On August 23, 2010, in the center of Manila, Philippines, a bus was parked at the famous Philippine Grandstand, the Quillino Grandstand. The appearance of the bus is affixed with the Chinese of the travel agency, and it is not difficult to see that this is a tourist bus carrying Chinese.
When the tourist bus had just arrived at the parking lot, a man wearing a police uniform and holding a firearm appeared at the door of the bus. The bus driver thought he was in a tourist attraction and needed to be checked by the police, so he opened the door for the man who appeared to be a policeman.
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When the man first got into the car, the driver asked him if there was anything, and the next second, the "policeman" gun was aimed at the driver's head.
The driver was shocked and quickly asked the policeman if there was any misunderstanding, but he asked the driver to immediately close the bus door and asked to lock the door.
The driver of the bus whose life was threatened did not dare to slacken in the slightest, so he obediently did so and locked the door of the bus. When the passengers in the car saw someone rushing in with a gun, they were all terrified, thinking that they had suffered a terrorist attack. Tourists kept begging the man for mercy, as long as he was willing to spare himself and give him all his belongings.
Unexpectedly, the man was not interested in the tourists' belongings, but told the passengers in the car that his name was Mendoza, and he used to be a police officer in the Philippines, but he was treated unfairly and was now dismissed. And the reason why he hijacked the bus was because he hoped that he could get the attention of the police headquarters and be able to retry his wrongful case.
At the same time, Mendoza said that he had no malicious intentions, and as long as the Philippine police agreed to retry his case, then he would release the bus and would definitely not harm them.
Hearing Mendoza's statement that he would not harm them, the passengers, although still suspicious and panicked, gradually quieted down, hoping to be rescued as soon as possible. At this time, some passengers began to ask Mendoza why he was fired by the police.
Mendoza also spoke out about his situation: Two years ago, Mendoza was a member of the Philippine police, but one day, Mendoza was notified that he had been complained by a chef, accusing Mendoza of extorting favor money from the chef in a case, otherwise he would be embarrassed.
Although Mendoza vehemently denied that he blackmailed the chef, the Philippine police fired Mendoza. This made Mendoza feel very wronged, but he appealed for 9 months without getting a satisfactory answer. Frustrated, Mendoza planned the kidnapping, hoping to get the attention of the Philippine police.
There were 25 people on board, all of whom were traveling to the Philippines from Hong Kong Chinese except for the driver, translator and photographer. While Mendoza was talking, tour group leader Xie Tingjun had secretly contacted the travel agency headquarters, informing the travel agency that he had suffered a hijacking incident in the Philippines and hoped to contact the police and the Chinese embassy as soon as possible.
Mendoza did not appear very angry when he found out that the tour leader had contacted the travel agency. Instead, he picked up the leader's mobile phone and called the police himself.
After the police call was connected, Mendoza said on the phone that he had hijacked a bus in the parking lot, and the car was full of Chinese, and asked to send someone to the parking lot immediately, and he had something to say to the leadership of the police force.
Soon, the Philippine police arrived at the scene of the abduction, along with Filipino journalists. They learned that the Philippine police had kidnapped a group of Chinese tourists, so they quickly arrived at the scene of the hijacking and spread the scene through the news.
Seeing the arrival of the Philippine police, Mendoza did not show great excitement, he first shouted loudly at the door of the bus, telling the police that he just wanted to get a fair way to deal with it and restore his police position.
It was already noon, and under the scorching sun, the temperature on the bus gradually rose, and the passengers on the bus were exhausted. Seeing the strange appearance of the passengers in the car, Mendoza asked the Philippine police to provide boxed lunches and gasoline to allow the passengers in the car to eat, and keep the car with gasoline and air conditioning.
During the confrontation between Philippine police and Mendoza, the Philippines made ten mistakes, resulting in the loss of ten lives in this incident.
During his speech, Mendoza repeatedly stressed that he only wanted the police to retry his case and had no intention of hurting people. At the same time, in order to show that he had no malicious intentions, Mendoza also released several Chinese tourists and left the bus. But Philippine police believe that Mendoza's desire for gasoline and boxed lunches is a sign of wanting to drive away. So the Philippine police fired several shots and burst the tires of the bus.
This made Mendoza feel provoked. He clearly showed friendliness, but the police took the initiative to fire, which was the first mistake of the Philippine police.
Mendoza was still calm at this time, and even took the initiative to release the hostages, in fact, as long as the police told Mendoza that the police would re-examine the matter, everything was fine, but the police chose to blow out the tire, indicating that they did not want to believe Mendoza at this time.
The second mistake is the wrong way to negotiate. At first, in order to persuade Mendoza, the police called Mendoza's brother. Mendoza's brother, who is also a policeman, was surprised to learn that Mendoza had taken a bus hostage, and at the request of the police, he arrived at the location of the bus and went to persuade Mendoza.
However, not long after, the police rushed forward, demanded Mendoza's brother to return, and unloaded Mendoza's brother's gun. Seeing his brother being treated in a rough manner by the police, Mendoza's heart was already very dissatisfied. Not only that, Mendoza also saw on the TV on the bus that his wife and children were forcibly taken away by the Philippine police.
The Philippine police's negotiating approach not only did not calm Mendoza's emotions, but on the contrary, the provocative approach provoked Mendoza's anger. He asked the media to speak to him and said he would retaliate against Philippine police for harming his family.
The third mistake was that the Philippine police did not seize the opportunity to subdue Mendoza. In order to communicate with the Philippine police, Mendoza has leaned out at the door of the car many times, and even the whole person is exposed to the police's line of sight. As long as Mendoza is shot at this time, then Mendoza will be subdued.
However, the snipers deployed by the Philippine police did not show any performance at this time, just watching Mendoza up and down at the door of the car, going back and forth near the car. It has to be said that the deployment of the Philippine police is very puzzling.
At this point, Mendoza posted a poster on the car, saying that 3 p.m. was the deadline. This means that Mendoza has been enraged, and if his demands are not met, then Mendoza will take the hostages.
Philippine police quickly made a fourth mistake, adding fuel to the fire. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Philippine police came to the scene of the crime with the results of the investigation. With regard to Mendoza's case, they rejected Mendoza's request for a retrial and could not reinstate Mendoza as a police officer.
This is undoubtedly an act that adds fuel to the fire. Mendoza has worked hard to get the attention of the Philippine police for his own case, and the police have undoubtedly sentenced Mendoza to death.
As the saying goes, dogs jump off the wall in a hurry, and in the face of extremely dangerous armed robbers, the Philippine police not only have no expedient measures, but force people into a corner.
When it was three o'clock in the afternoon, Mendoza did not act aggressively with the hostages, as he had said. He just stressed over and over that he was going to speak in front of the media cameras, that he was going to retry his case, that he was going to be reinstated. He stressed it over and over again, only to be rejected by the Philippine police over and over again.
By this time, the Chinese government and the Hong Kong SAR government of China could not sit still, because the hijacking had been going on for several hours. If this stalemate continues, the Chinese government fears that Mendoza will act excessively.
However, the Chinese government's negotiations with the Philippine government have been closed. The Philippine government said it would handle the incident so that the Chinese government did not have to worry.
Then the Philippine police made a fifth mistake. Philippine police arrested Mendoza's brother for facilitating the kidnapping. This made it difficult for Mendoza to accept, and his inner defense was completely broken.
Mendoza's brother had no connection to Mendoza's abduction. In Mendoza's view, his case has already been wronged by his superiors. Now, his brother has also been wrongly accused by the Philippine police and participated in the kidnapping case. The arrogant Philippine government tried to threaten Mendoza with his brother in an attempt to get Mendoza to surrender.
However, Mendoza could not have surrendered because of the actions of the Philippine police, and at 6 p.m., the first gunshot sounded in the bus.
The first to be killed was Xie Tingjun, the leader of the tour group. This meant that negotiations between the Philippine police and Mendoza had completely failed. Mendoza's intention was not to hurt anyone, but the Philippine police wronged himself and his brother, and Mendoza's inner goodwill has been completely consumed by the Philippine police.
The sixth mistake was the dispatch of highly unprofessional police special units. When the Philippine police gave up their persuasion, they sent special forces to prepare to forcibly enter the bus and rescue the hostages. In my impression, the special units of the police should be the elite figures in the police force.
The elite group had already left the troops to the scene at three o'clock in the afternoon, but at six o'clock in the afternoon, they arrived at the scene of the abduction, and the reason was that they encountered a big traffic jam.
The seventh mistake is that this group of so-called elites acted easily without understanding the situation in the car. Because during the hijacking, Mendoza asked to pull up the curtains on both sides of the car, so the outside world is not very clear about the situation inside the car.
When eight hours had passed since the hijacking, the elite, armed with guns and large hammers, planned to break through the window of the rear of the car and then break into the car. So a policeman picked up his hammer and smashed it into the window at the rear of the car.
As everyone knows, at this time, in the car, there is a passenger resting against the window. The Philippine police smashed a hammer into the window, directly hit the passenger's head, lost consciousness on the spot, breathed weakly, and finally died.
The reckless behavior of the Philippine police not only frightened the hostages in the car, but also completely angered Mendoza. Mendoza, who knows that there is no way back, is ready to fight the Philippine police to the death.
When the attacking teams were ready to attack, they threw smoke bombs from smashed car windows in an attempt to interfere with Mendoza. But what people never expected was that the smoke bomb thrown by the Philippine police not only did not throw into the car, but also bounced out and became obscure their vision.
However, as soon as the Philippine police attacked from the back of the vehicle, they were immediately beaten by Mendoza with guns. As a special force in the Philippines, they only carry hammers and guns when facing gunmen like Mendoza and do not have shields to block bullets.
The eighth mistake made by the Philippine police, who have no professionalism to speak of, is ironic. Perhaps in the eyes of the Filipino and international media, this is a joke. But in the eyes of the Chinese government and people, this is a joke on the lives of Chinese compatriots.
By the time they finally organized their attack and re-entered the car, Mendoza was already killing in the car. There was a sudden scream in the car, which was creepy.
Listening to the cries of Chinese tourists in the car and watching the fire flashing from time to time in the car, the masses watching the news broadcast in China and the Chinese government felt even more heartache.
When Mendoza had already killed Chinese tourists indiscriminately and killed the killer, the Philippine police finally killed Mendoza, but along with Mendoza were buried with the lives of 10 Chinese tourists.
During the firefight in the car, the stray bullets of the Philippine police injured several Chinese tourists, and three of them died under the bullets of the Philippine police. Together with the passengers who were previously killed by a hammer, a total of 4 hostages died at the hands of the Philippine police. Saving people turns into killing, the ninth mistake made by the Philippine police.
After Mendoza was shot dead by the police, this absurd abduction came to an end. A total of 10 passengers died of serious injuries in the incident. Six of them were shot dead by Mendoza, while the remaining four were killed by bullets fired by Philippine police. To put it bluntly, this was a very failed hostage rescue case.
On August 24, the Hong Kong SAR government lowered its flag to half-mast to express condolences to Chinese travelers who lost their lives in the Manila incident. Donald Tsang, then Hong Kong's chief executive, expressed great sadness and anger, and the whole of Hong Kong was enveloped in a gloomy atmosphere.
The last mistake is that the problems within the Philippine police are also muddy waters. If there are no problems within the police, then how could Mendoza demand a retrial of the case in such extreme ways? Why are the Philippine police afraid of Mendoza talking directly to the media, and does Mendoza know some secrets within the force?
Ironically, when Mendoza's body was slowly lifted out of the bus, it was announced that Mendoza's case had been retried, and the documents for Mendoza's resumption of police duties were long overdue.
However, Mendoza can no longer see the results of his being justified. This group of Chinese tourists who went on a happy trip will never be able to return to the embrace of their motherland alive.