MANILA, Philippines - Police on Tuesday defended their handling of a bus hostage crisis that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead, but acknowledged some tactical "shortcomings."

National Capital Region Police Office chief Leocadio Santiago said his personnel had made the correct decision in allowing the stand-off to drag on for more than 10 hours before storming the bus on Monday.

"The police were willing to pursue the negotiations because we believed that the hostage-taker was still rational up to that point," Santiago told the GMA 7 television network.

"But when the driver escaped and reported that he has started killing the hostages, that was the time that the ground commander decided to assault the bus."

Asked if police followed correct procedures, he replied: "Yes".

But he said there were some areas of concern.

"We saw some obvious shortcomings in terms of capability and tactics used, or the procedure employed and we are now going to investigate this," he said.