This part of the wiki really jumped at me.
The hostage taker was identified as Rolando Mendoza (earlier named as “Reynaldo”) by the Philippine National Police (PNP); he was a former high-ranking commissioned police officer.[3] Mendoza demanded to be reinstated with benefits to his previous post at the Manila Police District, from which he had been dismissed for extortion in 2009.[4][5]
The Ombudsman found Mendoza and four others guilty of misconduct for allegedly extorting P20,000 from Christian Kalaw, a chef of the Mandarin Hotel, Manila on April 9, 2008. Administrative charges against Mendoza were filed on April 25, 2008, after which he was relieved as Chief of the Mobile Patrol Unit. In August 2008,** the Manila Prosecutors Office Eighth Division dismissed the case after Kalaw failed to attend the dismissal proceedings**; the PNP Internal Affairs Service recommended the dismissal of the case on October 17, 2008, for the same reason.
Mendoza graduated with a degree in criminology, joined the police force as a patrolman, and rose to become senior inspector. He was decorated 17 times, for bravery and honor. Colleagues at the Manila Police District said he was hard-working and kind.[6] On February 1986, Mendoza led a group of policemen that flagged down a van which turned out to be carrying 13 crates full of money which Ferdinand Marcos was trying to take out of the Philippines. Mendoza and his team turned the shipment over to authorities.[6] That year, Mendoza was awarded as one of the Ten Outstanding Policemen of the Philippines by Jaycees International.[7]
In 2008, hotel chef Christian Kalaw alleged he was accosted by Mendoza and several officers over a parking violation, that they planted sachets of methamphetamine in his car, forced him to take the drug, accused him of being a drug addict, and demanded he empty his automatic teller machine and hand over the money. Kalaw said the policemen released him after a friend raised 20,000 pesos. The Office of the Ombudsman ordered Mendoza dismissed from the service, and the loss of all his benefits. Mendoza’s brother, Gregorio, said that all his brother wanted was a fair hearing by the Ombudsman, who “never even gave him a chance to defend himself; they immediately dismissed him.”