Senate suspends probe of Manila hostage tragedy

A Senate panel has decided to suspend its probe on the bloody hostage tragedy until the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have completed their joint investigations. Senator Gregorio Honasan, head of the Senate committee on public order, said he and his colleagues have agreed to suspend the hearings regarding the incident until the DILG and DOJ come out with a final investigation report. "We will not preempt whatever facts will come out in the (DILG-DOJ) investigation," Honasan told reporters in an interview on Tuesday. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said suspending the congressional hearings is a good thing because there would be no duplication of findings. "Kawawa naman yung mga resource people at yung mga tatawagin... di malaman sino susunduin (The resource persons and those who will be summoned might find it difficult because they wouldn't know who to follow first)," Enrile said in a separate interview. Honasan, however, stressed that their decision was made not because of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima's statement barring government agencies from issuing "premature disclosures" on the inquiry into the hostage tragedy. Senate Pro Tempore Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada and Senator Ramon Bong Revilla, Jr., for their part, said they hope the investigation would still be transparent despite De Lima's order. "Kailangan kasi malaman ng taumbayan at maging transparent. Kailang masatisfy (We need to be open and transparent to our people. We need to satisfy) both countries," said Estrada. "Siyempre ayaw naman natin lumutang na parang meron tayong tinatago (We don't want to seem like we're hiding something)," added Revilla. Honasan said he is hoping that the country would not lose its "national self-respect and national self-confidence" whatever the outcome of the probe may be. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV