Manila:
The hijacking of a tourist bus in the Philippines last month has been re-enacted for investigators.
Eight Hong Kong tourists died when a former policeman seized the bus and started shooting his captives.
Just what happened when this tourist bus was hijacked in the Philippines last month is only now becoming clear.
The driver re-enacted for the investigation panel how the gunman shot one of the hostages dead.
A policeman demonstrated how officers approached the bus, and how some of them took up position by the door.
It was on August 23 that a former policeman Rolando Mendoza seized a bus carrying tourists from Hong Kong.
Hours of negotiations ended abruptly when Mendoza - who had earlier released some of the hostages - saw his brother being detained for interfering in the police operation.
He started killing his remaining captives.
Eight of them died before police stormed the bus and killed Mendoza himself.
According to an account by a journalist the gunman flipped when his brother was arrested.
"That's what really triggered the man to go crazy, because before that television, that news or that coverage, that live coverage, he was calm, he was pacified, he was just talking about his problems," observed Erwin Tulfo, a journalist
That changed everything, the panel was told.
They heard an audio recording of the gunman shouting "If that police car is with my brother I'll shoot this guy at the front."
Thereafter gunshots and screams were heard.
The Philippines justice secretary has promised the full truth will come out.
"We are doing all of this so that it will be all clear in the hope that we really get the entire picture, if not the entire at least the most substantial parts of the entire incident but as to conclusions, please do not ask me for the conclusions now," said Vivian De Lima, Philippines Justice Secretary.
The botched rescue has cost the Philippines dear in terms of its tourism industry - and its relations with China and Hong Kong.
Eight Hong Kong tourists died when a former policeman seized the bus and started shooting his captives.
Just what happened when this tourist bus was hijacked in the Philippines last month is only now becoming clear.
The driver re-enacted for the investigation panel how the gunman shot one of the hostages dead.
A policeman demonstrated how officers approached the bus, and how some of them took up position by the door.
It was on August 23 that a former policeman Rolando Mendoza seized a bus carrying tourists from Hong Kong.
Hours of negotiations ended abruptly when Mendoza - who had earlier released some of the hostages - saw his brother being detained for interfering in the police operation.
He started killing his remaining captives.
Eight of them died before police stormed the bus and killed Mendoza himself.
According to an account by a journalist the gunman flipped when his brother was arrested.
"That's what really triggered the man to go crazy, because before that television, that news or that coverage, that live coverage, he was calm, he was pacified, he was just talking about his problems," observed Erwin Tulfo, a journalist
That changed everything, the panel was told.
They heard an audio recording of the gunman shouting "If that police car is with my brother I'll shoot this guy at the front."
Thereafter gunshots and screams were heard.
The Philippines justice secretary has promised the full truth will come out.
"We are doing all of this so that it will be all clear in the hope that we really get the entire picture, if not the entire at least the most substantial parts of the entire incident but as to conclusions, please do not ask me for the conclusions now," said Vivian De Lima, Philippines Justice Secretary.
The botched rescue has cost the Philippines dear in terms of its tourism industry - and its relations with China and Hong Kong.
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