Senate to resume hostage probe with focus on media

The Senate will resume next week its investigation on the August 23 hostage tragedy in Manila, this time focusing on the media’s coverage of the incident. The hearing was earlier suspended, but Sen. Gregorio Honasan on Thursday said they decided to resume their investigation after Senator Joker Arroyo manifested that the chamber should at least look into how the blow-by-blow coverage of the broadcast media affected the outcome of the hostage-taking. Honasan heads the committee on public order which is investigating the hostage crisis that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead. He earlier suspended the hearing until the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of Justice (DOJ) finished their parallel investigations. He said that aside from the role of the media in the outcome of the incident, they also wish to determine whether there are existing ground rules between the media and the government and security officials in charge of crisis situations. “We can narrow this down to media and law enforcement," he told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. The hearing is set Tuesday next week at 10 a.m. Invited to attend were representatives of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas and law enforcement agencies. Honasan said they may invite specific reporters should the situation calls for it. He also said the hearing would be open to the public. President Benigno Aquino III had earlier said the media’s live coverage of the hostage incident "severely hampered" the police operations to rescue the hostages. Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo explained that the live coverage robbed police of the element of surprise in dealing with hostage-taker. He said at least three of the hostages said that the hostage-taker, dismissed policeman Rolando Mendoza, who was also killed in the hostage crisis, became agitated after seeing how his brother was being arrested on television. Mendoza’s brother, SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza, was arrested for allegedly meddling with the negotiations. - GMANews.TV