By This was an unfortunate incident that played out on TV.
A former police officer took a busload of tourists hostage in downtown Manila on Monday morning, opening a 12-hour standoff that was broadcast live on television, including its end as police commandos stormed the bus before a watching crowd. Eight tourists, all from Hong Kong, were killed, along with the hostage-taker. He was identified as Rolando Mendoza, a 55-year-old officer who had been accused of robbery and extortion and was fired last year. [The New York Times Asia Pacific]
The incident happened around the corner from the U.S. Embassy and across from Rizal Park which has been the site of some of the most significant moments in Philippine history, this incident adding to that history.
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This area is a couple of miles from Makati City, a popular tourist and computer training destination for Americans living and working in Korea. If you have visited Manila, it should come as no shock that an M-16 was used in this massacre considering you can walk into any mall or bank in Manila and be greeted by a guard carrying an M-16 on his shoulder. I wonder if this incident will prompt the U.S. to issue travel restrictions to the Philippines.
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8:17 pm on August 23rd, 2010 1
8:40 pm on August 23rd, 2010 2
As I've said the Philippines should get rid of some of the morons who are occupying important positions in the government, like within the PNP. It's a miracle that none of the policemen who attempted the 'rescue' were killed despite their lack of experience and equipment. They deserve more than what treatment and attention they are receiving from their superiors. RIP to the tourists, it scares me to no ends to think how I would have felt if I were in their compromising situation.
9:55 pm on August 23rd, 2010 3
I watched the live feed online as it transpired. Some of the timeline of reported events don't seem to line up. From the time you saw the police breach a rear access door and enter the bus behind shields, there was a minute or two before I heard a single shot followed by a burst of automatic weapon fire. Then the camera showed a strafe of bullets holes across a windows that was apparently done by an automatic weapon from inside the bus. The audio feed might have been inconsistent but I heard or saw nothing significant for about 10 minutes until they showed the hijacker's body partially hanging out of the front entrance door. Then a policeman signaled it was over.
I'm just curious about what happened during the many minutes the police entered the bus and the suspect was reported to be shot. I have a feeling that the surviving hostages may have a different version of events than the police.
From the beginning, this thing was strange. A policeman, fired for corruption and extortion, decides to hijack a tour bus, and his main demand was he wanted to be reinstated back into his police job. Genius! But hey, maybe he saw the movie The Negotiator and thought it could work out for him.
The bus driver flees the bus and tells the police all the passengers were killed. That was obviously not true since seven passengers survived the aftermath. Way to go hero.
"I wonder if this incident will prompt the U.S. to issue travel restrictions to the Philippines."
I don't think any new warning is necessary. Aside from the lesser risks a foreigner might encounter from Muslim terrorists and communists insurgents, everyone should be aware of the real risks from violent crime there. It's definitely not as dangerous as northern Mexico is now, and probably no more dangerous than some inner cities in the U.S. Incidents like this just don't happen very often. But foreigners do make enticing targets there.
I happened to be in Angeles City this summer over the exact same period there were serial killings of ex-pats and their households. One of the victims was the 70 year old former head of the VFW there, for which I am a member. I hope it doesn't encourage copycats.
This same newsletter also mentions that the gunmen in the murder for hire of the Korean businessman I wrote about in a forum post here a few months back were caught. They claim they were contracted by a Korean business rival of the victim for little more than $1000. Life is cheap there.
Finally, just this week, a Korean pastor was killed in the Philippines. The Korean Foreign Minister plans to raise the issue of doing more for the safety of Koreans there during his planned meeting later this week.
10:55 pm on August 23rd, 2010 4
"it scares me to no ends to think how I would have felt if I were in their compromising situation."
Scared, sure… but much, much more proactive, I bet.
Since 9/11, every red-blooded American male has Walter Mittyed this kind of scenario to death…
…maybe to the point of WANTING to wind up on a hijacked vehicle just to experience the pleasure of jamming a rolled up in-flight magazine through the eye of some towelhead with a boxcutter…
In this situation, I think I'd take my chances with the 55 year-old distraught and sleep-deprived cop wielding a rifle on a bus… rather than waiting for the gung-ho SWAT team with a whole bunch of rifles… and more bullets and attitude than training or sense.
10:59 pm on August 23rd, 2010 5
Joec, A fellow reader of HarryTheHorse. For some reason I'm surprized. I'll be sitting at his Stable in nine days.
11:30 pm on August 23rd, 2010 6
#4 Well, probably I would indeed be more prepared than these Hong Kong tourists in surviving this hostage situation. But it doesn't change the fact that I would be really close to death on this one… a cop is still a cop who knows how to fight with his hands and legs and guns. Even if I live through the ordeal, it would be one of my worst nightmares to last a very long time.
2:42 pm on August 24th, 2010 7
“I wonder if this incident will prompt the U.S. to issue travel restrictions to the Philippines.”
Why would they, he wasn't targeting Americans. The Chinese will probably issue the travel warning.
3:58 pm on August 24th, 2010 8
"A policeman, fired for corruption and extortion, decides to hijack a tour bus, and his main demand was he wanted to be reinstated back into his police job. Genius! But hey, maybe he saw the movie The Negotiator and thought it could work out for him."
Something like that happened in Canada when I was a kid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Lortie
Sorry, can't find an English video of the incident. Just fast-forward to 4:00. Sergeant-at-arms Jalbert truly was a courageous man. Just watch how calm he looked. The conversation is basically, "I'm going crazy", "What do you think of the government?" and "I was a military man, too", "Do you want to talk about it?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb96seVV4ZY&fe…
5:02 pm on August 24th, 2010 9
TD, Jalbert was very courageous, skillful and very lucky.
Denis Lortie appears to have gotten Canadian hard justice for the murder of four people, the wounding of at least 11 others and the psycholgical scarring of who knows how many. He served about 11 years and is free as a bird. Lovely.
All of these guys seem to hear voices. Here's a thought for a Junior HS civics class. Start teaching kids that if the voice tells you to murder or eat someone, it isn't a voice you should listen to.
6:44 pm on August 24th, 2010 10
#9,
Maybe so, but since he was nuts the Crown might have also been lucky he pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
6:47 pm on August 24th, 2010 11
Hamilton 9, the voice isn't a joke. It's a hallucination, a symptom of a very serious mental disorder such as schizophrenia. The patient can't ignore it or make it go away.
6:55 pm on August 24th, 2010 12
Glans, so don't ignore it. You don't have to do what the voice says, check yourself into a hospital.
7:39 pm on August 24th, 2010 13
An even better question:
Why does the voice always say to kill?
Why not, "Work hard! Study more! Help old people!"
8:38 pm on August 24th, 2010 14
Sometimes the voice gives us a prophet.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
10:05 pm on August 24th, 2010 15
The bodies of 8(4 men and 4 women) already landed in Hong Kong on a Cathay airline plane. Those bodies wouldn't have gone anywhere if killed in S. Korea, unless the families wanted to give up all rights to any type of compensation.
10:05 pm on August 24th, 2010 16
Correction, 4 male/4 female.
11:02 pm on August 24th, 2010 17
#14 joec, so you're FOR Social Justice? And fear Glenn Beck? As that is what your link was about.
I enjoy his show while he is ranting on politics. But he is a bit overly religious from time to time.