Magtibay: Hostage-taker's brother not part of negotiating team
GMANews.TV - Thursday, August 26
The brother of dismissed police Senior Inspector Ronaldo Mendoza was arrested for engaging the hostage-taker in a conversation, perceived by authorities as an "act of conspiracy," because he was not a part of the negotiating team.
Manila Police District head Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, who is currently on leave, made this clarification during a Senate committee hearing on Thursday.
Magtibay cleared up earlier reports that SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza was tapped to become part of the negotiating team during the 11-hour bus siege at Manila's Quirino Grandstand.
"Hindi po siya parte ng negotiating team. He was just allowed to escort Superintendent [Orlando] Yebra (one of the negotiators) to deliver the letter to Mendoza," said Magtibay, the overall ground commander during the negotiations, who filed a leave of absence amid international condemnation of the incident.
The letter from the Ombudsman stated that Rolando's demand to be reinstated to the police force would be considered after a review of his robbery-extortion case.
However, instead of just accompanying the negotiators, Gregorio ended up speaking with his brother and reportedly told him: "Tol, huwag ka muna pumayag hanggat 'di nila binabalik baril ko."
Gregorio's firearm was seized by authorities because people going near the bus were not allowed to bring one.
Magtibay said Yebra told him Gregorio could already be considered a "conspirator" for uttering that statement to his brother.
The MPD chief also said it was Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim who eventually ordered Gregorio arrested.
It was believed that Gregorio's arrest, seen by the Rolando on a television inside the bus, that "agitated" the hostage-taker and prompted him to fire shots.
As of this posting, Magtibay is still being questioned by lawmakers. –VVP, GMANews.TV
Aquino: Those who had shortcomings will pay
President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III on Thursday vowed to hold accountable those who had shortcomings in handling the August 23 hostage-taking crisis that ended with the deaths of eight foreign hostages and the hostage-taker.
"May mga nagkulang, may mga magbabayad (Some had shortcomings, so some will pay)," Aquino said in a speech during the ground breaking ceremony of a new building at the Rizal Technological University in Mandaluyong City.
Aquino did not clarify whether more officials would be relieved from their posts.
Four team leaders of the Manila police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit have been sacked so far, but Manila Police District (MPD) Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, who acted ground commander during the incident, is on leave.
Aquino said he already instructed the Department of Justice and Department of Interior and Local Government to get to the bottom of the tragedy.
The President said his administration has been bombarded with criticism for the way it handled the hostage crisis, wherein eight Chinese nationals from Hong Kong were killed. The hostage-taker, former police Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, was eventually killed by a sniper.
Warm reception
Aquino said he was grateful for the warm reception he received at the university, where many students burst into shrieks of adulation as soon as the president's entourage entered the campus.
"Nakita ko naman po na hindi nag-iisa si Noynoy (I saw that Noynoy is not alone)," said Aquino, once again using words often present in his presidential campaign, "Hindi ka nag-iisa."
Mendoza hijacked a tourist bus carrying 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos in front of the Quirino Grandstand in Manila on Monday.
The hostage drama turned bloody when the hostage-taker reportedly became angry after seeing his brother being arrested on a live television broadcast of the incident.
The bus driver escaped and shouted as he ran that everyone on the bus was already dead. It was then that the police launched an assault on the bus. At the end of the 12-hour confrontation, Mendoza and eight tourists were found dead.
The Aquino administration's handling of the crisis has drawn much criticism locally and abroad, with experts and analysts pointing out that police who handled the incident appeared to be poorly-trained and ill-equipped.
The live coverage of the incident has also earned the ire of the public.
Malacanang is trying to smooth out relations with Hong Kong by calling up and meeting with the special administrative region's officials. The Palace is also set to send a delegation led by Vice-President Jejomar Binay and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo to Hong Kong. –VVP, GMANews.TV
Magtibay: Hostage-taker's M16 rifle was his service firearm
The high-powered M16 rifle used by the slain hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza was the service firearm issued to him more than a decade ago and had remained in his possession ever since.
This was confirmed by Manila police chief Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay on Thursday during a Senate inquiry on the hostage crisis.
Magtibay said Mendoza, a dismissed policeman who demanded to be reinstated, also carried a .45-caliber pistol when he hijacked the tourist bus and held hostage 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos.
"The 45-cal pistol was a loose firearm. But the M16 was his firearm issued to him in 1994," Magtibay said.
The Manila police chief's statement startled Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who said the Philippine National Police (PNP) should be more strict in recalling firearms of lawmen who already left the service or had been dismissed.
"There are always unintended conseuences. We will not blame the person who didn't account for that. Wala naman siyang kinalaman sa hostage," the lawmaker said.
"But maybe you can look at that na pagna-fire na or na-suspend, their firearms should be surrendered to the PNP," he added.
Ballistic tests showed that the 59 empty shells recovered from the tourist bus after the bloodbath came from an M16 rifle. Live ammunition from a cal-45 pistol was likewise recovered.
Members of the Manila police's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) had just broken into the bus, when the hostage taker indiscriminately fired his rifle. –VVP, GMANews.TV
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/ap/20100826/tap-as-philippines-bus-hostages-fe2a5de.html
Why did Donald Tsang fail to contact President Aquino?
Why did Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang fail to speak with President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III over the phone as the hostage crisis was taking place on Monday?
Malacanang officials earlier claimed that Aquino was speaking with officials of the Department of Interior and Local Government when Tsang called but apparently the story goes deeper.
On Thursday, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning head Ricky Carandang said Tsang contacted Aquino through the Malacanang trunk line at around 5:00 p.m. on Monday.
"Normally when there is a high-level call like that, the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) will notify us that there will be a call. That didn't happen. Since he came through the trunkline which was not usual, the President's aide didn't want to pass it on without some kind of verification," said Carandang.
"So what he (aide) did was he told a secretary, he said, 'put the phone down and we will call you through our foreign minister'," said Carandang.
Carandang said the Palace aide called up Romulo's office and told the DFA that Donald Tsang's office called.
The DFA said it would call back the Palace, and then later claimed that it couldn't get in touch with Tsang until 10 p.m.--more than an hour after the crisis ended.
"By then, it was too late. Donald Tsang had issued his angry statement saying that he couldn't get through to the President," said Carandang.
Carandang said there was no truth to reports that Malacanang did not know who Donald Tsang was when the Hong Kong chief executive called.
"He was Donald Tsang. They knew who he was. It just didn't go through the normal channels," he said.
Aquino finally managed to talk to Tsang over the phone Tuesday afternoon, when he called up the Hong Kong leader after he met with Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao in Malacanang.
On Monday, former police Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza hijacked a tourist bus carrying 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos in front of the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.
The hostage drama turned bloody when the hostage-taker reportedly became angry after seeing his brother being arrested on a live television broadcast of the incident.
The bus driver escaped and shouted as he ran that everyone on the bus was already dead. It was then that the police launched an assault on the bus. At the end of the 12-hour confrontation, Mendoza and eight tourists from Hong Kong were found dead.
The Aquino administration's handling of the crisis has drawn much criticism locally and abroad, with experts and analysts pointing out that police who handled the incident appeared to be poorly trained and ill-equipped. –VVP, GMANews.TV
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/gma/201 ... ontact-d6cd5cf.html
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