DOJ bars 'premature disclosures' on hostage probe

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Monday barred government agencies from issuing premature disclosures on the inquiry into the August 23 hostage tragedy in Manila that left eight tourists from Hong Kong dead. The Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) are spearheading the Incident and Investigation Review Committee (IIRC), which is conducting a parallel probe into the incident. The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are attached agencies of the two departments, respectively. On Monday, the review committee met with investigators from Hong Kong, headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Ng Ka Sing and Albert Man Tat Shing, superintendent of the Hong Kong police force for organized crime and triad committee. At a news briefing after the meeting, De Lima said the committee has to issue a clearance first before any information is made public. "There would be no premature disclosure of findings, observations, unnecessary comments until the investigation is finished, until we submit a report. There should be a clearance first before a disclosure is given," De Lima said. "I'm going to request the PNP to desist from disclosing so-called preliminary findings. It will not do us good," she added.

De Lima was reacting to reports quoting the PNP as saying that the eight hostages who died in the bloddbath were killed by the bullet of the hostage-taker, Rolando Mendoza, and not by the police. Mendoza was also killed in the incident. "I am issuing a gag order now," she stressed. Only the committee can disclose the status of the ongoing probe. The findings and recommendations will later be submitted to Malacañang and to Hong Kong authorities. For his part, deputy presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the review committee's report will be the basis of the country's top-level delegation to Hong Kong and China, to be headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay. Lacierda and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo are part of the high-level team. "Hintayin po ang report at pagdala po namin ang report. Nun lamang po kami aalis (Let us wait for the report. Once we have it, that's when we will leave the country)," said Lacierda at the same news briefing. In an interview in Malacañang later, Lacierda said only De Lima is authorized to speak on the matter. "In order to properly brief media, the Secretary of Justice will be the one to brief the media and the public. (This is) in order not to confuse the public," Lacierda said. HK probers in RP has observer status De Lima has also instructed that Philippine forensic investigators must first complete their tests before their Hong Kong counterparts. For example, Philippine policemen have to finish their bullet trajectory tests first before Hong Kong investigators can do so. "We discussed certain protocols they (HK investigators) asked for permission to conduct inspection of the bus and subsequently inspection or examiniation of the firearms as well as interviews of witnesses. They are going to do that (probe) for their own purposes. It will be by stages and only after our own authorities...have completed their own examination," she said. The investigators from Hong Kong, for their part, said they accept that the Philippine government has the primary jurisdiction in conducting the investigation into the incident. "We respect the jurisdiction of the Philippine authorities," Ng said in an ambush interview. This week, the Philippine review committee is expected to collect police and NBI reports on evidence-gathering, forensic tests, and witnesses' statements. After processing the submissions made by the PNP and NBI, the committee will then hold proceedings for clarificatory questions. De Lima said the HK investigators will get to observe the proceedings, but they cannot interfere. "We will evaluate (the reports) and identify who among the officials will be summoned to the proceedings of the commitee for purposes of clarificatory questioning. The Hong Kong authorities cannot interfere. They can attend and observe but they cannot interfere," said De Lima. She added the NBI may also send representatives to Hong Kong to get the statements of those who survived the hostage tragedy. — RSJ, GMANews.TV