Philippine leader's apology won't clear others

“What was I supposed to do, go meet the bullets?” Moreno retorted in a heated exchange with a high-level committee set up by President Benigno Aquino to investigate the fiasco.

Sacked policeman Rolando Mendoza took the busload of tourists hostage on Aug. 23 in a desperate bid to clear himself of extortion charges and get his old job back.

The standoff, which played out live on global television, came to a bloody end when police made a botched attempt to storm the bus and rescue the hostages.

Moreno said he felt frustrated the city government's efforts to bring a peaceful end to the day-long crisis had bogged down and drove to a nearby hotel to have coffee and watch police launch a rescue operation on live television.

Lim, who gave evidence to the board on Friday, and Moreno were the chairman and vice chairman respectively of a local “crisis management committee” assigned to resolve the hostage crisis.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, the head of the inquiry, told the witness she felt the crisis committee officials had left the decision-making to the local police in the crucial last hour before the assault on the bus.

“During the critical moments we learned that Mayor Lim went to (a nearby restaurant) and you went to (the hotel),” de Lima added.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, a member of the inquiry board, echoed de Lima's observations.

“It seemed as though you entrusted the police with full responsibility for the situation,” he told the vice mayor.

On Friday the inquiry was told the country's police chief left Manila halfway through the standoff and the force's best-trained unit sat out the bungled assault on the bus that took an hour.

The inquiry is scheduled to finish its hearings on Monday.

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