Prime suspect in Venson Evangelista Murder, Wants Police Custody

Raymond Dominguez voluntarily surrendered to police custody in Bulacan yesterday while waiting for the results of the preliminary investigation for the cases that will be filed against him. Along with him was his mother who is worried and afraid about her son's safety.

Raymond and Roger Dominguez were named mastermind by Alfred Mendiola, the first suspect who was arrested by the police.

Animation Video Of The Hostage Taking

A video animation of what could have happened inside the bus during the hostage crisis in Manila last Monday was uploaded on YouTube. by a user named leon137 which has a title "Recreated Video of hostage bus drama in Philippines, Manila."

The video which now has 14,340 views is a 1:57 minute animated video showing the dismissed police officer Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza brandished his M-16 rifle and shot some hostages after he watched a footage on TV.

The TV footage Mendoza saw was most likely the live news reports which showed how his brother, Senior Police Officer 2 Gregorio Mendoza, was arrested by officers of the Manila Police Department on suspicion of being an accomplice of his brother.

Jason Leung, 18, who suffered from head injuries in the skull and is now in the Intensive Care Unite is believed to be the man in the video who was sitting beside the window and was hit in the head by a sledgehammer..

One of the hostages, a man, has been shown in the video behind Mendoza, in an apparent attempt to stop him. Mendoza, instead he turned and shot him. This man has landed on top of a woman, probably his wife. Suppose Leung Kam Wing (Ken Leung) and his wife.

Ms. Leung has survived the hostage crisis and was seen crying as he was led out of the bus by police. Later, Ms. Leung said her husband was sacrificed for others on the bus.

HK Furious After Hijacks Deaths

Around the world, Philippines headline news was all about the hostage taking in Manila yesterday. Today, the Philippines recognized the deficiencies "in the treatment of the hostage crisis that killed eight tourists from Hong Kong, as anger over the failed negotiations broke on Tuesday in Hong Kong, with demonstrations and harsh words.

A harrowing picture emerged of the victims - a mother of three children who lost their husband and two daughters, a teenager unconscious of the death of his parents and a guide that aims to become a teacher of yoga.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, facing his first major crisis since taking office on June 30, declared Wednesday a national day of mourning in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong to "share their sorrow," his spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Officials promised a full investigation into how the hijacker — a former policeman demanding his job back — was able to gun down eight of the 15 Hong Kong hostages on board the bus before a sniper killed him and officers were finally able to get into the vehicle. Seven other hostages survived the final bloodbath, which came after a 12-hour standoff at a seaside Manila park.

Philippine Interior Secretary Jessie Robredo, who is in charge of the national police, acknowledged Tuesday there were problems with how the crisis was handled.

"Had we been better prepared, better equipped, better trained, maybe the response would have been quicker despite the difficulty," Robredo said.

He added, "All the inadequacies happened at the same time."

Philippine police had defended their actions — pointing out that officers lacking proper equipment had risked their lives in trying to bring the standoff to an end. But they promised to review all events leading to the deaths.

In Hong Kong, sorrow quickly evolved into outrage, with several of the semiautonomous Chinese territory's political parties leading protesters to the Philippine Consulate.

Demonstrators chanted, "You caused the deaths of Hong Kongers," and one protester scuffled with a security guard.

"We think the Philippine government used the wrong strategy. We think the operation failed," pro-Beijing legislator Lau Kong-wah told reporters.

Several Hong Kong newspapers printed mastheads in black, and flags in the territory flew at half-staff.

"Filipino police incompetent," Hong Kong's Ming Pao Daily News said in a front-page headline.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Committee added its voice to demands for an explanation, but also was "deeply concerned by people who are trying to blow this incident out of proportion" and who might vent anger through retaliatory attacks against thousands of Filipinos who work there, mostly as maids.

"This tragedy should not become a conflict of nationalities," it said in a statement.

Aquino on Tuesday met Chinese ambassador Liu Jianchao and phoned Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang to brief them on the investigation into the crisis that started when a dismissed police officer armed with a M16 rifle and a pistol seized a busload of 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos to demand his reinstatement on the force.

The ordeal ended in bloodshed on live TV with police storming the bus and killing the gunman, 55-year-old Rolando Mendoza, after he fired at the tourists.

Of the 25 people originally on the bus, 13 of the Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos survived. Nine of the survivors had been freed by Mendoza hours before the gunfire began.

Britain's Foreign Office said Tuesday that two of the hostages who were released were British nationals.

At the scene of the standoff, family of two dead hostages attended a Buddhist memorial ceremony Tuesday.

Weeping parents with monks walked around the bus, sprinkling water around the car riddled with bullets. Survivor Amy Ng mourned the death of her husband, Ken Leung, who said she confronted the man, and Doris and daughters Jessie, 21 and 14 years his son, Jason, was still in hospital after a operation on a head injury.

"I thought I would fight for survival so I could take care of my children, but two of them have already died," a sobbing Ng said Tuesday.

A bedridden, catatonic Tracey Wong told Hong Kong reporters she hid under a seat in the bus while Mendoza fired at the hostages.

"I want to find daddy and mommy quickly and see if they're OK," the 15-year-old said. But Hong Kong's radio RTHK reported that both her parents were among those killed, identifying her father as 51-year-old Wong Tze-lam.

Tour operator Hong Thai Travel Services general manager Susanna Lau praised a slain tour guide, 31-year-old Masa Tse, for his vigilance and decade-long service. TV footage showed him peeking out of the bus during his captivity and later one hand handcuffed to a position near the bus door.

Tse had studied yoga in India and wanted to become an instructor, Hong Kong's Cable TV reported, citing his friends. His Facebook page was flooded with messages of condolences. "I know you did your best to protect members of your tour group. You were very brave. Rest in peace. I will always miss you," friend Tulip Lam wrote.

Hong Kong has canceled tours to the Philippines and asked Hong Kong tourists still in the country to leave.

Philippine Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim said the crisis would likely damage the industry. About 140,000 Hong Kong tourists come annually.

"I'm hoping it will be forgotten soon enough," he said in a Manila hospital, where some of the former hostages were treated.

"We will try to improve ourselves and assure the Hong Kong government and the rest of the world that we will be able to handle matters much better in the future," he said.

Hostage Taking in Philippines Is Over

Dismissed policemen who held over 20 foreign tourists hostage for close to 12 hours was killed by sniper fire, according to a television report.

It was not clear whether there were survivors from those taken hostage Monday by Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza who demanded his reinstatement after he was dismissed on drug-related offenses, which he denied.

Bursts of gunfire were heard from inside the tourist bus as lawmen have gone to the backdoor to force it open in the hope of seizing Mendoza and rescuing his hostages, footage on GMA Network showed.

A bystander, identified as a 10-year-old boy, was hurt following the gunshots and was brought to the hospital for treatment, according to the television report.

A police car moved closer while members of the raiding team continued to break into the back of the vehicle, video showed.

Ambulances have surrounded the bus.

The law enforcers initially broke the windows and tried to enter the front door of the stalled bus but were stopped by gunshots coming from inside.

Mendoza seized the tourist bus with over 20 Chinese nationals early Monday morning in Manila to demand his reinstatement into the force.

Mendoza was dismissed due to drug-related offenses but he denied the charges.

Hostage Taking In Manila

A dismissed police officer took hostage this morning a bus full of people, mostly tourists from Hongkong.

Sniper shots were fired Monday night near the bus where a hostage-taking incident was taking place, according to a live report on GMA News "24 Oras."

The driver of the bus, who was earlier reported handcuffed to the steering wheel, escaped moments after the shots were fired.

The shots forced media men covering the hostage crisis to scamper for safety, said GMA News anchor Mike Enriquez in his report.

In a separate report, Raffy Tima said the shots were fired after the bus showed signs of driving off where it was parked in front of the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park.

The shots were also fired minutes after SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza, brother of hostage-taker former Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, was arrested by elements of the Manila Police District (MPD).

Nine of the more than 20 passengers of the bus, most of them Chinese tourists, had already been released and are now undergoing stress debriefing.

You can watch it now live on ANC.

Robin Padilla will help free ICRC captives

Malacañang is allowing actor Robin Padilla to help free the three kidnap personnel International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

When asked about the reports actors helping free the captive personnel to the ICRC, said by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Padilla is a big help in pursuit of government to safely free the captive as long as he will coordinate with the military troupe in Sulu and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

Tthe government also alleged readiness of the former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Nur Misuari.

Senator Richard Gordon, president of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), also favored Misuari’s help to rescue the captive personnel of ICRC.

According to Gordon, the doors are open to anyone with goodwill to save two foreigners and an Pilipinang members of the ICRC.

Abu Sayyaf group took the three members of ICRC while making Humanitarian mission in Mindanao.

Alabang Boys,?

The so-called Alabang Boys who was caught by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or PDEA last Septeber during a buy bust operation.

I have moved to a new house and since then I have no idea what is on the hottest news. It was only yesterday that I've heard about the story of this Alabang Boys. Hmmm...I was annoyed to the lawyer of those Alabang boys Felisberto Verano. It seems to me that he is stupid to make a draft of release order. But unfortunately, hindi nakalusot attorney.

It's just sad that this case will just be put to trash. We know that the accused Richard Santos Brodett, Jorge Jordana Joseph and Joseph Ramirez Tecson are from a rich family. Expect that nothing will happen.

Let's see what will happe next?

Philippine military pound rebel Muslim positions

ALEOSAN, Philippines (AFP) — The Philippine military pounded rebel Muslim positions in the south as fighting intensified, eyewitnesses said Monday, after the country's Supreme Court stalled a long-awaited peace deal.

The military shot off a barrage of artillery and mortar fire from a muddy mound next to a highway, while helicopter gun ships swooped low over trees firing rockets, an AFP reporter said.

It was the biggest flare up of violence between the two sides since August 4, when the Supreme Court ordered the government to drop plans to establish an extended Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines.

The decision saw a number of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels take control of mainly Christian villages and towns in North Cotabato province, a poor farming region in the southern island of Mindanao.

The military says 1,500 MILF rebels have "dug in" in remote villages in North Cotabato province, and the fighting has forced more than 22,000 people from their homes and into government refugee centres.

Despite a government ultimatum to leave, many rebels began building defencive positions in some of the villages surrounded by thick forest.

Military vice chief of staff Lieutenant General Cardozo Luna said the rebels were "well dug" in and more than 2,000 troops were involved in the operation, including artillery units and helicopter gunships.

"The MILF rebels have defied their own leadership and have refused to leave the area," he said.

He said the rebels were supposed to comply with a government deal with MILF leadership to move out of the disputed areas, but "they just re-positioned and occupied other villages."

Authorities have closed the main road linking Cotabato and Davao City in Mindanao, and set up military check points.

Luna said the military operation was not directed against MILF in general, but a group headed by MILF commander Umbra Kato, who is no longer following the orders of the main rebel leadership.

Although no casualty figures have been released, media reports have said at least three government soldiers and an unknown number of rebels were killed.

Armed MILF fighters had occupied areas around a number of Christian towns in north Cotabato last week after the Supreme Court issued an order to suspend a draft homeland accord between the government and MILF.

The 12,000-strong MILF has been waging a 30-year guerrilla campaign for a separate Islamic state in the south of the largely-Christian Philippines.

The rebels signed a ceasefire with the government in 2003 to open the way for peace talks, and both sides said in July they had completed a draft agreement for recognition of MILF's "ancestral domain" in the south.

However, local officials in Mindanao opposed the agreement and filed a suit with the Supreme Court, leading to a suspension of the draft accord and raising new tensions with MILF.

The court has asked the government to submit arguments defending the agreement.

Despite the fighting, local elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) proceeded Monday.

Ces Drilon kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf in Sulu

ABU Sayyaf bandits have kidnapped ABS-CBN reporter Ces Drilon and her two assistants in Sulu, demanding P20 million for their freedom.

A military intelligence report said Drilon and two colleagues, cameraman Jimmyfred Encarnacion and a driver, were taken to an area near Mt. Tumatangis in Indanan, Sulu.

Drilon’s team arrived in Jolo, Sulu, from Zamboanga City on Saturday and stayed at the SSC Hostel. They were supposed to interview the one-armed Abu Sayyaf leader Radulan Sahiron.

Sahiron, who carries a $200,000 bounty from the US government, planned the 2004 bombing in Jolo that killed 11 Filipino civilians and an American serviceman and wounded more than 200 others.

Known as Commander Putol because of his amputated right arm, Sahiron is also considered one of the masterminds of the April 2000 kidnapping of 21 foreign tourists in Sipadan.

At 8 a.m. Sunday, Drilon’s team met with Octavio Dinampo, a professor at the Mindanao State University-Sulu, who is affiliated with the Moro National Liberation Front.

Bandits led by Albader Parad and Gapul Jumdail blocked the yellow Tamaraw jeep that Drilon and her team were riding in Kulasi village in Maimbung, Sulu.

Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, police chief of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said they were surprised to learn that Drilon was in the area.

He said Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan would head any negotiations with Drilon’s captors.

Intelligence reports put the ransom sought at P20 million, but Goltiao said the bandits had made no demands as of 5 p.m.

He said Drilon arrived Saturday via SEAIR “to cover a special event” on Dinampo’s invitation.

“The following day, Sunday, they were sent a text by Dinampo from the Sulu State University hostel where he is staying. Along the way, they were flagged down by Parad’s group,” Goltiao said.

The police chief said the group that took Drilon was the same one that held Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino for a few days in Sulu before releasing him in February.

Sources in Camp Aguinaldo said the Armed Forces had offered Drilon two Marine colonels to serve as security, but she declined the offer.

Presidential Adviser on Sulu Affairs Amilbabar Amilasan confirmed that Drilon and her crew were missing, but Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgar Arevalo could not say if she had indeed been kidnapped.

A high-ranking official from the Western Mindanao Command declined to give details on the abduction, citing a request from ABS-CBN for a news blackout for the safety of Drilon and her two colleagues.

Drilon has covered skirmishes between the Muslim separatists and government troops before. She also covered the release of Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi by the Abu Sayyaf last year.

Drilon’s group was the second from the TV network to be kidnapped in Sulu. In July 2000, reporter Maan Macapagal and her cameraman Val Cuenca were also kidnapped.

Freelance journalist Arlyn dela Cruz was similarly kidnapped in Sulu while covering the Abu Sayyaf in April 2002. Florante S. Solmerin, Rene Alviar, Joyce Pangco Pañares, Jaime Pilapil.