Police letter never reached hostage-taker
A letter containing a new offer to sacked Manila policeman Rolando Mendoza - one which might have saved the lives of eight Hong Kong hostages - was on its way to him when he began killing them.
The letter authorised the Philippine National Police to 'suspend the implementation of the dismissal' of Mendoza for grave misconduct.
The offer, signed by Metro Manila police chief Leocadio Santiago, was drafted after Mendoza rejected as 'garbage' a letter from Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez in which she offered to personally take a 'fresh look' at his case. Her office had ordered his sacking last year.
From the moment he took 25 people hostage aboard a tourist bus in central Manila on Monday, Mendoza, a decorated veteran of the force, had demanded he be reinstated. At 55, he was one year away from the minimum retirement age for Philippine government employees.
Santiago said in an interview that he ordered the letter couriered by motorcycle to the hostage site, about 1 kilometre from where was stationed. But the letter had not reached Mendoza when he saw television footage of police arresting his younger brother, which many believe triggered the deadly shooting spree.
'In hindsight, perhaps we could have drafted the letter earlier,' Santiago said.
The letter adds to the list of 'what ifs' revealed in the days following the hostage bloodbath, in which seven Hong Kong tourists and their guide were killed and seven injured. (Six others were freed, along with three Filipinos. The driver escaped.)
From interviews, police documents, sworn statements by witnesses and phone calls made by Mendoza from the bus, it has emerged that:
The M16 assault rifle used by Mendoza was his police-issued weapon, which the force failed to recover after sacking him in April 2009;
Mendoza fired his first shot when his brother and a negotiator delivered the first letter at around 7pm - nearly an hour before he began shooting at his hostages and more than two hours before police killed him; and
The Manila police SWAT team rehearsed an assault on a similar bus, but the vehicle used in the exercise had safety glass; the hostage bus contained sturdier tempered plastic windows, which delayed their entry.
Emotions were still running high in Hong Kong five days after the deaths. Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen called for unity ahead of a march today from Victoria Park to Central which organisers expect will attract tens of thousands of mourners. Tsang said the best response to the tragedy was for people to support one other regardless of race or nationality.
Undersecretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said sufficient police manpower would be deployed for the march, called to mourn the eight Hongkongers killed and to demand that the Philippine authorities tell the truth about what happened.
Lai also said autopsies on the victims had been completed and he hoped the Philippine authorities would complete their investigation of the incident as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, reports in the Philippines said Vice-Premier Li Keqiang cancelled an official visit to Manila. The trip was reportedly set for the first week of September.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said the cancellation had nothing to do with the hostage-taking, which has straining diplomatic relations between the two countries. There has been no official or independent confirmation of the cancellation from Beijing.
