Pallbearers carried Mendoza’s coffin from the church in Tanuan About 1,000 people have attended the funeral of a Filipino policeman who killed eight tourists from Hong Kong when he took their bus hostage.
Rolando Mendoza was shot on Monday when Manila police tried to storm the bus.
Mendoza, 55, seized the bus with an assault rifle in an attempt to get back the job he lost in 2009 for extortion and threat-making.
His son was the only serving police officer to attend the funeral, held in Mendoza’s home town of Tanuan.
In all, 22 Hong Kong tourists were taken hostage along with three Filipinos – a driver, a guide and a photographer.
Pallbearers carried Mendoza’s coffin – his body dressed in his policeman’s uniform – out of a church in Tanuan.
“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”
Chinese embassy statement
At a vigil before the funeral service, Mendoza’s many decorations from nearly three decades of police service were displayed.
His coffin was draped in the Philippines national flag, a move criticised by the Chinese embassy in Manila.
“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,” the Chinese Embassy said in a statement.
During early negotiations, nine people were freed from the bus and the driver fled to safety, leaving 15 hostages on board.
As the hostage crisis went on Mendoza posted signs with his demands on the windows of the bus – the main one being for the police force to reinstate him.
About an hour before the siege ended, a group of officers approached the bus and attempted to board it by barging in the back door.
Survivors and experts criticised the police for being indecisive and slow in their handling of the crisis.
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