Facts: NG Investigates Hostage Crisis Massacre
Photo: Bus driver in hostage situation. (View larger version)
- On August 23, 2010, 21 Hong Kong nationals along with 4 Filipinos were taken hostage aboard a bus in Manila, Philippines.
- The hostage taker was Ex-Police Senior Inspector (Captain) Rolando D. Mendoza.
- Rolando Mendoza’s demand was to be re-instated into the force.
- Rolando Mendoza was armed with an M-16 ArmaLite assault rifle.
- 8 tourists died by the end of the 11-hour hostage taking.
- The gunman stopped the bus in Rizal Park, one of Manila’s most famous public spaces, where it sat, with the hostages aboard, for the 11 hours.
- The driver of the bus, Alberto Lubang, was handcuffed to the wheel of the bus. He escaped during the violent bus siege by using a nail file attached to his keys.
- 88 percent of some 3,000 kidnappings and hostage incidents within the United States have been resolved through negotiations.
- Foreign relations between Hong Kong and the Philippines have been greatly strained due to this incident.
- The Hong Kong tour group held hostage by Rolando Mendoza consisted of three families, two couples, a mother and daughter, and the tour leader.
- At the end of the siege, 43-year-old mother Ng Yau-woon lost her husband and two daughters, and was left with a comatose son.
- 39-year-old Fu Cheuk-Yan died while trying to save the rest of the tour group.
- The Wong siblings were orphaned during the incident.
- An elderly woman named Li Tsui Fung-kwan complained of stomach pains and was the first to be released from the bus.
- President Benigno Aquino III, facing his first major crisis since taking office on June 30, declared August 25, 2010 as a day of national mourning, “in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong and the bereaved families of the slain.”
