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Justice chief not keen on prosecuting hostage personalities

By Kathrina Alvarez
Thursday, August 25, 2011
JUSTICE Secretary Leila de Lima is not keen on acting on the request of families of victims and survivors of the Manila hostage crisis to prosecute individuals involved in the bungled rescue operation.
De Lima said it would be “foolhardy” to advise President Benigno Aquino III to reinstate the findings of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC), a body that conducted hearings to determine the possible administrative and criminal liabilities of persons who figured in the 11-hour standoff at Quirino Grandstand in Manila.
She said that as the IIRC has ceased to exist and its recommendations have already gone through a thorough review by the two-man executive panel, she is in no position to question the wisdom of it.
“Such recommendations have been passed upon already by the presidential team tasked to review the IIRC report and acted upon by the President. It would be foolhardy on our part to so insist as it would be out of line,” said De Lima, who is expected to submit to the President her report on her dialogue with the Hong Kong delegation next week.
The presidential review team exonerated from liability some persons perceived to be close to the President, among them Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim.
This move is seen as a setback, considering that this was one of the four demands of the Hong Kong delegation when they visited Manila to commemorate the incident and to appeal for justice to the Philippine government.
It can be recalled that the reversal of the IIRC decision to file criminal charges against Lim and the others almost caused the resignation of de Lima last year.
Aquino already disapproved the demand for a formal apology. This leaves him with the two remaining demands of the survivors and families of victims to decide on – filing of criminal charges against officials involved in the hostage operation and financial compensation.
De Lima suggested to the Hong Kong delegation to formally submit their requests to the President as she promised only to relay them to him.
As to the issue on compensation, the Justice secretary said she is inclined to recommend to the President a favorable response to the victims since under Philippine law, anyone has the right to seek redress by way of damages.
In a related development, party-list lawmaker on Wednesday appealed to President Aquino to apologize to the families of the victims of the Manila hostage crisis.
Aquino on Tuesday expressed regret over the deaths of eight Chinese nationals from Hong Kong in the hands of a dismissed Filipino police officer but is rejecting the families’ call for a formal apology.
“I was surprised to learn from them (hostage victim’s families) that no ranking government official has ever apologized to the survivors or the families of those killed,” Representative Teddy Casiรฑo said.
Casiรฑo of Bayan Muna party-list met with a survivor and the relatives of the victims Tuesday afternoon in Quezon City. They were accompanied by James To Kun-Sun, a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council.
“I cannot understand why the President refuses to say sorry when the findings of the body he himself formed to investigate the incident say government officials were partly to blame for the fiasco,” the party-list lawmaker said.
Casiรฑo said there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging one’s failures and saying sorry “especially since eight lives were lost.”
He also said Aquino was either misinformed or complicating matters by saying that the entire Filipino people should not apologize for the massacre.
“Where did he get that idea? No one is asking the entire Filipino nation to apologize. What the victims want is for the government to acknowledge and apologize for its failures. That is a reasonable demand,” he said.
Casiรฑo is considering filing a resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives for the President to reconsider his position.
The eight slain Chinese nationals from Hong Kong were vacationing in Manila on August 23, 2010 when dismissed police officer, Rolando Mendoza, stormed the bus and held it for 11 hours. He shot eight tourists before a bullet from a police sniper killed him.
Several bishops also criticized Aquino for his continued refusal to issue an apology to the families of the victims and survivors of the Manila hostage crisis.
Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said Wednesday the failure of the government to issue an apology only shows they do not want to accept that it was at fault.
“The government is refusing to say sorry because they don’t want to admit their incompetence. I think it boils down to the pride and shame of our leaders, who cannot say ‘I’m sorry’. ‘We were wrong’. ‘We were not able to attend to it sufficiently’,” he said in an interview over Radio Veritas 846.
He noted that the Philippine government’s hard stance would only prolong the agony of everyone involved specially the families of the victims.
“People were hurt. People lost their loved ones. Why refuse to say sorry? Why not condole? I think it will not be over,” Arguelles said.
Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez, for his part, believed that the failure to say sorry would not automatically rid them of any responsibility over the incident shown worldwide.
“What they did is wrong… it’s not only wrong but it’s also shameful,” he said.
Aquino on Tuesday did not meet the relatives of the victims nor did he visit the hostage site. The families of the victims came to Manila Sunday to commemorate the event which happened a year ago.
Several commemorative ceremonies were held at the Quirino Grandstand where the gruesome hostage-taking took place that killed several Chinese tourists. (With ECV/FP/AMN/Sunnex)

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/08/25/justice-chief-not-keen-prosecuting-hostage-personalities-175152

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