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Cabinet men under fire for hostage fiasco

President Benigno Aquino 3rd tries out a sniper rifle at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City on Thursday after a special police unit demonstrated its capabilities in dealing with a hostage situation. PHOTO BY RENE DILAN

A perceived major ally of the new administration on Thursday accused President Benigno Aquino 3rd of taking the fall for five members of the Cabinet at present over a recent hostage fiasco that left eight Hong Kong tourists and the gunman himself dead. “But where were his three [spokesmen]? Or Justice Secretary Leila de Lima? Or Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo?” Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero asked.

The three spokesmen to whom Escudero was referring are Edwin Lacierda, Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office and Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office.

Lacierda is the designated official spokesman for President Aquino.

Robredo, in particular, has been under heavy fire from concerned sectors for allegedly mishandling the stand-off, when he was the superior of the Philippine National Police that supposedly was in command during the crisis.

In chiding the country’s leader, the senator was reacting to the President fielding questions from three major broadcast networks on the August 23 botched rescue of 14 other visitors from the former British colony and three Filipinos.

Escudero, who would have been a candidate for the country’s top post in the May 10 elections this year that then Senator Aquino eventually won, said that the President was explaining what could have led to the bloody end to the hostage drama in behalf of his underlings “when it should be the other way around.”

“Instead of ‘God Save the King,’ ‘Save the Rook and the Pawn’ seemed to be their battlecry,” he added, apparently referring to the five Cabinet members.

Leadership role
Escudero, though, commended Mr. Aquino for “taking a leadership role once again” and for doing more than what was asked of him.

Sen. Pia Cayetano also on Thursday said that it appeared that by conducting a press conference, the President was reaching out to the people through media to explain his thoughts on the hostage crisis that played out to the world from Quirino Grandstand of Manila’s Rizal Park (Luneta) for nearly 12 hours.

“He [Mr. Aquino] has said that his statements will not in any way affect ongoing efforts by the government led by the Department of Justice in coming up with a swift, fair and credible conclusion to this issue, and I believe him,” she added.

The Justice department also on Thursday was told for the first time by investigators that police may have shot some of the tourists in the bungled operation at Quirino Grandstand.

The President said that he expects to get the investigators’ final report on the hostage incident on September 15 and pledged to fire officials found to have failed in their duties or file criminal charges against them.

“Our government is now focused on taking the necessary steps to prevent this tragedy from ever happening again,” he added during the press conference seen on national television.

“Let me just say that this incident will not define this administration,” Mr. Aquino said.

Armed with an assault rifle and a pistol, dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza took a busload of tourists hostage in a desperate bid to clear himself of extortion charges and get his old job back.

Police initially insisted that the bullets that killed the Chinese visitors from Hong Kong were all fired from Mendoza’s guns.

Other bullets, they had said, were fired into the bus by police snipers and an assault unit but they did not lead to fatalities.

But Justice chief de Lima also on Thursday said, “There is a big possibility that there [was] friendly fire.”

De Lima, the head of an official inquiry, added that forensic reports on some of those killed did not match the account of the bus driver, who had told investigators that the gunman shot the foreign visitors at close range.

“What is crucial, occupying our minds, is if the shots were made at close range, [these] are not consistent with forensic findings,” she said.

The entry points of the wounds did not exhibit burn marks caused by the muzzle of a gun that was fired close by, de Lima added.

When asked whether at least some of the victims could have been killed by “friendly fire,” the Justice secretary said, “We are not focusing [on that], but we should never miss that. Otherwise, our report will be less than thorough.”

Her panel, she added, has asked Hong Kong police to help with the ballistics aspect of the investigation.

“Where did the shots come from, the hostage-taker, the assault team, or other teams? We doubt they all came from snipers and assault teams,” de Lima said.

Ballistics experts say that some of the bullets that hit the tourist bus were fired from a distance farther than the location of the snipers.

Their statement, the Justice chief said, raised the possibility that other units deployed in the area could have fired into the bus.

The President has taken responsibility for the fiasco that has chilled ties with Hong Kong and China and damaged the Philippine tourism industry.

But Liu Jianchao, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, and Mr. Aquino on Wednesday exchanged views on Manila-Beijing relations in Malacañang, speaking highly of growing bilateral relations, trade and economic undertakings and cooperation in various fields.

The two sides, according to a statement from the Chinese Embassy, agreed to further strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation so as to strive for continued development of strategic and cooperative ties.

‘Isolated incident’
“We acknowledge what the Philippine government and people have done so far [in shedding light on the hostage-taking], and hope that the Philippine side presses ahead with the investigation and produces a comprehensive and fair report, which tells the truth, upholds justice and becomes something that can be drawn upon for handling similar cases in the future,” Liu said in the statement.

He added that he believed “the Chinese and Philippine sides have the wisdom to deal with this isolated incident in an appropriate manner so as to turn challenges into opportunities for achieving a sound and stable development of [bilateral] relations.”

During the press conference, Mr. Aquino vowed to form an elite force, based on Britain’s Special Air Service, to deal with similar hostage incidents in the future.

“We will copy to a degree the formation of that national unit,” which would be made up of between 200 and 400 soldiers and police capable of responding to any threat in any part of the country, Mr. Aquino said.

The President announced that he has asked the former Manila Police District chief, Rodolfo Magtibay, who went on leave amid criticism of his role as ground commander during the hostage crisis, to file for early retirement.
WITH REPORT FROM AFP

BY EFREN L. DANAO SENIOR REPORTER

ManilaTimes.net