Hostage-taker laid to rest

TANAUAN, Batangas, Philippines  – Over a hundred people turned up yesterday to bury the ex-policeman who was killed after hijacking a tourist bus in Manila in which eight Hong Kong tourists died.

Former police senior inspector Rolando Mendoza was buried at the Himlayan sa Tanauan in Barangay Sambat in this city yesterday afternoon.

Fifty vehicles, including four buses, passenger jeepneys and private cars, formed the funeral convoy from the Mendoza residence in Barangay Banadero to St. John Evangelist Church where the funeral Mass was held before the burial.

Local officials who included barangay leaders and Tanauan City administrator Jun-jun Trinidad, representing the city government, attended the funeral.

Along the way, some residents turned out to bid farewell to their compatriot, remembering Mendoza for his achievements in the police force, and not for last Monday’s hostage tragedy that shocked and outraged the international community.

“There are so many mourners because he was a good man. You never heard about him doing anything bad,” said warehouse worker Mark Torres, a family friend.

Barangay tanod Francisco Misaba said he had been assigned to manage the traffic because many people were expected to attend Mendoza’s funeral Mass and burial later in the day.

“There will be plenty of people attending because he had a lot of friends. Just about everyone in the district was his friend,” he said.

The Mendoza family has refused to grant interviews. At his wake at the family home, numerous citations were displayed alongside floral wreaths sent by fellow policemen.

Mendoza, a decorated police officer who had been sacked over extortion charges, took a busload of Hong Kong tourists hostage in Manila on Monday, demanding to be reinstated. This led to a siege and muddled police negotiations that ended bloodily, with Mendoza and eight of the tourists shot dead.

The bungled rescue has enraged Hong Kong and embarrassed the Philippine government, which has called for an investigation of the incident.

Further embarrassment came on Friday when the Chinese embassy condemned the draping of Mendoza’s coffin with a Philippine flag as if he was a hero.

The government said the flag had been placed by Mendoza’s family but it was later removed upon orders of Tanauan City Mayor Sonia Torres.

Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Secretary Ricky Carandang said the draping of the flag over the coffin was not sanctioned by the government.

“Nobody from the government ordered that. We understand the concern of the Chinese government but this was an act of the family,” Carandang said.

In a strongly worded statement, the Chinese embassy described Mendoza as a cold-blooded hostage-taker and putting the flag over his coffin is a smear on the dignity of the country’s national colors.

After seeing television news footages of the wake of Mendoza in Batangas, the Chinese embassy condemned “the brutality of the criminal and expresses its strong indignation over this irritating act.”

“The person who deserves a national flag at funeral should be someone of heroism, decency and integrity, not someone who inflicts atrocity on innocent lives. This is nothing but a smear on the dignity of the Philippine national flag,” the embassy said.

Carandang said the concerned officials had been informed of the law on the proper use of the Philippine flag, which was the reason why it was later removed from Mendoza’s casket.

“We’re glad to see that the mayor of Tanauan has taken the appropriate action and I hope that satisfies the Chinese government,” Carandang said.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, however, said there is no law that prohibits draping the Philippine flag on the coffin of Mendoza.

“While I personally object to and disagree with using the flag to cover the casket of Mendoza, there is no law that explicitly bans the use of the flag in such a manner and therefore we will have to respect the individual freedoms of our people,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan urged the Chinese government to understand the difference in the practices and laws in the Philippines.

“Unlike China, we live under a democracy and under a democracy, there is freedom of expression,” he said.

“We ask for China’s understanding in that we live under different systems and what may be prohibited and banned in their nation may not be so in ours,” he added.

Pangilinan said China cannot dictate on the Philippines and that China should not “bully a small nation like the Philippines” on this matter involving Filipinos’ use of its own flag. -With Aurea Calica, Marvin Sy