HK hostage survivors affirm driver's testimony

The Hong Kong nationals who survived the August 23 hostage tragedy have attested that dismissed policeman Rolando Mendoza fired at his victims point-blank, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said on Monday. At a news briefing, De Lima said the survivors testimonies' corroborated the account of Hong Thai Travel bus driver Alberto Lubang that the Mendoza shot his victims at close range. "The accounts of the survivors tend to corroborate, in material point, the account of the driver Lubang, meaning, close-range," said De Lima, chairperson of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee probing the August 23 tragic hostage incident. On that day, Mendoza, who was demanding for his reinstatement, hijacked a bus carrying 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos. At the end of an 11-hour standoff, Mendoza and eight Hong Kong tourists were killed. According to De Lima, out of the five survivors whom Philippine officials spoke with, three witnessed the hostage crisis unfold "to the very end." De Lima said Philippine government investigators have returned from Hong Kong on Friday evening. They brought with them the statements of the five survivors, six autopsy reports, and the cellphones of Lubang, tour guide Diana Chan, and a Filipino photographer. These three individuals are based in the Philippines and have survived the hostage taking at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. The Justice secretary also cited the autopsy reports of the Hong Kong investigators, which showed that the slain victims' bodies did not show tattoing, an indication of close-range shooting. However, De Lima also said the HK investigators clarified that "the absence of tattoing does not mean it was not close-range shooting." "The autopsy reports from the Hong Kong authorities contain certain explanations that the absence of tattoing is not indicative or not conclusive of the fact that it was not close-range," said De Lima. Earlier, De Lima said the hostage probe committee is not ruling out the possibility that the victims may have been killed by friendly fire. As of posting time, the IIRC is in a closed-door meeting with the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation to discuss and interpret forensic findings on the crime scene and on the victims. –VVP, GMANews.TV