MANILA, Philippines - A wide audience saw a bloody end to the August 23 hostage incident at the Quirino Grandstand, but only a few took notice of the negotiator—clad in orange shirt and maong pants—who actually tried to calm down the gunman throughout the hours-long ordeal.

During his testimony on Saturday before the Incident Investigation and Review Committee, the public finally heard from Police Chief Inspector Romeo Salvador who had eluded interviews ever since the August 23 incident.

One would only have a memory of Salvador talking now and again to the hostage-taker, dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza. He looked then like an errand boy, either bringing food and water for the hostages or balancing gallons of diesel for the bus.

Salvador, who was actually an assistant negotiator then, admitted he had no major trainings on hostage-takings, except for the actual hands-on experience he had with 2 other hostage incidents.

The lanky police man, however, took advantage of being “talking buddies” with Mendoza.

He said he used this to somehow source empathy from the hostage-taker.

A chuckle or 2 from Mendoza

Seemingly shy at times while being grilled by the committee members, Salvador said he had used jokes to pacify Mendoza.

At one point, when the gunman demanded to talk to GMA-7’s Susan Enriquez, Salvador sang a tune from the broadcast journalist’s show “Kay Susan Tayo!”

This supposedly elicited a chuckle from Mendoza.

Delivery boy

In fact, he elicited the most laughs from the audience during the second day of the marathon hearings at the Department of Justice.

He mentioned he had even asked for his share of the food he delivered to the hostage site. Some committee members even raised their eyebrows on this.

He, however, quickly justified that if he had managed to get 1 from Mendoza, it meant the latter was already warming up to him.

He said he did not have the chance to grab a bite during the whole-day ordeal.

Nauseous

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima noted this could have caused the wave of nausea that he had felt on that day.

He said he took a rest for a couple of minutes and went to nearby medics to request for a medicine.

Instead, he was given the “Katinko” liniment that he had applied to his forehead.

Hearings interrupted

It was, in fact, the same scene that he had brought when he faced the committee members.

The middle of the interrogation was halted for a couple of minutes after he again felt nauseous.

He said he had not eaten, but refused the burger offered him. He preferred instead to eat a piece of candy.

De Lima would later tell him: “We admire your courage [but you should have grabbed a bite first].” De Lima also told him to relax since they were only sourcing information from him.

To which, he answered: “If I can stay [strong] from 10 a.m. to 12 midnight [like the August 23] incident, I can finish this investigation…”

He said he wanted to get over one episode of “high blood” rather than being called again to testify and recall further the incidents on that fateful day.

He told the committee he exerted all efforts to end the crisis in a peaceful way.