Dismissed cop hijacks busload of tourists

Dismissed cop hijacks busload of tourists
By Mynardo Macaraig, Jeannette Andrade
Agence France-Presse, Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 11:09:00 08/23/2010

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 4) A dismissed police captain on Monday took hostage a busload of Hong Kong (not Koreans as earlier reported) tourists at the Quirino grandstand.

The armalite-wielding Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza is holding some 25 people aboard a Hong Thai travel bus with plate number TUU-799.

Mendoza has posted a message on a piece of paper for the world to see: "Big mistake to correct a big wrong decision."



It was not clear what he exactly meant by this, as police negotiators continued to work to convince Mendoza to let the hostages go.

Negotiators have hooked up a phone line to the bus to facilitate negotiations with Mendoza.

As of noon, a gallon of gasoline was seen being loaded into the air-conditioned tourist bus Hong-Thai, in which 22 Chinese nationals from Hong Kong and three Filipinos were held.

Earlier, Mendoza released two women (who had asked to be allowed to go to the comfort room) and a woman, her two daughters, and her son into the care of Superintendent Orlando Yebra, one of those leading the negotiations.

Yebra and Chief Inspector Romeo Salvador have taken the lead in the negotiations with the hostage taker.

"We have never had anything like this before. We are very much concerned," said Joseph Tung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong. "We hope the tour members will be released as soon as possible."

He said there had been 20 passengers on the bus, aged four to 72, plus a Hong Kong escort and local guide leading the three-day tour, when it was seized. The tour group was scheduled to return to Hong Kong late Monday.

Tung said the council, which represents Hong Kong's travel sector, had not been told of any ransom demands for the hostages' release.

"We have heard nothing like that so far," he said.

Hong Thai travel agency, which ran the tour, could not be immediately reached for comment.

About three hours after the stand-off began, the ex-policeman released seven people.

Live television footage showed the bus parked in front of a grandstand at Rizal Park, a popular tourist destination just a few blocks from the police headquarters.

The suspect has been identified as Rolando Mendoza, a decorated former police senior inspector before he was accused and relieved of his post.

Background information obtained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Mendoza shows he has been facing charges for manhandling a suspect before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Mendoza has been passing messages to police negotiators through pieces of paper.

National police spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz said the bus had been isolated and police had deployed commandos in the area, adding that talks with the gunman had begun.

"Negotiations are ongoing," Cruz told reporters.

The hostage-taking came hours after a South Korean man was killed in a separate attack on a vehicle by gunmen elsewhere in Manila. Two of his companions were seized at gunpoint but later released.

The motive for the attack was not clear, although kidnap-for-ransom gangs often target foreign tourists and businessmen in areas near Manila and in the provinces.

Police said the incidents were not related.

Monday's bus hijack recalled a similar hostage-taking in 2007, when a troubled civil engineer armed with a grenade took over a bus and held 30 children but freed them after a 10-hour standoff with police.

The 2007 drama took place near Manila city hall, just off Rizal Park.

With reports from Karen Boncocan, INQUIRER.net