Philippine SWAT Team storm bus with hostages in Manila

[Teo Kok Eng]

Hong Kong Police Chief Inspector Wan Siu-Hung (C) walks past Filipino Gregorio Mendoza (R), brother of hostage taker Rolando Mendoza, before the start of a hearing at the Department of Justice in Manila September 6, 2010.​

Thanks for the update/photos postnew.

Hong Kong Police Chief Inspector Wan Siu-Hung's skin color is dark, can pass for pinoy.

 

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National Capital Region Police Command Office (NCRPO) Chief Director Leocadio Santiago smiles before a Justice Department hearing in Manila September 4, 2010.

National Capital Region Police Command Office (NCRPO) Chief Director Leocadio Santiago answers questions during a Justice Department hearing in Manila September 4, 2010.​

 

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Philippine assistant negotiator in the Manila hostage taking incident, police Chief Inspector Romeo Salvador, takes an oath before giving evidence during the justice department hearing in Manila on September 4, 2010​

 

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Philippine assistant negotiator in the Manila hostage taking incident, police Chief Inspector Romeo Salvador, gestures during a justice department hearing in Manila on September 4, 2010.​

 

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Philippine National Police officers watch from their Armored Personnel Carrier their fellow officers a simulation of a hostage situation during a field training exercise at the Capital Command's grounds at Taguig city east of Manila Friday Sept. 3, 2010 in the Philippines. The exercise was done following the bus hostage crisis Aug. 23, 2010 that killed eight Hong Kong tourists in a botched negotiation.

Elite forces of the Philippine National Police protect civilians standing in as hostage during the simulation of a hostage situation in an exercise at the Capital Command's grounds at Taguig city east of Manila Friday Sept. 3, 2010 in the Philippines.​

 

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Members of the Philippine elite police show their skills during a hostage exercise at a police camp in Manila on September 3, 2010.

Elite forces of the Philippine National Police "storm" a makeshift building to simulate a hostage situation during a field training exercise at the Capital Command's grounds at Taguig city east of Manila Friday Sept. 3, 2010 in the Philippines.​

 

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Elite forces of the Philippine National Police carry items as they perform delivering food and other demands to simulate a hostage situation, while fellow officers watch in the background, during a field training exercise at the Capital Command's grounds at Taguig city east of Manila Friday Sept. 3, 2010 in the Philippines.​

 

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Members of the Philippine elite police show their skills during a hostage exercise at a police camp in Manila on September 3, 2010​

 

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Manila's Vice Mayor Francisco Domagoso takes an oath during a justice department hearing into the hostage bus rescue incident in Manila on September 4, 2010.

Manila's Vice Mayor Francisco Domagoso gestures as he answers questions during a justice department hearing into the hostage bus rescue incident in Manila on September 4, 2010.
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[Teo Kok Eng]

Nice update. Good photos

 

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Bus driver Alberto Lubang (L-seated), Chinese embassy police attache Ben Wang (R), Hong Kong police superintendent Man Tat-shing (2nd L) and Hong Kong senior public prosecutor Ng Mee-wah (3rd-L) arrive at the Department of Justice in Manila on September 7, 2010 for the continueing Philippine government's Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) into the 23 August hostage-taking crisis in Manila where eight Hong Kong tourists were killed.

Lubang, the driver of a Philippine tourist bus hijacked by the sacked policeman, told a public inquiry how he witnessed the gunman shoot more than a dozen Hong Kong visitors one by one as talks broke down.​

 

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Justice Secretary Leila De Lima questions Alberto Lubang (L), the bus driver who survived the August 23 hostage crisis in Manila, as he gives his testimony to the five-member inquiry and review committee during a hearing at the Department of Justice in Manila, September 7, 2010.​

 

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Philippine Justice Secretary Leila De Lima (L), a member of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC), stands next to members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) during her visit to the site where a tourist bus hostage crisis happened in Rizal park, Manila September 7, 2010.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima (L), the committee chairwoman of the Philippine government's Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC), responsible for reviewing the August 23 hostage-taking crisis in Manila that took the lives of eight Hong Kong tourists, views the scene of the killings in Manila on September 7, 2010​

 

[fanta]

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Lubang, the driver of a Philippine tourist bus hijacked by the sacked policeman, told a public inquiry how he witnessed the gunman shoot more than a dozen Hong Kong visitors one by one as talks broke down.​

In most cases, hijackers will shoot one person, throw the body out and make demands. Still no response, shoot another. In this pinoy case, the pinoy just shoot everyone once talks broke down. It doesn't look like pinoy has any interest in negotiating.

 

[fanta]

Philippine Justice Secretary Leila De Lima (L), a member of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC), stands next to members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) during her visit to the site where a tourist bus hostage crisis happened in Rizal park, Manila September 7, 2010.​

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Philippine Justice Secretary Leila De Lima looks more like a maid

 

[MrSmile]

Philippine Justice Secretary Leila De Lima looks more like a maid

Nonsense. All of my citizens look like maids

 

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Philippine television reporter Susan Enriquez takes the oath during a hearing at the Department of Justice in Manila on September 8, 2010 on the continueing Philippine government's Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) into the 23 August hostage-taking crisis where eight Hong Kong tourists were killed. Philippine reporters may have interfered with a police operation when reporting a bus hostage crisis that killed eight Hong Kong residents, a member of the press pack told an official inquiry on September 8.​

 

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Philippine television reporter Susan Enriquez speaks during a hearing at the Department of Justice in Manila on September 8, 2010
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'Police did not stop us from covering'
By Ira Pedrasa, abs-cbnNEWS.com
09/08/2010

MANILA, Philippines - Had authorities stopped the media from covering the hostage crisis last August 23, GMA Network Inc. news producer Susan Enriquez said she would have followed.

Testifying before the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) on Wednesday, Enriquez said nobody called her attention to stop the live feed she was giving her station at the time that the brother of hostage-taker was being arrested by the police.

A dismissed police officer, Rolando Mendoza, took hostage 21 Hong Kong tourists and 4 Filipinos on August 23 demanding his reinstatement in the Philippine National Police.

The subsequent arrest of his brother Gregorio, which he supposedly saw on GMA-7, was one of the tipping points of the negotiations being done then. After almost 12 hours, the crisis ended in a bloodbath, with 9 dead including the gunman himself.

Enriquez told the Incident Investigation and Review Committee “susunod naman ako kapag may sinabi ang authorities.”

She raised as an example the Manila Peninsula siege in November 2007 where the police formally relayed the message to members of the media to stop rolling their cameras.

She said she followed even if they were then in the middle of covering the incident.

“Inutusan lang ako ng office…marami nang media ang nandun, hindi ako nagsosolo,” she said of this latest incident.

Prior restraint

Had there been any directive during commotion involving the hostage-taker's brother, Enriquez said she would not have heard or caught it since she arrived on the scene already too late.

She said she was at the network van near the command post when her bosses told her to cover the incident involving Gregorio. She claimed that by the time she got there, other members of the media were already covering how Gregorio broke free from the clutches of the police.

Pressed by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo on exercising prior restraint, Enriquez said “running story na yun e…tsaka, in the absence of the request from authorities…yung mga ganung [directive] naman, ika-cascade sa mga nasa field.”

She said the incident had become a big issue, considering the involvement of foreign hostages.

“May mga guidelines kami sa ganyang coverage, siguro naging fluid na lang yung sitwasyon nun,” she said.

Her answers also prompted the review committee to think about interviewing network or station managers and producers with regard to policies on covering similar incidents.

Talk with Mendoza

Enriquez, however, stressed she exercised prior restraint by not crossing so-called police lines.

In fact, the “police line” can only be found near the bus itself, she said.

She also stressed she did not use an earlier “talk” with Mendoza in any of her reports.

Then Manila Police District chief Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay had asked that she talk to Mendoza, as had been requested by the hostage-taker.

“It’s our policy not to give air time to hostage-takers. We can’t act as negotiators. Pero ipinaliwanag niya (Magtibay) na gusto ako kausapin…He said ipapakiusap lang kita sa phone, hindi ka namin papayagan na pumasok sa bus,” she said.

Mendoza supposedly asked for her specifically since she remembered her from a previous coverage involving former President Joseph Estrada.

She said the phone call lasted about 4 to 5 minutes. She did not, at any time, ask questions.

“Pinabayaan ko lang magkwento. I just listened…Ang pakiramdam ko nun, gusto lang ni Captain Mendoza na maikwento sa media practitioner,” she said.

She stressed “hindi iyon (interview) na-ere. Hindi rin yun live.”

Recommendations

Asked if she would cover a similar incident in the future in the same manner that she covered the August 23 crisis, she said: “Meron dapat improvements.”

Enriquez, who appeared with a lawyer, tried to dodge questions if members of the media had been part of the fiasco.

“Personally, kung mangyari uli, dapat may area na designated na for the media. May ia-assign na mag-brief sa media…Susunod naman ang responsible journalists,” she said.

She also noted that her network is already reviewing existing policies in terms of the responsibilities of employees in covering such incidents.

 

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Members of the panel of investigators on the deadly hostage-taking, stand outside of the tourist bus that was the scene of the deadly hostage incident in which eight Hong Kong residents were killed, during an inspection by the panel of investigators, at a police camp to where the bus was taken, in Manila on September 8, 2010.

Leila de Lima (C) the Philippine Justice Secretary and head of the panel of investigators on the deadly hostage-taking, stands outside the tourist bus.
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Leila de Lima the Philippine Justice Secretary and head of the panel of investigators on the deadly hostage-taking, gestures inside the tourist bus.​