Hostage taker’s brother faces HK probe Wednesday

MANILA, Philippines—The brother of tourist bus hostage taker Rolando Mendoza will be the first Filipino witness to testify via a video link from the Philippines before the Hong Kong coroner’s court investigating the deaths of eight Hong Kong nationals in the bungled rescue operation in August last year.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Senior Police Officer 2 Gregorio Mendoza will face the Hong Kong coroner’s court at 10 a.m. Wednesday at a video conferencing facility in Makati City.

Mendoza is among the handful of Filipino witnesses who agreed to testify in the Hong Kong investigation that began last month.

Forensic experts from the Philippine National Police crime laboratory have also expressed willingness to appear before the Hong Kong court via video link but this has yet to be made official, De Lima said.

De Lima said the video conferencing was meant to “encourage” Filipino witnesses who want to testify but are nervous to be actually inside the Hong Kong court.

Two state prosecutors from the Department of Justice will be present during the video conferencing to monitor the proceedings, De Lima said.

The Hong Kong coroner’s office had invited 116 Filipinos to testify in its investigation of the hostage taking incident.

To date, 72 Filipino witnesses have responded to the invitation of the Hong Kong court, the latest of whom is Interior Undersecretary Rico E. Puno, De Lima said.

However, Puno declined the invitation citing the same reason that their testimonies were already “a matter of record” as they had already appeared before the Incident Investigation and Review Committee which looked into the bungled rescue operation of the hostages.

On Aug. 23 last year, a disgruntled Rolando Mendoza took hostage a busload of Hong Kong tourists and demanded his reinstatement to the police service in exchange for their release.

But eight tourists were killed during the botched police rescue operation that was broadcast live worldwide.