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11-hour long hostage taking in Manila ends with 7 Hong Kong tourists dead
English.news.cn 2010-08-24 00:31:14 FeedbackPrintRSS
by Prime Sarmiento
MANILA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The eleven-hour long hostage-taking incident in the Philippine capital ended Monday night with seven Hong Kong tourists dead.
Fifteen Hong Kong tourists, three of whom are children, survived the ordeal. Eight were injured - two of whom are critical condition and they are being treated in local hospitals. The rest were billeted in a hotel where they underwent a "stress debriefing" by Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim and Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman.
The hostage-taker, former Police Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, was killed after local police assaulted the bus to save the hostages.
The Hong Kong government is dispatching a chartered plane to transport family members of the tourists involved in the abduction.
Medics, community volunteers and psychologists were also onboard to help the victims.
Shortly after the incident ended around 9 p.m. local time, the Security Bureau of the Hong Kong government has issued a "Black Outbound Travel Alert" for the Philippines, urging Hong Kong residents to avoid all travel to the country.
The black alert is the highest level of Hong Kong's three-sign Outbound Travel Alert system, indicating a "severe threat" exists and all travel to the destination should be avoided.
The Hong Kong government said it has asked the Travel Industry Council to forward messages to Hong Kong's tour groups still in the Philippines, requiring them to come back to Hong Kong as soon as possible.
Mendoza, brandishing an M-16 rifle, hijacked a tourist bus Monday morning, around 10 a.m. There were 25 people onboard, 22 were Hong Kong tourists, three others were Filipinos: a bus driver, a translator and a photographer. The abduction was held near Rizal Park, a major tourist site in Manila.
Mendoza was dismissed from service for extortion and forcing a chef to swallow "shabu." He hostaged the bus, demanding local officials to reinstate him.
Local police went to the scene and cordoned the area. Two police officers, Superintendent Orlando Yebra Jr. and Chief Inspector Romeo Salvador negotiated with Mendoza. After hours of talks, Mendoza freed seven tourists, the Filipino translator and the photographer.
Senior Police Officer 2 Gregorio Mendoza, the brother of hostage-taking cop, joined the negotiations, urging him to surrender peacefully.
Gregorio walked away from the negotiations within five minutes, telling his brother "Walang mangyayari dito (Nothing will happen here)."
The bus driver managed to escape from captivity around 7:30 pm, local time. He claimed that Mendoza killed the remaining 15 hostages. This spurred the police to assault the bus, killing Mendoza.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said Monday night he was very sad and disappointed over the tragedy and the losses of lives of Hong Kong residents and felt very angry over the deeds of the thug. He extended condolences to the families of those killed and injured in the incident.
Tsang said his government would provide everything needed to assist those families to overcome current difficulties.
Tsang said Hong Kong would lower the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at half-mast to mourn the death of the seven tourists, adding that his government would ask the Philippine government to explain the incident.
Hong Kong has sent a chartered plane to get the rest of the survivors.
HONG KONG, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Lau Mei-sze, manager of Hong Thai travel agency which had organized the Hong Kong tour group to the Philippines, said the Hong Kong government has decided to send a chartered plane to the Philippine capital Manila on Monday night to carry back tourists involved in the abduction incident.
Lau told reporters that the chartered plane was expected to leave for Manila before Monday mid-night local time. Aboard the chartered plane would be representatives from the Security Bureau of the Hong Kong government, Department of Immigration and Hong Thai travel agency as well as medics and psychologists.
Lau said the city's government has issued the Black Outbound Travel Alert for the Philippines. The black alert is the highest level of Hong Kong's three-sign Outbound Travel Alert system, indicating a "severe threat" exists and all travel to the destination should be avoided.
GL Philippine tourism industry - when your former cops hijacks buses
Yes, because a single random instance is indicative of an ongoing problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TRDood
Security of their tourist groups? Policies and strategies when an unexpected event occurs?
You've got to be joking. Yes, let's hire security guards armed with automatic weapons for every single tourist bus around the world just because there is a 0.0000000001% chance that some random person will storm the bus and take the passengers hostage.
This is a completely RANDOM event. It doesn't matter how dilligent the tourist company is, there is NOTHING logical they could have done or planned for in advance to prevent this from happening.
Quote:
On top of that, this is Hong Kong we are talking about. Even though it's not within their control, their reputation will still be directly affected.
Maybe, but if so it's only due to people out there with illogical minds. Those with good logic reasoning will understand it's a complete anomoly. Saying you won't use that tourist company anymore because of this incident is like saying you won't ever cross the street again because you heard someone got ran over.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by InvisibleSoul
Maybe, but if so it's only due to people out there with illogical minds. Those with good logic reasoning will understand it's a complete anomoly. Saying you won't use that tourist company anymore because of this incident is like saying you won't ever cross the street again because you heard someone got ran over.
i agree with all you've said but this last point you KNOW chinese people won't cross the street cuz someone died there especially so when more than 1 have died its "unlucky" etc
sadly thats the mentality of quite a few people (trdood ) which is why one of the first articles notes the tourist agency saying that their tour guide tried to stop (who they thought) was a police officer from hitching a ride on the bus damage control from the outset? sure seems like it
Quote:
Originally Posted by marc0lishuz
They should've just been like - "Ok you can have your job back!" ... then snag him when he leaves the bus.
rofl yeah i wonder what his reaction would have been like? "... really....? wooot!"
Yes, because a single random instance is indicative of an ongoing problem.
at least the ones from Hong Kong - one event like this and it would take some time for the tourism from HK to recover. Maybe it's just me, but similarly, I will think twice before doing a trip via Greyhound - even though the beheading incident was completely random, and from years ago.
Sure some may say "Picard you gotta get your head out of the gutter"... but hey, psychological barriers are the toughest to get through.
Yes, because a single random instance is indicative of an ongoing problem.
You've got to be joking. Yes, let's hire security guards armed with automatic weapons for every single tourist bus around the world just because there is a 0.0000000001% chance that some random person will storm the bus and take the passengers hostage.
This is a completely RANDOM event. It doesn't matter how dilligent the tourist company is, there is NOTHING logical they could have done or planned for in advance to prevent this from happening.
Maybe, but if so it's only due to people out there with illogical minds. Those with good logic reasoning will understand it's a complete anomoly. Saying you won't use that tourist company anymore because of this incident is like saying you won't ever cross the street again because you heard someone got ran over.
I totally agree with you that this is a random act and a logical person will understand that the tourist company cannot do anything to prevent this from happening.
Has 911 prevented me from flying? No.
But what I am saying is, that tourist company has been in HK for many years, the CEO will have some work in maintaining their public image and please the media. Plus, not everyone is rational, especially in HK.
Maybe a stretch comparison, but this has been proven with the Edison Chen case. To me, he is a hero for sleeping with so many girls. But for Hong Kong, they see it as a "scandal".
Regardless, it sucks to run into a crazy gunman while families are having a fun time.
Security of their tourist groups? Policies and strategies when an unexpected event occurs?
On top of that, this is Hong Kong we are talking about. Even though it's not within their control, their reputation will still be directly affected.
I see your point about Hong Kong, but that's not really the agent's fault. As far as security, not sure what you'd expect them to do when confronted by a man with an assault rifle...
I remember Hong Thai being mentioned in another incident a few years ago. Forgot what it was though
I bought tickets to Thailand from them before, they have good prices
Apparently he was part of a group of cops busted for extortion. They're all probably fall guys for even deeper corruption
Knowing the Philippines... most definitely. Fuck man... cops on a daily basis pull people over for no reason, just to extort a small amount of money from them.
Knowing the Philippines... most definitely. Fuck man... cops on a daily basis pull people over for no reason, just to extort a small amount of money from them.
This.
The majority of extravagant kidnapping cases are done by cops/soldiers to extort money. Blame all levels of government for nurturing this extreme level of corrupt environment for decades. From one of the best countries in Asia 50 years ago to one of the most poorest countries in the world today.
watching the video...they had many chances to sniper him dead...clear as day.
This was a complete failure by the police force.
Any idea what they said in the negotiations?
This guy was simply asking for his job back. The negotiators could have simply told the gun man "fine, you start on monday, 6am" in exchange for letting the hostages go.
watching the video...they had many chances to sniper him dead...clear as day.
This was a complete failure by the police force.
I must be watching too much TV but it could be because until a hostage is harmed, police officers are trying to bring in the hostage-taker alive as well.
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) which is why one of the first articles notes the tourist agency saying that their tour guide tried to stop (who they thought) was a police officer from hitching a ride on the bus 
damage control from the outset? sure seems like it
