Latest update on Manila Hostage Drama
President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III said Friday he is taking full responsibility for the bungled handling of the August 23 Manila hostage crisis that claimed the lives of eight tourists from Hong Kong.
"At the end of the day, I am responsible for everything that has transpired," Aquino said in an interview with reporters in Manila.
The President made the statement in defense of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, who faces possible grilling from the Commission on Appointments on the outcome of the hostage-taking incident. The Philippine National Police, which handled the hostage crisis, is an attached agency of the DILG.
On Thursday, Senator Francis Escudero said Robredo might have a hard time in getting the nod of the bicameral body because of his poor handling of the hostage incident.
Escudero said Robredo will have to explain why there was a need to divide the functions of the DILG, making it difficult to handle the hostage tragedy.
Source:http://ph.news.yahoo.com
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Pinoys, Chinese unite in HK rally over hostage tragedy
source:GMANews.TV - Monday, August 30
Filipino and Chinese groups on Sunday were united in a rally and prayer vigil in Hong Kong over the botched hostage rescue on Aug. 23, which resulted in the deaths of eight Hong Kong residents.
Filipino community leaders and Philippine Consulate officials agreed the joint activities have so far been “peaceful", amid fears of a clash among Filipinos and Chinese nationals as emotions continue to run high over the tragedy. Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents marched along the city’s streets past 3 p.m. Sunday to express their anger over how the Philippine government, particularly police authorities, handled the hostage tragedy.
Read More http://ph.news.yahoo.com/gma/20100829/tph-pinoys-chinese-unite-in-hk-rally-ove-d6cd5cf.html
Rolando Mendoza Hostage Taking in Manila
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine president vowed Thursday to punish authorities who bungled a bus hostage crisis that killed eight Hong Kong tourists, toughening his stance after Asian powerhouse China expressed outrage and political rivals pummeled him with criticism.
The nearly 12-hour hostage drama at a historic Manila park stunned even this violence-prone Southeast Asian nation and delivered the first major crisis to President Benigno Aquino III less than two months into his six-year term.
Source:http://ph.news.yahoo.com/ap/20100826/tap-as-philippines-bus-hostages-1st-ld-w-fe2a5de.html
Read latest Update "9-killed-on-manila-hijacked-tourist-bus"
The brutal hostage taking in Manila of Rolando Mendoza ended at almost 10 PM, August 23, 2010. There were 9 hostages killed including the hostage taker Rolando Mendoza.
A tourist bus full of foreign tourists of still unconfirmed nationality, is taken hostage by an ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle in Manila on 23 August 2010. The suspect is identified by Manila Police as Rolando Mendoza, a former police senior inspector discharged over allegations of robbery, extortion and drugs-related crimes. (Voltaire Domingo/NPPA Images)
Read also updated news from: http://ph.yfittopostblog.com/2010/08/23/ex-policeman-hijacks-bus-load-of-children-adults/
(UPDATE 14) Philippine police stormed a bus where a gunman was holding Hong Kong tourists hostage on Monday, but they could not immediately get inside.
The crisis was being broadcast live on national television.
Multiple gunshots were heard moments before the heavily-armed police approached the bus, parked in Manila’s historic tourist district.
Ten minutes after the police approached the bus, they still could not get inside. There were no clear signs of movement from within the bus.
Fifteen tourists from Hong Kong were believed to be on the bus when police stormed it.
An ex-policeman armed with an M-16 assault rifle took the people on board the bus hostage on Monday in a desperate bid to get his job back.
The Filipino driver of the bus jumped out of a window and escaped just before police approached, with the scenes aired live on television.
The gunman, who took control of the bus almost 10 hours ago, said he had shot two of his captives and would kill the others if police did not meet his demands.
“I shot two Chinese. I will finish them all if they do not stop,” former senior police inspector Rolando Mendoza told the Radio Mindanao Network before police moved in on the vehicle and smashed its windows.
Shots were heard from the bus but it was not immediately clear if any of the hostages had been killed or wounded during the crisis, which has been played out live on national television.
The police at the scene started its assault on the hijacked bus at around 7:20 p.m.
Radio reports said that the bus driver who escaped the bus screamed, “Patay na ang lahat ng mga tao [Hostages are dead].” Police have not confirmed if hostages were killed.
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Read the Latest Update: http://otepsblogs.blogspot.com/2010/08/9-killed-on-manila-hijacked-tourist-bus.html
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