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HK jurors blame massacre in part on Philippine government

By Ming Yeung and Timothy Chui (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-24 07:17

Hong Kong - Of the eight victims who died in a hijacking of a Manila tour bus this past year, all were wrongfully killed, according to an inquest jury.

Rolando Mendoza, a former member of the Philippine police force who had been dismissed on charges of bribery, hijacked a Hong Thai bus carrying 22 Hong Kong tourists on Aug 23, 2010, and demanded that he be reinstated to his position and pension.

After five hours of deliberation on Wednesday, the jury returned a narrative verdict, which has never before happened in Hong Kong. Rather than a simple verdict, the two female and three male jurors gave a description of how the hostages had been killed and how the hijacking had come to a sad end.

Even so, the jury could not give full answers to four questions, including one that asked whether the gunman had promised to release hostages at 3 pm.

Nor was the jury certain whether it should agree with an expert witness, who had said two victims, Masa Tse Ting-chunn and Jessie Leung Song-yi, might have been saved had they received treatment within 30 minutes of the shooting.

And it remains unknown if Tse was still alive and had undergone treatment when he was found outside the bus at 8:55 pm.

All eight victims were shot in various parts of their bodies with an M16 rifle, the court heard.

The jury said four factors contributed to the deaths.

First, Philippine authorities did not respond to Mendoza's demands in a timely and appropriate manner. Second, a negotiator lied to the gunman, which made it impossible to regain his trust and continue the talks.

Third, Mendoza was able to use a TV inside the bus to watch as his younger brother, Gregorio Mendoza, was arrested, a sight which is believed to have triggered his killing rampage. And last, the victims did not receive immediate treatment in the rescue attempted by SWAT teams, which lasted for 80 minutes.

By 3 pm that day, three police snipers had been told to take the gunman down if they could manage a clear shot. But they refused to follow the order, even though Mendoza showed himself three times during the next two hours.

Chan Kwok-chu, a survivor of the hijacking, said the verdict reveals that mistakes occurred in the rescue operation. He said much of the blame for the massacre rests with the Philippine government.

"Many things would not have turned out so horribly if the Philippine government had dealt with the situation better," Chan said on cable TV. "It's a matter of being a responsible country. I can't understand why they would choose to not face it."

Tse Che-kin, brother of Masa Tse, said he thought the jury's verdict was fair. He said he is looking into cooperating with the families of other victims and survivors in an attempt at obtaining compensation from the Philippine government. He said he also hopes the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will help.

Coroner's Officer Jat Sew-tong said the Coroner's Court did the best it could to learn the truth.

"As a Coroner's officer, I am very satisfied that the jury acted conscientiously in considering all of the complicated questions and issues," he said.

"They've taken a considerable amount of care.As you can see, they don't just accept each and every thing that is put before them.They have obviously exercised very careful considerations in coming to their verdict. Looking at the case to that extent, I think the people of Hong Kong should be very happy."

China Daily