TANAUAN, Philippines (AFP) - – Scores of mourners attended the burial Saturday of the sacked policeman who hijacked a bus in Manila, triggering a hostage crisis in which eight Hong Kong tourists were killed.

Even as the government tried to distance itself from the incident, hundreds crowded into a church for the funeral mass of former senior inspector Rolando Mendoza's home, to remember him for his police honours and not for Monday's tragic events.

"There are so many mourners because he was a good man. You never heard about him doing anything bad," said warehouse worker Mark Torres, a family friend attending the vigil in Tanauan, a small city south of Manila.

Francisco Misaba, a district watchman, said he had been assigned to manage the traffic because of the large number of people attending Mendoza's requiem and burial.

"There will be plenty of people attending because he had a lot of friends. Just about everyone in the district was his friend," he said.

Mendoza's family has refused to grant press interviews. But at the vigil, held in Mendoza's home, they put his numerous citations on display alongside many floral wreaths sent by fellow policemen.

Later, as Mendoza's body was placed into its grave, his son, Vismark, who is also a police officer, openly wept, sobbing, "I will never see his smile again."

No officials attended the event and the only uniformed policemen at the funeral was Mendoza's son but many media outlets, including Hong Kong photojournalists, were present.

Mendoza, a decorated officer who had been sacked over extortion charges, took a bus-load of Hong Kong tourists hostage in Manila on Monday, demanding to be reinstated.

This led to a 12-hour siege of the bus and muddled police negotiations that ended in bloodshed, with Mendoza and eight of the tourists shot dead.

The bungled rescue has enraged Hong Kong and embarrassed the Philippine government, which has called for an investigation.

Further embarrassment came on Friday when the Chinese embassy condemned the draping of Mendoza's coffin with a Philippine flag as if he was a hero.