Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim said on Thursday that he never ordered the arrest of Senior Police Officer 2 Gregorio Mendoza at the height of his brother’s hostage-taking in front of the Quirino Grandstand last Monday.

“He was not arrested, but just taken to the headquarters,” Lim said.

Lim issued the statement in the wake of claims that he had SPO2 Mendoza, brother of hostage-taker dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, arrested.

In the Senate, relieved Manila Police District director, Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, told senators conducting an inquiry into the bloody hostage drama that it was Lim who ordered the arrest of SPO2 Mendoza.

Likewise on radio and television interviews, SPO2 Mendoza said Mayor Lim and Superintendent Orlando Yebra, the hostage negotiator, ordered his arrest, which agitated his brother.

But Lim said he only ordered that SPO2 Mendoza be taken to the police headquarters as he was of no help in the negotiation.

Lim said hostage-taker Mendoza got agitated when SPO2 Mendoza told his brother, “Huwag kang papayag sa sinasabi nila dahil hindi pa sinosoli ang baril ko. (Don't listen to them because they have not yet returned my gun).”

It was at that point, Lim said, that the hostage-taker became enraged, telling the negotiator, “Ano ba ito, lokohan? Bakit hindi pa sinosoli baril ng kapatid ko? Bibigyan ko kayo ng sampung minuto para dalhin yun reinstatement order o sasample-an ko ang isa dito.” (“What’s this, trickery? Why haven't you returned my brother's gun? I am giving you 10 minutes to give my reinstatement order or I will make an example of someone here.”)

After this, Mendoza started shooting, as seen by Chief Inspector Romeo Salvador, one of the negotiators. They took it as “warning” shots, so when Yebra returned to the command post, that was the time they said that SPO2 Mendoza be charged.

“Kaysa tumulong magpaliwanag, sinabi niya na huwag papayag at susunod sa authorities,” Lim said. (Instead of helping them clarify things, the brother told him not to give in and follow authorities.)

At the Senate, senators subjected Magtibay – along with Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) Regional Director Leocadio Santiago, MPD Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team Commander Santiago Pascual, and NCRPO Police Chief Supt. Roberto Rongavilla – to a dressing down in connection to the 12-hour botched hostage crisis.

Also present during the hearing were Vice Mayor Francisco Domagoso and TV 5 correspondent broadcaster Erwin Tulfo.

Responding to a question raised by Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Magtibay admitted that he got orders from Mayor Lim to arrest Mendoza’s brother, SPO2 Mendoza, who was perceived a “conspirator” in the hostage-taking.

“Arestuhin na yan,” said Magtibay quoting Lim. (“Arrest that man now.”)

Meanwhile, the camp of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Thursday took exception to the claims of Malacañang that the police's poor capability in dealing with hostage-taking incidents was "inherited" from the previous administration.

"The police officers who handled the hostage taking incident last Monday were the same police officers who were with the previous administration which had resolved similar hostage-taking incidents without casualties," Mrs. Arroyo's spokeswoman Elena Bautista Horn said.

"Perhaps the problem lies with how the rescue mission was directed," she said. (With reports by David Cagahastian and Hannah Torregoza)