Probers visit site of hostage tragedy, check out brother's story

Members of the inter-agency panel investigating the August 23 Manila hostage incident on Tuesday visited the Quirino Grandstand, the site of the tragedy, to get a clearer picture of the events that resulted in the deaths of eight tourists from Hong Kong. The Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) led by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima arrived at the site past 4:30 p.m., immediately after completing the fourth day of the ongoing clarificatory hearings at the Department of Justice compound in Manila. Accompanying De Lima were IIRC members Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, the panel’s co-chairman; Teresita Ang-See, who represents the Filipino-Chinese community; Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ Roan Libarios; and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas’ Herman Basbano. The ocular inspection was originally scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. but had to be pushed back to 4 p.m. because the questioning of bus driver Alberto Lubang — the first of several witnesses who took the stand Tuesday — took longer than expected. After Lubang, the panel also took the testimony of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) anchor Michael Rogas, who covered the hostage-taking incident. 'Ground zero' The team first inspected the exact spot — now barricaded and decked out in flowers from mourners — where the Hong Thai bus that was hijacked by dismissed policeman Rolando Mendoza was parked for the 11-hour hostage drama.

Barricaded by fences, the site where the bus seized by dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza was turned into a shrine where mourners can offer flowers. Mark D. Merueñas

The investigators then proceeded to the nearby Rizal Park Police Community Precinct, which was located on the right side of the grandstand. De Lima said they just wanted to check if that was the police station that the hostage-taker's brother, SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza, claimed to have been brought to after being taken into custody by the police on August 23. She said they wanted to see the exit door of the police station that leads to a dark area where Gregorio, in his testimony before the panel, said he feared he was going to be taken to. “You heard Gregorio say he was escorted somewhere at the back and not at the entrance supposedly due to the presence of media," De Lima told reporters. “We wanted to verify where that place was. Where was the exit? What made him say that he feared or felt that something was going to happen to him?" she added. Mendoza, who was disarmed when he participated in the negotiations, resisted being taken into custody, forcing the policemen to handcuff him. The commotion, shown live on TV, reportedly angered the hostage-taker, who began shooting the hostages shortly afterward. The hostage-taker, a decorated policeman before he was dismissed from service, was killed by snipers. He was demanding his reinstatement to the police force and the dismissal of his robbery-extortion case. - KBK, GMANews.TV