A letter containing a new offer to sacked Manila policeman Rolando Mendoza - one which might have saved the lives of eight Hong Kong hostages - was on its way to him when he began killing them.
The letter authorised the Philippine National Police to 'suspend the implementation of the dismissal' of Mendoza for grave misconduct.
The offer, signed by Metro Manila police chief Leocadio Santiago, was drafted after Mendoza rejected as 'garbage' a letter from Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez in which she offered to personally take a 'fresh look' at his case. Her office had ordered his sacking last year.
From the moment he took 25 people hostage aboard a tourist bus in central Manila on Monday, Mendoza, a decorated veteran of the force, had demanded he be reinstated. At 55, he was one year away from the minimum retirement age for Philippine government employees.
Santiago said in an interview that he ordered the letter couriered by motorcycle to the hostage site, about 1 kilometre from where was stationed. But the letter had not reached Mendoza when he saw television footage of police arresting his younger brother, which many believe triggered the deadly shooting spree.
'In hindsight, perhaps we could have drafted the letter earlier,' Santiago said.
The letter adds to the list of 'what ifs' revealed in the days following the hostage bloodbath, in which seven Hong Kong tourists and their guide were killed and seven injured. (Six others were freed, along with three Filipinos. The driver escaped.)
