RP to end hostage probe before meeting with China

The Philippine government will have to finish first the investigation on the bloody hostage-taking in Manila three days ago before meeting with Chinese authorities, officials from the two countries’ foreign affairs department said Thursday. The high-level Philippine delegation, headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay, was not able to fly to Beijing and meet with Chinese government officials on Thursday since the probe into Monday’s incident is not yet finished, the Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ed Malaya said. “While the delegation is ready to leave anytime, there is an understanding between both sides that the Philippine delegation will bring a full report of Monday’s incident," he said in a statement on Thursday. He added that members of the delegation were not able to make it to China on Thursday since the schedule of their activities is still being finalized. “The Philippine Government is awaiting finalization of arrangements with respect to the calls and meetings of the high-level delegation that will proceed to the People’s Republic of China and thereafter to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region," he said.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Jiang Yu meanwhile said that both countries are closely coordinating with each other and have agreed that investigation must be completed first before the meeting. “We believe that the most urgent task is to have a complete investigation of the matter as soon as possible," she said in a separate press briefing on Thursday. On August 23, dismissed Police Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza hijacked a bus carrying 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos. After an 11-hour hostage drama right in front of the Quirino grandstand at the historic Rizal Park, nine people were killed — the hostage-taker and eight Hong Kong tourists. (See: Hostage crisis ends in bloody carnage; 8 hostages dead) Leaders and residents of the Chinese territory earlier expressed disappointment over the outcome of the hostage-taking and on the manner local police handled the incident. (See: China condemns attack on Hong Kong tourists in Manila) Despite this, Philippine consul general in Hong Kong Claro Cristobal assured that Hong Kong officials and Filipinos in the Chinese territory are taking concrete steps to heal the wounds caused by the bloody hostage-taking. (See: Hong Kong assures RP of friendship, safety of Filipinos) Working round-the-clock The Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory meanwhile assured the government that it is working round-the-clock to finish the investigation on the Manila hostage tragedy as soon as possible. “Hindi po kami natutulog. Tuluy-tuloy pa iyan, araw at gabi (We are not getting any sleep. It’s continuous work, day and night). We are continuously working on the ballistic exams," PNP Crime Laboratory director Chief Superintendent Victoria Salinas Caragan Jr. said in a television interview on Thursday. Caragan also said that the PNP will release the results of the investigation even if they incriminate some of its personnel. “This is a professional organization. Kung ano ang findings namin, ‘yun ang irerelease namin (Whatever findings we have, that’s what we’ll release)," he said. Authorities have also released initial findings on the victims’ medico-legal examination, which indicates that all the fatalities were shot at a distance not less than three feet. “There were no signs of singeing, o ‘yung pagkasunog ng buhok (or of burnt hair)," Col. Ruby Grace Diangson, chief of the PNP medico-legal division, said in a separate interview. Diangson likewise said that the findings showed that the hostage-taker was shot at close range in the back, besides the gunshot wounds he obtained in the neck, head and limbs. PNP Crime Laboratory spokesperson Superintendent Marites Villacarlos meanwhile said that identifying the guns that fired the bullets that killed the victims may take some time. “Ang pag-eexamine ng ganitong klaseng ebidensya ay para kang naghahanap ng karayom sa isang field na pagkalawak-lawak (Examining this kind of evidence is like trying to find a needle in a vast field)," she said. Foreign investigators welcome PNP spokesperson Agrimero Cruz Jr., for his part, said that foreign investigators are welcome to assist in the investigations. “The PNP will welcome foreign support for this if our friends from the police forces of the Southeast Asian region would like to help and pitch in," he told reporters on Thursday. Cruz added that the police is planning to secure the bullet-riddled tourist bus in an enclosed, air-conditioned space to preserve potential evidence. The ill-fated bus was brought from Quirino Grandstand in Manila to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City two days after the incident.—JV, GMANews.TV