Quirino Grandstand Hostage Incident

Yesterday, August 23, 2010 was a devastating day for the Philippine because an ex-policeman in the name of former police senior inspector Rolando Mendoza hijacked a bus full of tourist specifically Chinese tourists.

police senior inspector Rolando Mendoza was dismissed as a police officer because of misconduct but mendoza claimed that he was illegaly dismissed from the police force and said that he was unjustly removed from service. There was no due process, no hearing, no complaint and now he wants to clear his name and by means of hijacking a bus to grab attention and his demands are to bring his job back and also the benefits that he was receiving during his service at police force.

The hostage crisis took at around 10:00 A.M. when Mendoza stopped the bus and told the driver that he is there military escort and when Mendoza got in the Bus he told everybody that they are his Hostage. It took about 12 hours before the Hostage drama ended and the ending was not good having 4 people died and also the Hostage taker police senior inspector Rolando Mendoza.

Here are some Photos from the Quirino Grandstand Hostage Incident:











Pictures taken from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/photosgallery

Video Coverage of ABS-CBN:



While I was watching the Hostage Crisis I was also surfing the net,surfing different social networking sites like in facebook and twitter and every time there was something happening, almost all of my friends are posting also on whats happening and almost 80 to 90% of my friends on facebook and twitter are mad at PNP-SWAT, because of there Procedural lapses, Many people said that The Quirino Grandstand Hostage Incident wouldn't end in that way if it the police didn't capture Mendoza's brother and because it was televised on how the police force medoza's brother to come with them in the police station, Mendoza has witnessed that because of the television inside the bus and because of the incident he was provoked and got mad and after a few minutes gun shots was heard from the inside of the bus, some say that he was shooting at the snipers and was shooting at the hostages. And some of his demands was not given to him by the Police like for example Mendoza was requesting for Media, he wanted him to be interviewed because according to him everything on the media says about him is wrong, Unfortunately the request was denied by the police. Personally me too, i was so mad at how PNP-SWAT handeled the situation.

And now according to the Security Bureau: The Government of Hong Kong Special Administritive Region, Philippines is now Color Black on there OTA or Outbound Travel Alert. There are 3 colors on the OTA of Hong Kong and that is Yellow, Red and Black, Black being the severe threat and Philippines is the only country listed on ther severe threat.

I hope and pray that Philippines will rise back despite that drastic incident.