NBI agents also no show at Hong Kong inquest

A day after the brother of the hostage-taker in last year's Manila bus hostage tragedy testified via video link, two more government agents on Thursday failed to testify before the Hong Kong inquest into the incident. Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reported that officers from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were due to testify via a video link from Manila but they said they were unable to get permission from their superior to take part in the Hong Kong hearings. Earlier Tuesday, five Philippine policemen also failed to testify as scheduled. (See: HK inquest: Video conference cancelled as witnesses fail to show up) The RTHK report said that if none of the witnesses would be available by Friday, the Coroner’s Court would allow lawyers representing various parties at the inquest to begin their final submissions. Eight Hong Kong people were killed after being taken hostage by dismissed police Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza last August 23. Mendoza was also killed during the botched rescue operation. 'Cops turned me into scapegoat' On Wednesday, Mendoza's brother Gregorio testified via video link, claiming he was made a scapegoat by Philippine authorities after a rescue operation failed. (See: Hostage-taker's bro testifies before HK court via video link) Gregorio, who was also a policeman, told the Hong Kong inquest that he had tried to convince his brother to release the hostages. “The negotiation was a failure. They just implicated me," he testified, according to a report on the Hong Kong Standard newspaper on Thursday. RTHK reported on Wednesday that after the lawyer of the family of one of the slain victims pressed on Mendoza, he claimed the crisis could have ended peacefully had only he been allowed to contact the gunman directly. When asked by Coroner's Court Officer Jat Sew-tong why the police negotiators “made up the story against him," the Mendoza brother said the Philippine government wanted to make him a scapegoat after the rescue operation failed. But Gregorio admitted approaching the bus without permission while armed with a pistol, which was later seized by police. He said it had slipped his mind that he had a pistol with him, as he was very tense at the time. Gregorio also said he had not wanted to go near the bus, but merely wanted to show his brother that he was there by waving his hands from a distance. Philippine pathologists who oversaw the post-mortem examinations of the eight tourists killed are still expected to testify next at the Hong Kong inquest.—MRT/JV, GMA News