[4] In February 1986, Mendoza led a group of policemen that accosted a van carrying 13 crates full of money, which former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos was apparently trying to smuggle out of the country.

[6][17] In any event, Mendoza, armed with a handgun and an M16 rifle,[18] commandeered the tour bus, demanded reinstatement to his previous post with benefits,[7] and claimed he was framed.

[3] TV5 news anchor Erwin Tulfo remained in contact with Mendoza, while superintendent Orlando Yebra and chief inspector Romeo Salvador led negotiations.

[43] Two other people outside the bus – 47-year-old TVB news crew engineer Wen Ming, and child bystander Mike Campanero Ladrillo – were wounded by stray bullets.

[55] Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, offered for the eight victims to be buried in the Tribute Garden [zh] (景仰園), a part of Wo Hop Shek Public Cemetery designated for Hongkongers who showed extraordinary acts of bravery to save others.

[57][clarification needed] On July 1, 2011, Masa Tse, Fu Cheuk-yan and Ken Leung Kam-wing were all posthumously awarded the gold medal for Bravery by the Hong Kong government.

[61][62] De Lima declared a gag order to cover all parties and departments, including the Hong Kong team examining evidence on the ground.

[65] The report was delivered first to the Chinese embassy in Manila on September 20, 2010, before being released to the general public, in an attempt to "repair the nation's relations with China".

[9] The official report identified eight critical errors of the handling of the hostage crisis:[66] The report also recommended administrative or criminal charges for 15 individuals and organizations, including Manila mayor Alfredo Lim, vice-mayor Isko Moreno, Ombudsmen Merceditas Gutierrez and Emilio Gonzales III, government undersecretary Rico Puno, retired Philippine National Police chief director general Jesus Verzosa, National Capital Region Police Office director Leocadio Santiago Jr., Manila Police District chief superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, MPD hostage negotiator Orlando Yebra, SWAT Colonel Nelson Yabut and commander Santiago Pascual, journalists Erwin Tulfo and Mike Rogas, and three broadcasting networks.

[72] Among those invited were Gregorio Mendoza, the hostage-taker's brother, Manila mayor Alfredo Lim, Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno, reporters who covered the incident, members of the SWAT team and a number of forensic experts.

[75] The narrative verdict found that all eight victims were "unlawfully killed" and blamed the Philippine authorities' incompetent handling of the crisis as a direct cause of their deaths, although it declined to attribute any criminal or civil liability.

[84] Plans for a delegation led by Philippine vice-president Jejomar Binay to visit Beijing and Hong Kong on August 26–27, 2010 to soothe tensions and "explain the hostage incident" was rejected by the Chinese government, pending the outcome of a complete investigation report.

[90] The government chartered two airplanes carrying doctors and counsellors to Manila to support the survivors of the incident, and to fly the Hong Kong victims home.

A visit by Mayor Estrada and Cabinet Secretary Almendras helped to ease the situation where Hong Kong officials agreed to end sanctions placed on the Philippines.

Manila Police District director Rodolfo Magtibay[106] said that Mayor Lim, as head of the crisis management committee, gave the order to arrest Gregorio Mendoza[107] – a move which caused distress in the gunman and allegedly triggered him to shoot the hostages.

[39] Manila Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno told CNN that Mendoza's brother was guilty of conspiring with the hostage-taker and allegedly helped instigate the shooting.

[99] MPD commander Leocadio Santiago, while agreeing with the decision to put the assault on hold until Mendoza had started shooting hostages,[12] admitted that mistakes were made.

Manila Police District director Rodolfo Magtibay, as commander of the rescue operation, took leave and four members of the SWAT team were suspended, pending investigation.

[115] During the hearing, police operatives revealed that Mendoza was reading the letter from the Office of the Ombudsman to an unknown person over the phone before the violence began, and subpoenaed the records of the telephone conversation.

[119] Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon issued a statement on August 24, 2010, expressing Ottawa's condolences to the families and friends of those who died.

[125][126] Comments ranged from shame, sadness, and sympathy for the hostage victims; anger mixed with a sense of disbelief at the perpetrator Rolando Mendoza, the police force for its apparent bungling, and media for its overzealous coverage; and concern over the damage to the image of the country as a tourist destination and the safety and well-being of Filipinos overseas who might experience backlash over the incident.

[133] Analysts agreed that the Aquino administration's approval rating would fall, if not for the handling of the hostage taking crisis, then from a natural move off the high it was coming from.

[140] Apple Daily, which likened the Philippine police to a troop of Boy Scouts in terms of competence,[141] also criticized the Chinese government for acting too slowly to protect lives.

[143] The Sun pointed out there was a lone counsel in Manila acting on behalf of China until after the siege had ended, and speculated that more hostages could have been saved had higher-level diplomatic pressure been applied earlier.

[149] Lee Ying-chuen, one of seven survivors in the crisis, wrote an open letter urging Hong Kong people to help Filipinos fight for a better society and justice, and not to see them as scapegoats for their corrupt government.

[153] Following their handling of the crisis, public support for Donald Tsang rose to a two-year high, and that in other government officials also surged, according to a survey by the University of Hong Kong.

interviewed on the main evening news in Hong Kong criticized the Philippine National Police for lack of planning and strategy for negotiating with the hostage-taker.

The response to the rapid deterioration of the situation caught the police off-guard; the hour-long assault on the coach was also described by a security expert as "extremely risky to the hostages".

[156] Romeo Acop, a former director of the Philippine National Police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, was also critical of the police for failure to establish an isolation line, slowness in addressing Mendoza's demands, failure to deploy the Special Action Force, poor negotiating team and skills, absence of an officer to control the media, and lack of actual experience.

[157] In France, retired Colonel Frédéric Gallois, commander of the Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale (GIGN) from 2002 to 2007, after watching live television footage was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying that "one cannot understand what justified this badly prepared and risky assault", and further commented that the SWAT team lacked specialist training, equipment and tactical competence.