HK dismayed by Noy’s no accountability move
10/14/2010
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments were dismayed by President Aquino’s decision to absolve his close aides and several personalities of any accountability and responsibility in the Aug. 23 Manila hostage tragedy that killed eight Hong Kong tourists.
A diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao was “extremely disappointed” with the outcome of Aquino’s review of the IIRC report, whose sanctions were drastically
changed and watered down. The HK government expected the Aquino administration to follow the IIRC recommendations.
The HK government, in a statement Tuesday, said in reaction to
Aquino’s whitewash of the charges: “Hong Kong people expect the Philippine Government to handle the question of responsibility of the officials and persons involved in a fair manner, and follow through the required actions seriously. The Philippine Government decided to lessen the recommended actions against the relevant officers named in the first report by the Incident Investigation and Review Committee. The people of Hong Kong, especially the survivors and the victims’ families, will find this hard to accept. The Hong Kong SAR Government is also disappointed. We ask that the Philippine Government follow through the required actions. The eventual actions to be taken against the persons involved must live up to their pledge to be accountable to the public. That is also what is owed to the dead and the injured. We will convey our views to the Philippine Government through proper channels.”
The statement added that the HK Police are “working at full steam in the investigation as required by the Coroner’s Court to submit the final report to the Court for consideration as soon as possible. Upon receipt of the relevant information, the Coroner will decide whether to hold a hearing. We are confident that the Coroner’s Court will arrive at a fair and professional judgment.”
While the Philippines “respects the sentiments of the Hong Kong people,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said it cannot do much but to “follow through the actions ordered by President Aquino” against the officials involved in the incident.
The DFA said regular exchanges between Manila and Beijing on the matter continue, adding that it has even been discussed with Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue, who is currently in Manila for the 16th Philippines-China Foreign Ministry consultations.
“Both sides regard the hostage incident as an isolated case that should not affect the overall good relations between the Philippines and China. Through joint efforts, both countries will see through this tragedy,” the DFA said.
For its part, Malacaņang continued with its position that no “criminal negligence” was involved in the botched rescue executed by officials and officers of the Aquino government in the Aug. 23 hostage crisis, despite the disappointment expressed by the Hong Kong government.
In a phone patch interview with reporters yesterday, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said they understand the frustration on the part of the Hong Kong nationals and their government but reminded them that the results specified in the IIRC report are merely recommendatory in nature wuth the President always having the final say.
The Palace spokesman added that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr. and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa, who revised IIRC report, have established three basic parameters to determine the degree of accountability of the respondents to the incident and based on their assessment there was no criminal negligence involved.
“The study concluded that there was negligence involved but they were not criminal in nature or at least it does not rise up to criminal negligence and as a result, all the recommendations submitted by the CPLC and the ES is to file administrative charges against the police respondents and the mayor. So that was based on an honest assessment of the facts as gathered by the IIRC,” Lacierda stressed.
Lacierda also expressed confidence that RP China relations would soon normalize.
“The Palace spokesman also said that the government through the high-level delegation led by Vice President Jejomar Binay and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo is prepared to depart for China to explain and defend these developments to their Chinese counterparts as soon as the Chinese Foreign Ministry is able to fix a schedule for the said meeting.
Lacierda also belied the story published by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) that Aquino wanted a complete absolution of his allies—Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno, former Philippine National Police chief Jesus Verzosa, and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim—since day one in any accountability in the hostage rescue fiasco which explains the drastic changes imposed by the Palace legal team on the recommendations of the IIRC.
Quoting sources from Malacaņang and the IIRC circles, the PCIJ claimed that Aquino, on the first day upon reading the IIRC report, retorted that the charges were “too much. Why are Puno, Lim and Verzosa implicated,” even before finishing reading the report.
All three were cleared by Aquino, through the Palace legal team’s review.
Lacierda insisted that Aquino never uttered any strongly worded statement during his first meeting with his legal team.
“It wasn’t like that. I can very well vouch for the few instances that I was in a meeting with the President that there was heavy debate. Because it was CPLC De Mesa and Executive Secretary Ochoa who studied (the IIRC report), they were the ones who determined that no (charges of) criminal negligence (can stand in court)… the story is too (twisted)…they would like to project that conclusions were already imposed by the President—that is incorrect,” Lacierda explained.
Lacierda also branded as “premature” the warning issued by Sen.Joker Arroyo that the Truth Commission might suffer the same fate as that of the IIRC wherein the recommendations can always be rejected depending on the President.
“That is too early to tell. The mandate of the Truth Commission is to find a study and to submit its recommendation to the President. We don’t know what the President will decide at that point so it’s too premature for us to conclude. But their mandate is just to gather all the evidence and submit recommendations. We don’t know yet, it’s still far…” he said.
Ochoa stressed that Malacaņang would be closely monitoring all developments with regard to the recommendations made by the Palace in connection with the August 23 incident.
“We wish to assure the people of Hong Kong and the Chinese government that the Philippine Government is taking active measures to ensure the quick initiation and resolution of the cases to be filed against the individuals found liable in the Aug. 23 hostage-taking incident,” Ochoa said, adding that aside from monitoring the cases, the government was also focused on making the institutional reforms to avoid a repeat of the incident, as well as prepare various agencies in responding to emergency situations in the future.
“We have already begun taking steps to implement the reforms needed to ensure that our police forces have the equipment and training necessary to properly respond to incidents of this nature,” he stressed.
Ochoa said the legal panels recommendations were based on facts established by the IIRC. “We, the legal team, meaning to say the chief presidential legal counsel and myself did not consider other collateral issues or evidence because that is not within the purview of our authority to do so. We are confined with the facts as established by the report of the IIRC,” Ochoa said.
“When we reviewed it, when we assessed it, that’s how we saw it.”
The executive secretary also dispelled rumors that the report was sanitized by President Aquino to protect his friend and shooting buddy, Rico Puno.
Originally Posted by peewee_toot
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