Execs left hostage scene at critical time

MANILA -- A panel investigating the August 23 hostage-taking learned Saturday that key officials involved in solving the crisis were not at the Quirino Grandstand during the crucial moments of the negotiations.

Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno told the inter-agency Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) that during the crucial moments of the hostage crisis, he was having his coffee "lonely at the bar" at the Manila Pavilion Hotel.

Post your reaction to the Manila hostage crisis

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim was also at the Emerald Restaurant taking his meal and invited former Manila Police District head Rodolfo Magtibay and National Capital Region Director Leocadio Santiago to brief him on the developments of the situation.

During the resumption of the clarificatory hearing Saturday, the panel learned from the invited guests that when hostage-taker, dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza, started shooting the hostages, the key officials were not at the crime scene.

At least five Chinese nationals and three Canadians were killed in the hostage-taking last August 23.

Interference

In the hearing, a police officer who was designated as assistant negotiator during the hostage crisis said the hostage-taking could have ended peacefully if no one interfered in the deal.

Chief Inspector Romeo Salvador could not however name names, but told the panel of investigators that they already had a last option to make the deal last August 23 successful -- the reinstatement order of the hostage-taker.

He said the hostage-taker just wanted to get his job back and is willing to face charges for holding hostage 25 people, mostly tourists.

The hostage-taking happened when Mendoza hijacked a Hong Thai Travel bus carrying tourists from Hong Kong, China around 10 a.m. of August 23. The incident ended bloody after Mendoza started firing at his hostages.

Salvador said he informed chief negotiator Superintendent Orlando Yebra during the negotiations that Mendoza is willing to accept even just a temporary reinstatement order and face charges. However, he said no order came.

He said the negotiations bogged down past 6:30 p.m. when Mendoza started not answering their calls.

The director of the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO), who was also summoned on Saturday's hearing, said a letter was drafted stating that the hostage-taker will be temporarily reinstated as a strategy to talk him out of the hostage-taking mess, but the letter apparently never reached him.

When Santiago was asked by panel member Teresita Ang-See why the letter came so late, he replied: "I was not informed right away about it."

The assistant negotiator already knew of the temporary reinstatement early in the day but this demand failed to reach the authorities.

NCRPO Director Santiago also revealed that he has directed Magtibay through Superintendent Remus Medina of the NCRPO to utilize the Special Action Forces (SAF) unit around 8 p.m.

To recall, it took the MPD Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) unit more than an hour to penetrate the hijacked bus and neutralized the rouge former policeman.

By the time the Swat has gotten inside the bus, Mendoza already killed eight tourists, mostly Chinese nationals.

Santiago said he did not immediately order the intervention of the SAF unit because it would cause confusion on the police officers.

"When the ground commander issues an order, it is not right to issue a contravening order," he told the panel Saturday.

It was at the Emerald Restaurant where Magtibay told Santiago he already ordered the assault after learning that the hostage-taker has started shooting the hostages.

Santiago said the preference of PNP Chief Verzosa was also to utilize the SAF unit.

The NCRPO chief said that in terms of training, the SAF is more experienced than Manila's Swat. But he added the SAF has two functions, execute on its own or support the local unit.

Panel member Roan Libarios, governor of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, then asked Santiago if the SAF could have been immediately deployed if the situation has been treated as a national crisis.

"The level of response would depend largely on the characterization of the crisis incident...Since the characteristics were largely local, then the handling force was the local Manila Swatteam," Santiago told the panel.

National crisis

In the same hearing, Vice Mayor Moreno said the Quirino grandstand incident should have been treated as a national crisis considering that foreign tourists were involved.

"I believe on a personal level, if it involved foreigners, people from National Government should have been there to take part in the situation," Moreno said.

Earlier, Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno, Verzosa, and the former Manila Police director admitted that the Manila hostage incident was deemed as a local crisis.

"Do I agree? After I learned that there is an international individual? No, I do not agree," Moreno told the panel headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

On August 23, around 10 a.m., Moreno and other Manila City officials, including Mayor Lim, learned of the hostage-taking while city officials were having their regular Monday meeting at City Hall.

Lim, as the chair of the City Government's crisis management committee, immediately instructed police officials to cordon the area at the Quirino Grandstand where the seized bus was parked.

Around 11 a.m., Moreno arrived at the command post where he talked to Magtibay, who was the ground commander dealing with the hostage crisis.

By noon, when some police officers and Moreno were about to have their lunch, police negotiator Superintendent Orlando Yebra asked Moreno if he could give the lunch packs requested by the hostage-taker for his hostages.

Moreno agreed to give the food packs and told Yebra to ask the hostage-taker to release the 70-year-old hostage victim who was suffering from diabetes.

After lunch, Moreno told the panel that left the command center to personally talk to Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, but because of the rain and heavy traffic, it took him more than an hour to get to the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City.

After almost two hours, Moreno arrived at the Quirino Grandstand to hand the letter signed by Gutierrez, promising Mendoza to review his motion for reconsideration pending before the Ombudsman.

Lim asked a police officer to read the letter, while Senior Police Officer 2 Gregorio Mendoza, the brother of the slain hostage-taker, was also at the command post.

Lim asked Gregorio if the letter from Gutierrez would help calm the hostage-taker and Gregorio said yes.

But after the negotiators, together with Gregorio, talked to the hostage-taker, Yebra rushed to the command post, reporting Gregorio was a conspirator in the crime.

Gregorio was reported to have told his brother not to agree with the letter because the Manila police have not yet returned his gun.

A meeting was then held by police officers, including the negotiators, while Moreno was outside the room with Gregorio, who was not handcuffed by the police.

After the meeting, Lim decided to transfer Gregorio to another police station, still not handcuffed.

When the police was about to transfer Gregorio, he ran off to where the media was stationed, appealing for help.

The hostage-taker was watching the developments on television inside the bus. This started the agitation and the hostage-taker started shooting the hostages. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)