Report: Tension buildup in Manila hostage tragedy recounted in HK court

The buildup of tension that led to the death of eight Hong Kong tourists and their hostage-taker in Manila on August 23 last year was recounted before a Hong Kong inquest on Tuesday. A report by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) on Tuesday said a recording of the final call made by the tour leader before he was killed was played during the hearing. According to RTHK, the recording showed how “tension grew on the bus, leading to the shootout." The RTHK report did not provide other details. It was also not immediately clear if the initial findings coincided with the findings of a Philippine Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC). The IIRC had found that the shooting of the hostages started when Mendoza became enraged after seeing on a television inside the bus that his brother was being arrested. Eight Hong Kong tourists were killed along with their hostage-taker, dismissed senior police inspector Rolando Mendoza, after an 11-hour standoff at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. While Hong Kong invited 116 Philippine witnesses to testify in Hong Kong, more than 70 Filipino witnesses declined the invitation. No intention to harm them On Monday, two witnesses in the incident had told the Hong Kong court that Mendoza did not mean to hurt them, at least during the initial stages of the crisis. In written statements, a tour guide and travel agency staff member said Mendoza initially had “shown no intention of hurting his captives, and only wanted to be reinstated in the police force," RTHK reported earlier. The first hostages freed during the Manila tour bus hijacking told the Hong Kong inquest that Philippine police never questioned them about the gunman or what had happened on board the vehicle. – VVP, GMA News