it was the order to arrest the brother of Gregorio],” Revilla told police officials during the first hearing on the hostage crisis.

He and other senators grilled government and police officials on the 12-hour hostage drama that later led to bitter words from Hong Kong, hometown of the slain Chinese and their 14 compatriots who survived the incident.

Three Filipino captives were also found alive inside the bus that had carried them and the foreigners from Fort Santiago to Rizal Park.

But Sen. Jose Miguel Zubiri said that President Benigno Aquino 3rd was not to blame for the deaths.

President Aquino “should only be ready for responses to foreign governments. He should be isolated from this [fallout from a apparently bungled police rescue attempt]. Hindi niya ito gawain [It is not his job to resolve the crisis],” he explained.

Chief Supt. Rodolfo Magtibay, the director of the Manila Police District (MPD) who has gone on leave because of the apparent fiasco, told the senators that it was Mayor Alfredo Lim of Manila who had ordered the arrest of Mendoza’s brother after it was discovered that Gregorio “conspired” with the hostage-taker.

Magtibay said that they had received information from Supt. Orlando Yebra, the chief negotiator in the hostage drama, that Gregorio was allegedly interfering with negotiations to end the stand-off with Mendoza.

He added that he was with Lim when the mayor gave an order to “escort [Gregorio] Mendoza to the general assignments section.”

Lim, however, denied ordering the arrest, saying that he even decided not to be visible during the negotiations because he was the one who had ordered Mendoza’s dismissal from the police force.

“[The order] was based on a report from Supt. Yebra that [Gregorio] conspired with [Mendoza] . . . that was the impression [that we got],” Magtibay said.

Gregorio was overheard to have told Mendoza, “Tol, wag ka muna bibigay, hindi pa isinasaoli ang baril ko [Brother, don’t surrender yet because they haven’t returned my gun yet].”

Not a negotiator
Magtibay clarified that Gregorio was not part of the original negotiating team, but that he was allowed to escort Yebra, who was to deliver a letter from the Office of the Ombudsman to Mendoza.

The letter carried the Ombudsman’s promise to personally review Mendoza’s case.

The slain hostage-taker was dismissed in 2009 on extortion charges and stripped of his retirement benefits.

But the disgruntled former police officer, who was demanding to be reinstated to the police service, “threw the letter as garbage,” reports said.

By night time of Monday, Magtibay, who was the ground commander during the hostage crisis, said that he had ordered MPD’s assault team “to save the remaining hostages who might still be alive” after Mendoza fired several shots inside the tourist bus.

Lim reacts
From Manila City Hall, Lim also on Thursday said that Magtibay apparently had been rattled before the Senate hearing because he told reporters during the hostage crisis that it was he who ordered the arrest of Gregorio.

Vice Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Dumagoso of Manila also told the media that Gregorio was very calm when the police escorts told him to come with them.

But, Dumagoso said, Gregorio ran to where the reporters covering the hostage crisis converged and made a scene there.

“This scene created by SPO2 Gregorio which was caught on television was the one that triggered the hostage-taker to become violent, not the arrest” the vice mayor added.

Also on Thursday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) began carrying out ballistic tests to determine if the policemen who took part in the assault to rescue the hostages fired any of the bullets that killed the eight Hong Kong tourists.

“We are examining the firearms used in the assault, including the 200 firearms used by the assault team,” PNP Spokesman and Senior Supt. Agrimero Cruz told Agence France-Presse.

Cruz said that the M-16 rifle and .45 automatic pistol used by Mendoza were also being tested.

The hostages were killed as a police team attempted to storm the bus, only to be held at bay for about an hour, as Mendoza fired at them, using some of his captives as human shields.

The apparently ill-prepared police team eventually made their way into the bus and shot Mendoza dead.

President Aquino and the police have admitted that many mistakes were made during the hostage crisis, and the four leaders of the assault team were suspended on Wednesday.

Cruz said that the PNP would give regular updates on results of its investigation.

Media role
Also on Thursday, ABS-CBN said that they would have supported a news blackout during the hostage crisis if authorities called for it.

Media have been getting part of the blame for the bloody ending to Monday’s hostage crisis because the hostage-taker was able to monitor movements of police through television.

In a statement, ABS-CBN said that their team that covered the hostage drama practiced “self-restraint.”

“No. 1, we refused to air the hostage-taker’s threats live at 3 p.m. deadline to avoid fueling public fear.
No. 2, we refused to air the hostage-taker’s interview until after negotiations were finished. No. 3, we refused to be part of hostage negotiations,” the network added.

ABS-CBN said that they kept their cameras 400 meters away from the bus and that their team never crossed the police line.

“Although we had access to members of the police reaction team, we held back interviews which could compromise their plans and/or location,” the network added.

ABS-CBN said that when Gregorio was being arrested by police, their team “physically stepped back to comply with police request.”

“After the assault began, we tried to limit our shots to avoid showing police movements. We stayed with extreme close-ups or wide shots,” the network added.

ABS-CBN called on the media to put into place measures “to collectively decide when we stop live coverage in the absence of government presence of mind.”