[ All photos and images courtesy: South China Morning Post.com ]
The report below is from the SCMP online news.
Snipers should have acted earlier, Manila mayor says
City chief rues missed opportunities to shoot hostage-taker
Raissa Robles in Manila and Clifford Lo Sep 01, 2010
Manila mayor Alfredo Lim said yesterday snipers should have shot the gunman in last week's tragic bus hijacking when they had the chance instead of waiting to see if the situation could be solved through negotiation.
Several times throughout the day sacked policeman Rolando Mendoza was in clear view in the door of the bus where he held a group of Hong Kong tourists at gunpoint, but police held off in the hope they could end the crisis peacefully.
Manila mayor Alfredo Lim said yesterday snipers should have shot the gunman in last week's tragic bus hijacking when they had the chance instead of waiting to see if the situation could be solved through negotiation.
Several times throughout the day sacked policeman Rolando Mendoza was in clear view in the door of the bus where he held a group of Hong Kong tourists at gunpoint, but police held off in the hope they could end the crisis peacefully.
"I think that was a mistake, the failure to take that opportunity [to shoot]," Lim said yesterday at a memorial Mass in Manila for the victims.
"But at that time he was already releasing some of the hostages and no harm was being done to them.
"He said earlier that as a general rule, a hostage-taker was not shot if he was not hurting the hostages.
"But there is also a rule that if a clear shot could be given ... and no one else would be hurt, the negotiator has to take advantage of that opportunity."
Lim was speaking as Hong Kong police officers in Manila wound up 15 hours of investigations on the Hong Thai Travel coach where eight hostages and Mendoza died and began to make ballistic examinations of firearms used in the shoot-out.Manila police meanwhile released autopsy results they said confirmed that all the dead hostages had been shot by Mendoza, who also clubbed one on the head with the butt of his M16 rifle.
The Hong Kong police team is expected to take about a month to complete the investigation ordered by the coroner, who will decide whether an inquest will be held.
"Our ballistics expert and senior government chemists have done a variety of examinations to collect evidence, including the on-site inspection of ballistic trajectories and blood-spatter analysis," Hong Kong assistant police commissioner David Ng Ka-sing said in Manila."We have also collected a variety of samples and will bring them back to Hong Kong for thorough analysis."
Ng and his team - which includes officers from the organised crime and triad bureau, forensic firearms examination bureau, liaison bureau and identification bureau and two government chemists - met officials from the Philippines Interpol in Manila for half an hour yesterday.
Lim also denied that he ordered the arrest of Mendoza's brother, Gregorio, the event that spurred the gunman into his killing spree.
"I said to handcuff him, not to arrest him," he said, although he also insisted that as chairman of the city's crisis management committee, he was just a consultant to the rescue operation, which was led entirely by city police chief Rodolfo Magtibay.
Lim also rejected suggestions that he ordered the operation be conducted by the Manila police SWAT team while 20 highly trained commandos from the Philippines' elite police units stood idle nearby.
"I never said don't use the Special Action Force ... what crazy person would say that when the SAF is fully equipped," he said, without explaining why the force was not deployed.
Gregorio Mendoza had gone to the scene with a police negotiator, Superintendent Orlando Yebra, who was carrying a letter from the Ombudsman promising to personally review the sacked officer's case, but Gregorio suddenly told his brother not to give up because the police had not returned Gregorio's firearm.
Yebra had then told Lim and Magtibay that Gregorio Mendoza should be charged as a conspirator, which prompted Lim to say "handcuff him", the mayor said.
But they changed their minds about handcuffing and Lim had said "just bring him to HQ".
At that time, about 6.45pm, he had decided to leave and told Magtibay that "this will probably take you until early morning to resolve. Have patience, wait for him to tire and maybe he will release the hostages".
Lim said he did not know at the time that while being led away, Gregorio had broken free and run to the media, which broadcast footage that provoked the tragedy.
Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said Lim had been required to submit an affidavit to the Philippines' investigation into the tragedy, which she expected to be completed by the middle of the month.
"No whitewash," De Lima vowed, adding that even President Benigno Aquino might be asked to provide information if necessary.
Colonel Ruby Grace Diangson, chief of the medico-legal division of the Philippine National Police crime laboratory, said yesterday the wounds of the dead were consistent with a high-velocity rifle such as the M-16 Mendoza wielded.He said in a TV interview that the hostages who were killed were shot at a range of more than a metre. The police crime laboratory provided sketches showing how the eight hostages died.
Tour guide Masa Tse Ting-chunn was shot in the head.
Wong Tze-lam was shot in the back and his wife, Yeung Yee-kam, in the head.
His sister-in-law, Yeung Yee-wa, was shot in the shoulder, the bullet piercing her lungs and heart.
Ken Leung Kam-wing was shot in the neck and hands, one of his daughters, Doris Leung Chung-see, in the head and the other, Jessie Leung Song-yi, through the heart and lungs.
Fu Cheuk-yan was shot twice in the torso.
It took until NOW for the Mayor of Manila to say, obviously on hindsight, what I had
said should have been done as soon as the incident started, not wait until it turned into a
HORRENDOUS CRISIS!
Do check out my previous posts to see what DECISIVE ACTION should have taken place.
ONE BULLET heading towards the killer was all that was needed to prevent this monumental
tragedy.
If the Mayor thought so now, WHY ON EARTH did he not issue a direct ORDER to do so?
He is now pretty much the same like all the others of whatever rank or position of authority.
Blame here, blame there, what we locals term as "play tai-chi". Blame anyone, not himself.
Mayor Alfredo also said, " I did not order his arrest...just handcuff him ( Gregario, brother of
the gunman ). "
This is part of the devious ploy or excuse of "playing with words". When you handcuff a person it is never for fun. The media's video cameras were actively recording the scene and this was instantly seen "live" in the hostage bus by the gunman. If anything, THIS was the SPARK that started the shooting and killings. And who ordered Gregario to be "handcuffed?"...Mayor Lim!
And how did Gregario escaped from his temporary incapacitation to up the ante again with the media?
It's cartoonic. It's laughable. It's also tragic as Gregario contributed immensely to the tragedy too.
The President is also similar. He first defended the police action and praised them, only blaming
the media hordes.
Now, as the whole world has crticised the police stupidity and gross inefficiency, he too has
collapsed and joined in to "whack" them.
Btw, you must have noticed the SUDDEN INCREASE in Manila Police Efficiency..when it mattered. Check my red highlights.
The corrupt and inefficient police have already "completed" their findings through their
autopsy study. They announced that ONLY ROLANDO had killed all the 8 innocent victims.
In all earlier reports and interviews..they said it will be quite a long while before they can conclude their investigation. And now, hey presto, we've got the results for all you chaps!!!
Just compare, the Hong Kong police, even though they are much, much more advance and efficient than those Manila cowboys say they'll take at least ONE SOLID MONTH before they can say anything.
The circus continues......
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