Dead hostage-taker arouses anger, sympathy in country

The unavoidable impression was that the sacked police captain, Rolando Mendoza, who had hijacked the bus in a desperate bid to get his job back, was being given a hero's funeral.

As it turned out, however, Mendoza's family had put the flag on his coffin.

Even so, it took a protest from the Chinese Embassy in Manila to get the flag removed rather than the initiative of the local authorities. That seemed to say much about how ordinary Filipinos — repulsed by Mendoza's actions — empathized with the circumstances that unhinged him.

“They see him as an underdog, but not a hero,” said political science professor Benito Lim of Ateneo de Manila University.

Mendoza had received many medals and was named among the top 10 outstanding policemen by a civic organization in 1986, before being dismissed earlier this year along with three other officers under his command for extortion in a 2008 drugs case. Vehemently protesting his innocence in media interviews during the siege, he justified hijacking the bus as an act of desperation. He claimed that the government's ombudsman had ignored repeated petitions to review his case.

“This is a classic story of a desperate person who lost trust in the existing justice system and used extreme measures to try to vindicate himself,” said security expert Professor Rommel Banlaoi.

The Philippines' notoriously slow justice system has long been a source of deep public frustration. And in a society where the concept of self-esteem is zealously defended, and perceived slights and injustices can fester dangerously, many would have little problem understanding what drove Mendoza over the edge.

“They condemn what happened, but believe Mendoza got a bad deal by the government over his case,” said political commentator Ramon Casiple.

Had Mendoza freed his hostages, he may well have been regarded by some as a hero. That was the case in a bus siege three years ago, when nursery school owner Armando Ducat, armed with a fake grenade and a real pistol, took 28 of his students and four teachers hostage to demand better state benefits for underprivileged children. The stand-off ended peacefully and Ducat has reportedly been out on bail since 2008.

In a country blighted by poverty and ruled by a powerful elite of moneyed families and clans, there is no shortage of examples of popular support for cause-oriented lawbreakers, especially in times of unpopular administrations.

Former president Joseph Estrada was convicted of corruption (and then pardoned by his successor), but his pro-poor message continued to resonate with the masses and he came second when he ran again for the leadership in May's election.

In 2007's mid-term elections, detained navy lieutenant Antonio Trillanes, one of the leaders of a mutiny to protest against corruption in the military, ran for a seat in the Senate and won.

But Mendoza's extreme stand — while understood by plenty of Filipinos — has also sparked overwhelming anger.

As this comment — representative of many — on an Internet message board put it after his funeral: “He has brought shame to our country and, because of his wrongdoing, we all are suffering.”

Meanwhile, three coffins used to take back some of the eight victims had been mislabeled, according to a Hong Kong government spokesman.

He said the blunder was made at a Manila funeral parlor before the bodies were flown to Hong Kong. The mix-up was discovered after the family of one victim went to the mortuary to identify their dead relative, only to find that the coffin contained the body of another person.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email