And for the first time we learned the perils of collective thinking.
"A letter supposedly written by one of the survivors of yesterday's tragic hostage crisis at the Quirino Grandstand has been making the rounds online, highlighting the continued lack of information on what transpired during the ordeal. The letter continues to fuel public curiosity about what really happened inside the hijacked bus.
The letter, undersigned by "Bang Lu Min, Survivor, Quirino Bloodbath", gave a compellingly detailed account of what allegedly transpired in the tourist bus during the hostage crisis.
The letter painted a picture of the hostage taker, former PNP Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, as a reasonable man driven to kill out of agitation and desperation.
"The hostage taker, as you know him was really nice. He treated us okay and even let the elders and the children leave the bus. He said your policemen treated him unfairly. He was a policeman too and was accused of doing something he had no knowledge of. But your government didn’t listen so he used us to get everyone’s attention," the letter continued.
The letter first appeared in response to a Yahoo! Philippines News Blogpost, with a link to a Facebook post that has since been taken down.
The letter was reposted on several blogsites, and was quickly picked up despite the lack of verification.
The spuriousness of the letter became apparent later in the day when the Hong Kong government's Information Services Department published an official list of the names of the hostage victims.
There was no mention of a "Bang Lu Min" anywhere on the list."
GMA NewsTV
August 25, 2010
August 25, 2010