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Driver of hijacked bus in Manila recounts ordeal

Tour driver who survives deadly hostage crisis narrates incident of shooting inside hijacked tourist bus in Manila

  • By Barbara Mae Dacanay, Bureau Chief
  • Published: 20:00 August 24, 2010

A monk consoles the relatives of victims
  • Image Credit: Reuters
  • A monk consoles the relatives of one of the eight hostages killed in a bus siege during a Buddhist religious ceremony at the site of the hostage taking in Manila.
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Manila: A dismissed policeman turned hostage-taker was responsible for the killing of all foreign hostages in Manila's tourist district late on Monday, said a Filipino tourist bus driver who survived the bloody incident.

Former Police officer Rolando Mendoza, the 55-year old hostage-taker began to get agitated when he saw through the bus window that a policeman, Chief Inspector Romeo Salvador, had taken the gun from his brother Gregorio Mendoza, bus driver Alberto Lubang said in a TV interview.

Lubang said the hostage-taker fired several shots when Inspector Salvador refused to return the gun to Mendoza's brother, adding that negotiators also ran away when they heard the shots.

The hostage taker became very agitated when he saw on the tourist bus TV monitor, that his brother was being handcuffed by policemen and forced into a police car, Lubang said.

"(At the time) I heard him say (in Filipino), 'I'll kill all the hostages if you (policemen) don't release my brother. You should release him'," Lubang said.

Before this happened, the brother was allowed by the policemen to talk to the hostage-taker on a mobile phone, to negotiate for the safe release of the hostages, Lubang said.

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Exasperated, the hostage-taker also wrote his demand to negotiate with reporters on a piece of paper. This was posted on the windshield of the tourist bus, Lubang said.

The written demand was not acted upon, Lubang said.

The hostage taker became more agitated when he received a letter (which turned out to be from Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez), Lubang said. This was in response to his request for the Ombudsman to change its 2009 ruling which called for his dismissal.

The driver said before this happened, the hostage-taker sent out a brown envelope which contained papers about a case filed against him in 2008. This was given to Supt. Rolando Yebra, assigned by the Philippine National Police (PNP) as the chief negotiator.

Supt. Yebra assured the hostage-taker that the Ombudsman would take immediate action, for which he demanded for the release of some hostages, who were three children and a woman, Lubang said.

At the time, Lubang said the hostage-taker was calm and he heard him say: "I want my case at the Ombudsman to be heard. Don't worry. I promise that nothing will happen (to the hostages) if my demand is followed (by the Ombudsman)”.

It remained unclear when the hostage-taker started shooting at the hostages. Lubang said when the hostage-taker started shooting, he managed to break away by pushing the door of the tourist bus open, and running away. He did not explain who closed the door.

A Chinese national from Hong Kong who identified herself as Mrs Ng was reported as saying to Chinese reporters from Hong Kong that the hostage-taker killed her husband when the latter realised that the killing of hostages might start.

"He was very brave. He rushed forward from the back of the bus. He wanted to prevent the gunman from killing people. He sacrificed himself," Mrs Ng was quoted as saying.

The hostage-taker was not planning to "kill us, but since the negotiation failed, he shot to kill people," Mrs Ng said.

It is not known if some hostages were killed just as police entered the bus, fired tear gas and then shot the hostage-taker in the head. TV reports said the police stormed the bus and killed the hostage-taker, after the latter had fired at the tourists, killing eight of them.

Wang Zhouyao, 15, recalled: "I hid under a seat (when the gunman started to fire)”.

"Then the police dispersed gas. People in the bus were struggling. I could hear that many people couldn't breathe," Zhouyao said from her hospital bed.

Various agencies from the Philippines and Hong Kong have begun to investigate the incident.

Forensic reports will show if the eight Hong Kong nationals who were killed died from the hostage-taker's hand or from the exchange of fire between the hostage-taker and police.

Seven hostages were injured: one had a head wound, another a shattered jawbone, and another was wounded in the waist. Nine survivors were freed by the hostage-taker before the gunfire began.

Amid criticism about inept and unprofessional handling of the crisis, police authorities blamed the police force's lack of proper equipment. Lawmakers said the absence of a man in charge of handling the crisis was the real culprit.

On Tuesday, President Benigno Aquino presented a preliminary investigation into the bloody hostage crisis to Chinese Ambassador to Manila Liu Jianchao

Aquino would send Vice President Jejomar Binay and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo to  present the final report of the investigation to Chinese authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong, officials said.

It was Aquino's first major crisis after two months in office.

Do you think the situation was handled well by police? Could more lives have been saved if they had negotiated more?

Comments (18)

  1. Added 14:11 August 25, 2010

    There was lot could have been done , as we have seen on media that the hostage taker was calm and had shown lot of goodwill gestures by releasing women, childrens and olds . It was complete failure of Police in handling this crucial situation without ony professional acumen. Ultimately it turned violent because of communication gap and instigating the hostage taker by sending untrained cops .

    Nehal, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

  2. Added 12:14 August 25, 2010

    I do not understand what stupidity made philippines goverment not to accept the demands of the policemen . His demand is he wanted his job back and case to be waived off . At that time they could have accepted and released the hostages and later they would have arrested him . Very simple . The total responibility of loosing tourists lies on the goverment. The police official handled the case immeturely and foolishly. I saw the vedio in TV . Its poor handling and recklessness . They do not bother about the inmates of the Bus . The police they wanted to do their job rather than saving the inmates. Some i feel very bad about this.

    Anonymous, Dubai, Afghanistan

  3. Added 12:07 August 25, 2010

    This incident was a great disgrace to our country. Our government needs to apologize to the Hong Kong government as well as to the families of the victims. We can't blame other countries if they'll put as in their travel advisory as black listed. Our government should now think of a better solution on how to handle this sensitive situation.

    Candy Madia, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  4. Added 12:05 August 25, 2010

    My deepest condolence to the families of the innocent citizens involved in this tragic incident. President Aquino look up, think and have a second thought. You can not just sit there and trust you men. Relieved the ground commander of the Manila SWAT team from post, he dont know anything. All personnel involved were to be relieved also from SWAT team and instead be just a traffic enforcer. Maybe with traffic enforcing job they can master traffic rules and regulations. The way the SWAT team handled the situation is totally unacceptable and shameful. PLEASE EDUCATE, TRAIN and EQUIP.

    JUAN TAMAD, dubai, United Arab Emirates

  5. Added 11:48 August 25, 2010

    They have plenty of time to negotiate. It would not have ended that way if they let a family member talk to him because he will surely listen to someone he love and would not have hardened his heart. His demand was very simple, yet there was no proper way of handling it. They could have convinced him that he will get his demands and once they have gotten him then thats the time to do proper invistigation and dealing with his case and demands.

    Anonymous, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

  6. Added 10:32 August 25, 2010

    I symphatized for those who lost their loved ones from this event. There are a lot of cases in my country that had been unsolved or reversed because of political issues. In my own opinion, lack of knowledge among the police force on how to handle such cases lead to this hostage chaos. I beg to further investigate about the killings. Mr. Mendoza was the hostage taker, but in my understanding, some police had shot some of the victims too? Though most of the times, justice is not served well, I still hope it will prevail in some cases such as this.

    Anonymous, Ajman, United Arab Emirates

  7. Added 10:23 August 25, 2010

    the media have a great factor on why this hostage negotiation failed...

    Anonymous, al ain, United Arab Emirates

  8. Added 10:20 August 25, 2010

    This tragic end should have been avoided if there was media blackout. Obviously, the hostage-taker would not have shot the victims if he didn't see on tv what was being done to his brother. Responsible journalism, media ethics and professionalism should be observed on such sensitive cases.

    Anonymous, Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan

  9. Added 10:12 August 25, 2010

    As l had notice philippine policeman had no enough training and knowledge on handling hostage taking situation, they only know how to corupt only that, and most of the official are also corupt, only one hostage taking they dont know how to handle, there so many innocent people die because of the Government negligence. wake up Pilipino official, dont just sit and watch. this a very simple problem of a Policeman serving for a long time in your goverment.

    Anonymous, saba, Malaysia

  10. Added 09:48 August 25, 2010

    I was angered too on how the authorities mishandled the situation and how such demand was not given an immediate consideration knowing people's lives are at stake. We cannot surely get back the lives of the victims nor blame several people but hope this incident will served as a lesson to Philippine Government knowing this is not the very first hostage drama that happened in the country. Media as well must be aware of their role, it's not just giving the most recent update but taking consideration of the situation they are covering is a must too.

    Zoe, Davao City, Philippines

    11. View more comments

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