Manila: The Philippines on Wednesday suspended four police officers over a hostage crisis that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.
The suspensions came on a national day of mourning to remember the victims of Monday's ordeal, which began when an ex-policemen hijacked a busload of Hong Kong tourists in a desperate bid to be exonerated of extortion charges.
President Benigno Aquino ordered flags in all government offices to fly at half mast, but anger both in the Philippines and Hong Kong over the handling of the crisis largely overshadowed the gesture.
The bodies of the eight victims were on Wednesday night flown back to Hong Kong, a sensitive event that Filipino workers in the Chinese territory feared may lead to anti-Philippine protests and a direct backlash against them.
National police spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz told reporters in Manila that the four officers who were suspended had led the 200-strong Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team in attempting to storm the bus.
Cruz said they were suspended so they "did not exert undue influence" in a police investigation into the affair.
Aquino also said the policeman in charge of the hostage rescue, Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, had taken leave.
The actions involving the five senior officers came after police admitted to key mistakes in handling the 12-hour hostage drama.
These included poor negotiating tactics with hijacker Rolando Mendoza, inadequate equipment for the SWAT team and bad crowd control.
The tragedy unfolded live on television, allowing people around the world to watch as the commandos failed to get into the bus for more than an hour after smashing its windows with sledgehammers.
In another apparent mistake, police failed to take the opportunity to shoot Mendoza at one point when he opened the door of the bus and peered out.
Nevertheless Cruz said the tidal wave of anger being directed at the police force was "unfair".
"They (critics) are all in the gallery, watching. They should try being in the line of fire and let us see how they react," he told AFP.
In his briefing to reporters, Cruz said at least 59 empty shells from Mendoza's M-16 assault rifle and 31 from two other small firearms he was carrying were recovered inside the wreckage of the bus.
Autopsies on five of the victims showed they died from gunshots mostly in the head and neck.
But Cruz said further investigations were required to determine if the victims had been shot by Mendoza or the police.
Aquino on Tuesday ordered a government inquiry on top of the internal police probe, and promised to fully inform Hong Kong authorities of the results.
However, Aquino has continued to face a tirade of criticism, particularly via the his official Facebook page.
"Shame on you and your government. Tender your resignation now," wrote Elfis Lee, a Hong Kong resident. "Your incompetence of leading your untrained stupid police force caused such a tragedy."
The internet-savvy Aquino, 50, said he understood the emotional outbursts, and said his government accepted them.
"We understand the grief that produces this and the anger that emanates as an expression of the grief they are experiencing," Aquino told reporters.
However, in direct response to the hostage criticism, Aquino censored his Facebook page to ban slanderous and defamatory comments, swear words and racial insults, as well as "below the belt attacks".
Manila's consul general to Hong Kong, Claro Cristobal, said he expected tensions there to rise when the hostage survivors and the bodies of the eight victims arrived in the Chinese territory.
He said at least one domestic helper had already complained that her angry bosses had fired her in protest at the hostage deaths.
There are as many as 200,000 Filipinos living in Hong Kong, the vast majority of them working as maids.
In Manila, senior Philippine officials and a Navy honour guard escorted the coffins of the eight slain tourists as they were loaded aboard a Cathay Pacific plane for the flight to Hong Kong.
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