The tourist bus which was held hostage by a dismissed policeman in Quirino Grandstand. Photo courtesy of NBN 4
According to a report by DZMM, dismissed police officer Rolando del Rosario Mendoza boarded the Hong Thai Travel bus, with 22 Chinese nationals from Hong Kong and 3 Filipinos, at Fort Santiago in the city of Manila at around 9 a.m.
Mendoza was a former senior police inspector assigned to the Manila Police District. He was dismissed from the service for extortion. He was also a former recipient of the 1986 Ten Outstanding Policemen of the Philippines (TOPP) of the Jaycees International.
Mendoza reportedly hijacked the tourist bus to force authorities to clear his name. He also wants to be reinstated to the service, police said.
Sources say that Mendoza is holding a long firearm, possibly an M-16 rifle, inside the bus. Mendoza initially released 2 of the Chinese hostages after they asked to go to the bathroom. At noon, the hostage-taker released another 3 children and their guardian.
UPDATE: The hostage taking is finally over. The unfortunate incident claimed the life of the hostage-taker Inspector Mendoza and 14 other victims. May their souls rest in peace.
Second UPDATE: Hong Kong has issued a travel ban against the Philippines. Hong Kong government has declared a total ban on travels of Hong Kong nationals to the RP.
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30 Comments
oh Lord, pls dont let this freak people kill innocent lives..
it’s so intense.
Damn.
Hope everyone’s gonna be safe…
wats d update? i’m so worried about the kids in the bus..we don’t have tv in the office..no latest updates s internet..haay..sna mpawalan n mga nsa loob ng bus..dpat yng mga myayabang n pulis e dun cla mgyabang s baluarte ng mga abu sayyaf at npa..ang ggleng nla mnakot d2 porke me mga baril cla..pra mgkron nman cla sibli!!!
i’ve been tuning in to a live coverage at 102.7 fm. and it’s over. the suspect is dead. but sad to say some hostages were killed as well…
PNOY must do something about Mendoza’s mess. This is one of all crises that has not yet been resolved. PNOY, being the new President, must do his part rather than waiting for us to tell him what to do. A leader is a leader who also thinks for what’s good for his people. Rather saying We are his boss, why can’t he be a boss for himself? OH PNOY, Please fix this mess. This will make a negative impact for those coming tourists. hahiii.
>.<
Ano ba ang kailangan gawin ni Pnoy? ha pa explain naman samin. Sumugod dun sa crime scene? e tanga k naman pala eh. Kaw nalang kaya. Bobo pinoys tlga.
For the benefit of those without means to hear the latest update, the hostage taking is over, hostage taker died and 14 died suffering gunshots to the face. Scary
finally! the hostage situation is over! too bad there are some casualties.. mejo brutal pa un tama nun ibang tourists.. i heard a report that one female died coz of a SLASHED THROAT… DAMN……….. un iba naman sa ulo ang tama ng bala… if anyone knows where i can find a photo of that MOTHER F’in CAPTAIN MENDOZA after being shot, please post the link… i wanna see his possibly disfigured face… the news reported didn’t even tried to describe how he was hit coz he said it was too graphic even for words….
scattered brains of capt. mendoza for his victims..!!!
No doubt what captain Mendoza did was wrong. But if we take a look at his side of the story, we may come to realize that he was a victim of injustice. Based on his background info, he rose from the ranks of a patrol man way up to police senior inspector. In 2008 he was accused of being part of some illegal drug issue. He was suspended of his duties for 90 days for being accused of partaking in the drug issue. No one actually proved that he was guilty. After serving his 90 day suspension, he was reinstated. But in 2009, the PNP leadership dismissed him because they said he had bad reputation already since he was once falsely accused. What came worse was that the PNP didn’t even grant him his retirement benefits. This probably depressed, angered, and aggravated him, leading to the Quirino hostage taking. Again, what he did in Quirino was wrong. But we should know that he was the by-product of PNP injustice. The PNP has created a monster out of a humble policeman.
TO THE PNP: This is partly your fault, if not entirely your fault. You guys over there should give him a proper burial and give respect to cpt. Mendoza. He was fighting against injustice.
i so agree with MARK. the hostage taking incident is just the outcome of what seems to be an injustice in our system. capt. mendoza had propbably served half of his life in the service and just because of some accusations which he had not been proven guilty of, he was dismissed and had not been given the benefits he deserved. i am not saying that what he did was right. the incident was too much to bare but it only showed the widespread of injustice in the country. if you’re in your mid 50′s and jobless in the Philippine with no retirement benefits, you’re pretty much dead.
The hostage taking which took place at Quirino Grandstand today August 23, 2010 could be considered as one of the most alarming events in the Philippine History. I don’t know if the Philippine National Police knows what the word “strategy” is. As shown on the footage earlier, the PNP arrested and nabbed the brother of the dismissed police Rolando Mendoza, which evidently provoked him to kill some of the hostages, which aggravated the situation. The police should have pacified Rolando Mendoza instead of arresting his brother who is a Senior Police Officer 2. As we all know, his brother who also trying to negotiate, was just outside the hostage area and he can easily be captured in any event that he brings threat to people, while Rolando Mendoza on the other hand is already holding hostages inside the Hong Thai bus, whose lives are at risk. And indeed what they did had brought a commotion and caused to kill innocent people.
Rolando Mendoza was known to be a multi-awarded Police officer but was dismissed from the position after having been found guilty by the ombudsman for grave misconduct of allegedly extorting Php20, 000 from Christian Kalaw, a chef of the Mandarin Hotel.
They accused Kalaw of being a drug user and tried to extort money from him. According to the records kalaw was forced by the policemen to swallow a sachet of shabu while they were trying to extort Php20, 000 from the chef.
Hopefully this hostage taking incident would awaken the government that we must not only have armored officers but also a clever strategy for such incidents.
what capt. mendoza did was absolutely wrong BUT ONE THING I’M SURE HE IS ALSO A VICTIM..VICTIM OF INJUSTICE WHICH IS RAMPANT…MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE.
so sad,,,,,sobra!!! lahat naman pwedeng magkamali pero iba na yung alam nang mali,ginawa pa!!! mali talaga yung pag-aresto nang kapatid hostage taker,,naka-trigger yun,di nag-isip yung mga humuli,,,(maling akala!!!)akala kasi makatulong! PERO ANG PINAKA-MALI SA LAHAT NANG MALI,,,ANG MAGALING NA MEDIA!!! kung iisipin nyo,,,majority nang mga incidents natin sa pinas,,involve and media!!! di naman sa nagmamagaling, pero dapat may orientation din sila sa mga sitwasyong pwede kumuha o hindi dapat kumuha,,,(alam ko meron,,,pero yun orientation na TAMA SA LAHAT NANG TAMA),,,di kasi maintindihan,,,kuha lang nang kuha,,,suong nang suong sa dilikado,,,pag-na-involve,,REKLAMU AGAD! sana maayus! “still im one of the filipinos hoping for a change”
Hay naku ang bobobo ng mga pulis natin, kailangan ng training, isipin mo naisip nila magtear gas after 40 mins na, imbes na my mas marami pang maligtas na hostage inabot pa sila more than 40 mins, eh ikaw maski barilin ka lang sa paa nun mamamatay ka kung ganun katagal. sa ibang bansa nga eroplano pa more than 1 hostager nagagawan nila ng paraaan at walang namamatay. at ang matindi dun tear gas ang ginamit pati ung mga police nateargas din, wala man lang silang mga stun grenade.. or gas mask man lang..hay!! natatawa ako dun sa isa eh nakapasok na my bulletproof at shield pa sya naputukan lang takbo palabas uli. ang pulis dapat handa sa ganyan maski mamatay ka basta wag lang ang mga nahostage, kaya ka nga nagpulis eh. Nakakatawa mga itsura takot na takot..hayyy!!
mali ung diskarte ng mga pulis.qng hnd nl inares2 ung kptd hnd mppnt s mdgng krhsn.dapt imbstghn ng mbuti ung nngyri yn.
I am sorry guys, no matter what injustice was suffered by Mendoza, nobody has the right to hijack a bus and kill its passengers. It is a very extreme statement to say otherwise. Completely unacceptable.
The assault itself was an absolute abortion. When hostages are being injured or killed a quick, well planned and violent assault is the ONLY solution. CS Gas (tear gas) should have been deployed at the same time as the doors were being rigged up and ripped off by vehicles already in position. Because, at this point the comfort of the hostages is no longer an issue, the issue is keeping them alive; the logic being that they (the hostages) will fully recover from the effects of CS Gas, but not from bullet wounds. The assault team should have been broken into teams, each with their own special tasks. They had over 8 hours to plan, position and practice the assault behind the scenes just in case an assault was necessary. In this case, it was and they were not ready. It was an embarrassment on international TV with perhaps half a billion people glued to CNN.
THE HOSTAGES TAKING IN QUIRINO GRANDSTAND WAS ONE OF THE WORST HAPPENING IN THE HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES, BUT MAYBE IT COULD NOT GOTTEN THAT WAY IF THE PROPER SOP’s WERE SERIOUSLY STUDIED BEFORE DOING SOME COURSE OF ACTIONS BY THE PNP. HOPEFULLY THE GOVERNMENT WOULD DO SOME EXERCISE IN THIS KIND OF CRISIS. MAYBE THERE WILL BE NO BLOODY COMMOTION, NO LIFE WERE WASTED, IF THE POLICE WERE PROPERLY FOLLOWED WHAT IS NEED TO BE DONE BEFORE FIRING A MAN WITH AN APPLE ON HIS HEAD.
. . . SWAT they say it means SORRY WALA AKONG TRAINING or some say Sugod-Wait-Atras-Takbo.
, , , but let’s not judge them, after all we are all as one. the best thing that we could do now is to pray for them and pray for those victims. pray for our country, our leaders need righteousness from our God. Blaming will not do a thing and will never change what has been done. We learn from that moment that every police and those in authority in this nation needs the guidance of God. without God’s direction, this country will surely be in vain. there will be more bad things to be happened that the dark force, the evil one, satan will impose to destroy the image of our country. satan knows the truth that Philippines is a christian nation, so he wants to disgrace our name. as a believer, as a christian, let’s all stand together to pray for our country, for our leaders, for our president and those who are in authority, for our rulers, for our lives, for our children, for our land. united in God’s power we will stand.
. . . For our Muslim brothers, we believe also in you. let’s be united, in your faith we believe, we are all Filipinos, born of freedom from the past and a messenger in this time.
. . . For our God, no matter who you are, LET”S PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY, it’s now the time to be united as one. God bless you all. send me here(stmcom_sham99@yahoo.com)
. . . Thank you
The Filipino People are sick and tired of the incompetence of PNP and the AFP. All this time we have been paying incompetent men and women in uniforms. The leadership of these organizations mostly come from either the PNPA or the PMA; government academies that are fully supported by the taxes of the Filipino people here and abroad.
The saddest part of all is that these people when they graduate from these academies they are put in position of power over the lives of the citizens which they have sworn to protect and serve.
But instead of paying respect and gratitude to the Filipino people, these police and military officers steal, torture, squander, connive with criminals and bungle just about every operations endangering the lives of the people. and yes, including those of foreign tourists.
Then again we hear these police and military officials refusing to heed the calls for their resignation despite the clear evidence of incompetence and failure of leadership. They cling to their positions as if it is their God-given rights.
How long should we Filipinos continue to suffer under these kind of police and military leadership? The kind of police and military officers supported by the blood and sweat of Filipinos all over the globe? The kind of police and military officers produced by such institutions as PNPA and PMA?
,,Pilipino ako, SIKAT AKO sa buong mundo, pero sana HUWAG SA GANITONG PARAAN…
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU LYKA MARIE, NOY2 SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING BETTER THAN JUST KEEPING HIS MOUTH SHUT! WHAT IS 2M NOW CLAIMED BY MENDOZA COMPARED TO THE EXPENSES OF OUR GOVERNMENT IN BRINGING HOME THOSE VICTIMS IN HK AND THE DAMAGE/WAR IT CREATED TO HK PEOPLE AND THE REST OF THE COUNTRIES CONDEMNING THIS HOSTAGE EVENT. HAVE PROVEN MYSELF THAT NOY2 REALLY DONT DESERVED MY VOTE! I KNEW FROM THE VERY START THAT HE’S NOTHING BUT A TRYING HARD COPY CAT! WAAAAH!
mali talga ung mga pulis..di ba sila ung nagpapunta sa mga kapatid ni mendoza para makipag negotiate tapos huhuliin din nila..mga stupid kahit siguro sino naman satin diba ganun din gagwin natin kung mahal na natin sa buhay yung napaphamak..they shud know how will the actions take place ndi ung masyado madaming maling akala..haii..ndi naman daw talga sya papatay sabi nya diba pero dhil sa action ng mga pulis towards his relatives natrigger syang pumatay..sana lang managot din ung mga pulis na may kasalanan sa pagaaresto..
so very scared
kasalanan din ng mga pulis
12 y.o. pa lang ako at alam kong maraming masasamang tao dito sa pilipinas………….pero `di ko ata masikmura ang ginawa ni Mendoza…..gaano kaya kamahal ni Mendoza ang Pilipinas?
sana wala nang tao ang maging katulad niya…………..ang sama mo Mendoza!!!!!!!!!!!
yehey tapos ko na assignment ko.!!!!!!!!!!!!>>>>>>>>
Sana matahimik ang kaluluwa nila………peace on Earth
no body perfect……
actually he was shot by probably by an M4a1 rifle with scope. His brain is scattered. Luckily for him, they didnt use real sniper rifles. That would be too much devastating. Too bad retired sniper Santiago isnt there.