MANILA, Philippines - The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) on Wednesday said it is starting an investigation on the propriety of a radio interview conducted by RMN-DZXL with hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza at the height of the August 23 hostage crisis.

A statement from the broadcasters' association said the KBP Board has instructed the KBP Standards Authority to conduct an investigation whether the interview violated established standards and rules on crisis and hostage-taking coverage.

It said the group will impose "appropriate sanctions, if warranted, in accordance with the observance of self-regulation by the KBP."

The KBP Standards Authority is a KBP body tasked with enforcing the KBP Broadcast Code. It is composed of 11 members led by Chairwoman Diana Gozum and Deputy Chairperson Rafael Barreiro.

According to Article 6 of the KBP Broadcast Code of 2007 covering crime and crisis situations, coverage of crimes in progress or crisis situations such as hostage-taking or kidnapping "shall not put lives in greater danger than what is already inherent in the situation."

"Such coverage should be restrained and care should be taken so as not to hinder or obstruct efforts of authorities to resolve the situation," it said.

Section 2 of Article 6 also states that the coverage "should avoid inflicting undue shock and pain to families and loved ones of victims of crimes, crisis situations, disasters, accidents, and other tragedies."

Finally, Section 4 of Article 6 states that the coverage of crime or crisis situations shall not provide vital information or offer comfort of support to the perpetrators."

The KBP said it will discuss its findings with government authorities to improve government and media interface and protocols in similar situations.

It said initial findings showed media personnel covering the crisis strictly obeyed police instructions to stay outside the perimeter. "Only when the authorities signaled that the hostage-taker was neutralized, and apparently allowed access, did the media (and the onlookers) enter the perimeter," KBP said.

It also noted that the police failed to provide important or significant information on the status of the negotiations and that no single person was clearly in charge of the operations.

Hostage-taker last spoke to radio station

Broadcast journalist Erwin Tulfo, who said he was radio station RMN-DZXL’s reporter at the Rizal Park hostage-taking incident, earlier told a Senate investigation that he and RMN-DZXL’s anchor were on a three-way phone conversation with the hostage-taker before he began shooting inside the hijacked tourist bus.

Tulfo is also with television station Channel 5.

Mendoza, disgruntled over what he thought was his unfair dismissal from the force which took away his benefits due his retirement next year, hijacked a tourist bus, demanding his job back. The world watched in shock from the media coverage that showed police clumsily rescuing hostages in the last hours of the crisis. Eight Hong Kong tourists died.

Tulfo said RMN-DZXL called Mendoza for an interview and was speaking to him 30 to 45 minutes before the shooting rampage.

He said he, along with radio anchor Michael Rogas, was on a three-way phone interview with the hostage-taker. He was on the phone as he did the special coverage of the crisis from the ground, close to the crisis command and control center.

Tulfo said he asked for 5 minutes to be allowed to relay to the police Mendoza's request about his arrested brother.

Mendoza’s brother, Gregorio, also a police officer, was forcibly arrested in full view of covering television cameras. A hostaged Filipino driver, who managed to escape before Mendoza went on a rampage, said Mendoza saw the brother’s arrest on television.

Tulfo recalled that during the conversation with a then already hysterical Mendoza, he and Rogas tried to simultaneously assuage Mendoza and relay to the police his demand for the release of his brother.

“As far as I can recall, nagmumura po siya… 'Magsasampol ako rito!' and then nagsisigaw yung anchor, 'Sandali lang,' and then the anchor was overheard on radio na, 'Erwin, gawan mo ng paraan ‘yan!' Sabi ko, ‘Eto na, eto na.’”

Tulfo went on to explain: “It was the anchor… who was trying to stop Captain Mendoza.  What I did was, I was told by the anchor to look for police officials to give in to the request of Captain Mendoza to release his brother.”

But he failed to relay the message because the negotiator, whom Mendoza had been speaking with the entire day, was not anymore at the command center.