AT THE wreath-laying ceremonies at the monument to Marcelo H. del Pilar at the Remedios Circle in Malate, Manila, last Monday, Sen. Edgardo Angara and Mayor Alfredo Lim were the main speakers. I took the opportunity during brunch later to interview the mayor on what happened during the hostage drama in front of the Quirino Grandstand on Aug. 23. He was there during the negotiations until he left shortly before the shootout to meet President Aquino at the nearby Emerald Garden Restaurant on Roxas Boulevard which served as their command post.

MPD chief Rodolfo Magtibay had testified during a Senate hearing that it was Lim who ordered the arrest of SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza, the brother of hostage-taker Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza. It was the sight of Gregorio being wrestled to the ground by other policemen that drove Rolando into a fury and to start shooting his hostages. Magtibay later took back his testimony.

Some radio-TV commentators also said that Lim prevented the military Special Action Force from helping in rescuing the hostages.

?That?s a dirty lie!? Lim said emphatically. He said he had no authority to meddle in the negotiations. In hostage crises, the rules say there should be only one negotiator (in this case, Senior Supt. Orlando Yebra) and it is the ground commander who makes the decisions. Even Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, whose department supervises the Philippine National Police, does not have the authority to second-guess the ground commander, Lim said.

In the negotiations, Yebra was doing well, according to Lim. A number of hostages were released early on.

As an eyewitness, Lim related what really happened at the Quirino Grandstand:

Early in the hostage crisis, Gregorio arrived and offered to negotiate with his brother. Since he appeared to be cooperative in the beginning, and thinking that he would be able to persuade his brother to surrender, they allowed him to talk to Rolando. But first, they frisked him and found a .45 caliber pistol tucked under his belt. They took the gun away from him before letting him approach the tourist bus. He could run into the bus and join his brother.

Rolando ranted against the raw deal he got from the Office of the Ombudsman, which had ordered him dismissed from the service, and had all his retirement benefits forfeited. He was denied due process, the hostage-taker claimed. He was not given the right to defend himself. He demanded that the decision of the Ombudsman against him be reversed, that he be reinstated immediately, and that all his back salaries be given to him.

Only the Ombudsman could reverse its own decision and Vice Mayor Isko Moreno offered to go see Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. Late in the afternoon or early evening, he returned with a letter from Gutierrez. In it, she promised to read the records of Mendoza?s case and render a decision within 10 days if he would release his hostages.

This infuriated Mendoza. ?Basura ito! (This is garbage!),? he yelled. He demanded a document ordering his immediate reinstatement.

Meanwhile, Gregorio was overhead talking to his brother via cell phone. ?Brod, pag hindi nila isinauli ang baril ko, huwag kang pumayag (Brother, if they don?t return my gun, don?t agree),? he said. He also wanted to go back to the bus.

This aroused the fear of the police that he was in cahoots with his brother and might join the latter in the bus to fight off the police. As he was beginning to turn violent, Lim ordered him to be handcuffed and taken away from the scene. The trouble was that there were no handcuffs at hand. A policeman took off to look for a pair.

Never mind the handcuffs, just take him to headquarters, the mayor said. He did not order Mendoza?s arrest, Lim said, his order was only to take him away from the scene.

Before the police could escort Gregorio out through the backdoor of the precinct headquarters near the Manila Hotel, he ran out through the front door where the media people were gathered. He did not want to go into the police car that would take him to MPD headquarters. He was afraid of what would happen to him on the way to headquarters. He could be shot dead ?while trying to escape,? as had happened to many others. ?Dito na lang ako sa media (I want to be here with media),? he shouted.

The police tried to wrestle him into the police car. He resisted. His relatives helped him by embracing him to prevent the police from taking him. Television cameras rolled during the wrestling match. This was the footage seen by Rolando on the TV set inside the tourist bus which infuriated him. He threatened to start shooting the hostages if his brother wouldn?t be released.

?Sasampolan ko itong nasa harapan ng bus (I will make this hostage in front as a sample),? Mendoza told RMN radio, whose anchor and reporter were in contact with him through his cell phone. When Gregorio was not released, the hostage-taker shot the tour guide who was handcuffed near the door of the bus.

In a fury, he began shooting the other hostages with his Armalite. The driver, who was handcuffed to the steering wheel, unlocked the cuffs (with a nail clipper, he said) and got out through the side window beside the driver?s seat. Then he ran to the police lines shouting, ?Patay na ang lahat sa bus (Everybody inside the bus is dead).?

This prompted the ground commander to order the assault in an attempt to save whoever were still alive. A police sniper shot Mendoza several times in the body. The standoff was over.

But eight of the hostages were dead. Only 14 survived.