Filipino bus driver tells HK court: Hostage-taker shot tour guide first

The Filipino driver of the tourist bus that was held hostage on August 23 last year told a Hong Kong court on Friday that tour guide Masa Tse, was the first to be shot by hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza. In a statement read out during the inquest proceedings of the Hong Kong court, driver Antonio Lubang said the tour guide was shot when Mendoza became enraged after seeing on live television his brother's arrest. According to a report on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), the statement read in Hong Kong was the same one that Lubang gave before the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC), the Philippine body tasked to investigate the incident Eight Chinese citizens from Hong Kong were killed on August 23 along with the hostage-taker, Rolando Mendoza, after an 11-hour standoff. Lubang said Masa Tse was handcuffed to the door of the bus when he was shot. Hong Kong had invited more than 100 Filipino witnesses to testify at the inquest, but most had declined the invitation. Earlier testimonies at the HK court inquest indicated Mendoza was initially friendly toward the hostages. However, he became enraged when he saw on a television set inside the bus the arrest of his policeman brother. Other Hong Kong witnesses had also testified they planned to grab Mendoza's firearm and overpower him, but both plans never materialized. — LBG/VVP, GMA News