NEWS: Tourist Bus held hostage at Luneta (Aug 23 2010)

[marg]

And a documentary will be shown on History channel later entitled The Manila Hostage Massacare

Saw it twice last week. GUNGGONG talaga mga pulis patola. Pati si Lim kumakain at tumatawa pa sa Emerald resaturant.

Comedy show yung ginawa ng kapatid ni Mendoza at mga anak nya. This led to the tragic end. TSK TSK.



See how the other countries do it. CLEAN and QUICK, with a touch of Girl Power.

40 STUPID Manila policemen and 10 ILL-TRAINED SWAT members couldn't do what this 1 lady cop did.

[buriroy]

Ang labo naman ng reasoning ni PNoy. He said he will not apologise because only one person was involved (Capt. Rolando Mendoza) in the hostage crisis. But he should realize that the perpetrator is a Filipino citizen and it happened in the Philippines so kahit papaano meron pananagutan ang gobyerno natin. Paano pala kung pumunta si PNoy sa bahay namin at kinagat sya ng aso ko. Hindi rin ba ako mag-sorry following his line of reasoning sasabihin ko: Wala naman sa pamilya ko ang nanakit sa 'yo kundi isang aso lang so bakit ako magso-sorry? PNoy is honest and incorruptible but he can be bullheaded at times.

[safeorigin]

Hassle kasi to take up responsibility e.

Hassle masyado ang more work less play.

Hassle rin masyado na di na dumadami ang buhok kakapuyat.

Tutal, di naman niya kelangan problemahin ang bawat isa sa atin.

Hassle kasi maibotong presidente e.

[Monseratto]

Anyone noticed the honorable Mayor Lim, Vice Moreno or Usec Puno were not around in any of the events regarding the Hostage Tragedy? Maybe they were having a lauriat in Emerald Restaurant... Yesterday, DZBB was playing soundbytes where PNoy purportedly apologized for the event. What I understand is he said "symphatize" and "in solidarity" but never "apology" or "SORRY".

[ans_lim168]

The Hong Kong nationals are scheduled to go home today, sans the apologies and the result that they would have wanted following a meeting with the president which never happened.

The Philippine government wants the travel advisory by HK to the Philippines to be lifted, there is a petition in the HK court of granting a permanent residency status for Filipino OFW in HK if you have worked there for 8 years. I'm sure they will all be denied following what happened the past few days.

[Monseratto]

When PNoy goes ahead with his China Visit, he will be endlessly hounded by this debacle. Hong Kong leaves the Black Alert status to remind the student council that it isn't doing enough...

One year later, HK 'black' travel ban continues for PHL
08/23/2011 | 07:33 PM


With no effective measures yet to protect Hong Kong tourists, there will be no lifting of the "black" travel ban to the Philippines, according to Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang to mark the first anniversary of the Manila hostage tragedy on Tuesday.

"Philippine authorities (have yet) to take effective measures to protect the personal safety of Hong Kong tourists and restore people's confidence in local tourism, (that's) when (we) will consider adjusting the black travel warning," read an English translation of Tsang's Chinese-language blog entry.

So far, only the Philippines and Syria are on Hong Kong's black list, which on Hong Kong's Outbound Travel Alert System indicates "severe threat".

Tsang said he continues to seek justice for the victims, adding he wants to "trace the truth" of what happened on Aug. 23 last year.

The incident ended in the deaths of eight Hong Kong tourists, including their tour guide Masa Tse Ting-chunn.

A year one, Mr Tse's family is still demanding proper compensation and punishment for the officials responsible for botching the rescue effort.

Tour guide Masa Tse led the bus of 20 that fateful day.

The Tse family has received some US$83,000 from charities in the Philippines but has yet to receive any compensation or settlement from the Philippine government.

The incident prompted Hong Kong to impose a black travel warning on the Philippines. A black warning discourages all travel to a particular country.

So far, only the Philippines and Syria are on Hong Kong's black list, which on Hong Kong's Outbound Travel Alert System indicates "severe threat".

In his blog entry, Tsang said Aug. 23 last year was a day full of sorrow, with eight people killed and many others suffering physical and mental trauma.

"Although the incident has been a year (ago), people did not (forget). We often miss ... the deceased in the hope that they rest in peace, and wish the injured a speedy recovery, (and that) family members and survivors (can get) out of the shadows as soon as possible," he said.

But he also noted that in the wake of the incident, the Hong Kong community united and helped each other, and got through the tough times together.

Tsang lauded the victims for their self-sacrifice, noble sentiments, and bravery.

He said hospitals had been providing treatment for the injured, while the Social Welfare Department provides support for the victims and their families.

Also, he noted some Philippine private institutions had given an unconditional donation to the victims, while the Filipino people expressed condolences.

He said the Hong Kong government had exhausted many means to urge the Philippine government to actively investigate the incident and do remedial work, including comforting the survivors and families of the deceased, and regularly publishing the results of incident investigation, and punishing the officials involved. — TJD, GMA News

[Monseratto]

Who were accountable for the Manila hostage crisis? - Special Reports - GMA News Online - Latest Philippine News

Who were accountable for the Manila hostage crisis?
SOPHIA M. DEDACE, GMA News
08/22/2011 | 03:31 PM


The August 23, 2010 hostage tragedy in Manila claimed nine lives and put the then two-month-old Aquino administration in the spotlight of international ridicule.

GMA News Online looks back at the personalities held liable for the tragedy. Where are they now?

The crisis committee head: Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim

As de facto head of the local crisis management committee (CMC) because of his position as the city's chief executive, Lim's efforts were found inadequate.

The IIRC said Lim did not formally activate the local CMC according to the manual in handling hostage crises. Lim did not also activate the sub-groups of the CMC that were supposed to conduct the intelligence-gathering, brief the released hostages, evaluate Mendoza’s behavior, and handle the media covering the incident.

In the final hours of the hostage crisis, Lim, a former police general, adopted a strategy to wear out Mendoza and wait until he gives up. After ordering the MPD to "handcuff" Mendoza’s brother Gregorio, Lim then invited the ground commander, Magtibay, to the nearby Emerald Restaurant because he was "hungry."

The IIRC castigated Lim for this decision, saying his absence from the scene "created a vacuum in command or decision-makers" resulting "in the inability of those present to handle crises events as they unfolded."

The IIRC also criticized the mayor for focusing on Gregorio Mendoza, whom Lim ordered to be handcuffed. The IIRC said Lim should have trained his attention on the infuriated hostage-taker. "By attending to the peripheral matter, precious time to salvage the negotiations, already critical at this late hour of the crisis situation, was lost. The windows of opportunity were closing," said the IIRC.

The brother’s arrest was aired live and was seen by Mendoza on the television set inside the bus, a sight that allegedly drove the hostage-taker into a shooting frenzy that killed eight of his hostages.

The IIRC recommended criminal and administrative sanctions against Lim, but the Palace legal team only adopted the latter. The Palace ordered the initiation of administrative proceedings against Lim for misconduct in office and simple neglect (under Sec. 60 of the Local Government Code). His case was referred to the DILG.

One year later: Robredo said the DILG will soon issue a resolution on Lim’s fate. "The hearings on the case of Mayor Lim have already been terminated and he has submitted his memorandum last August 5. So the case is already submitted for resolution," the Interior secretary told GMA News Online.

The Palace legal team may have opted to adopt the IIRC’s findings against policemen and other government officials, but it chose not to follow the recommendation to sanction DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno, then PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa, and Manila City Vice-Mayor Francisco Domagoso a.k.a. Isko Moreno.

In particular, President Aquino was criticized for clearing Puno, his long-time friend and shooting buddy.

As undersecretary for peace and order, Puno was in charge of the PNP and was reporting directly to the President during the hostage crisis. On the first day of the IIRC hearings, Puno confessed that he is not trained to handle hostage crises.

The Palace review, however, said "there is no basis to file any administrative or criminal complaints" against Puno because, among other reasons, he was not part of the eight critical incidents listed by the IIRC that affected the outcome of the hostage crisis.

"He had no authority to directly interfere in the conduct of the PNP operations during the incident as he was not a member of the local crisis management committee," added the Palace review.

Aquino also defended his longtime friend, saying Puno did his job during the crisis.

"Almost all the things I tasked him to do, amongst them 'ano bang nangyayari diyan, hanap mo ko ng liaison that can brief me, talagang constantly as to what is developing,' that was done," said the President.

Aquino insisted that Puno's exclusion from the list of those who would be charged had nothing to do with their friendship.

[shadow]

for me ang mali lang mabagal ang justice and walang clear na na-held accountable. but for the Phil gov't to issue a public for apology I don't think so...