Bus driver recounts hostage horror from rear-view mirror
09/08/2010
By Benjamin B. Pulta
The driver of the star-crossed tourist bus hijacked by a sacked policeman told a public inquiry yesterday how he witnessed the gunman shoot more than a dozen Hong Kong visitors one by one as talks broke down during the Aug. 23 Quirino Grandstand hostage taking.
Bus driver Alberto Lubang said his left hand was cuffed to the steering wheel and he saw the horrific scenes unfold at the back of the bus through the rear-view mirror as the day-long standoff ended in a bloodbath.
On the fourth day of the inter-agency probe, Lubang appearing before the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) at the Department of Justice (DoJ) compound confirmed that the hostage-taker, dismissed Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza, had been on the phone threatening to start executing his hostages if the police did not release his brother.
The hostage taker, Lubang added, also saw his brother, Senior Police Officer 2 Gregorio Mendoza, on the bus’ television lying on the ground as the latter resisted arrest by the Manila police.
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100908hed2.html
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