1ST LEAD Philippine police admit shortcomings in hostage incident

Aug 24, 2010, 5:37 GMT

Manila - The chief of police in the Philippine capital on Tuesday admitted shortcomings in the handling of a hostage-taking incident that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.

Director Leocadio Santiago said that while police followed the correct procedures in handling Monday's hijacking of a tourist bus, he noted some deficiencies.

'We saw some obvious shortcomings in terms of capability and tactics used or the procedures employed and we are now going to investigate this,' he told a local television station.

Beijing urged Manila 'to take concrete measures to ensure the safety and security of the Chinese citizens in the Philippines,' in a statement issued by the Chinese embassy.

Police officers and security officials from Hong Kong arrived Tuesday in Manila to monitor the investigation into the incident.

Some of the Chinese officers met with senior Philippine police officers to facilitate the return of eight victims' bodies to Hong Kong within the day.

The Hong Kong government has criticized the handling of the hostage crisis and urged its residents in Manila to return to Hong Kong immediately.

Claro Cristobal, Philippine consul general in Hong Kong, said his office was swamped with protests from irate Hong Kong residents hours after the bloody hostage-taking ended.

'Since Monday night, we have been receiving all forms of communications and protests from various sectors of the Hong Kong community,' he said in a Manila radio interview.

Cristobal said he tried to answer all telephone calls from angry residents and explained to them that 'we are also saddened by the incident.'

He added that despite the anger of many residents about what happened, there have been no threats against tens of thousands of Filipinos working and living in the former British colony.

Police stormed the seized bus in a seaside park in Manila after the hostage-taker, sacked police officer Rolando Del Rosario Mendoza, fired several shots inside the bus.

Santiago said they assaulted the bus after the Filipino driver, who escaped when Mendoza started firing his assault rifle inside the vehicle, told police that the hostages were all dead.

'When the driver escaped and reported that he (Mendoza) has started killing the hostages, that was the time that the ground commander started to assault the bus,' he said.

Initially, there was a total of 25 hostages inside the bus but the hostage-taker released nine of them - six Chinese nationals and three Filipinos - in the course of the negotiations.

Eight of the remaining Chinese hostages were killed while seven survived with injuries and the driver fled. The hostage-taker was shot dead by a sniper, police said.

President Benigno Aquino III ordered Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to conduct an investigation into the incident.