Palace: PNoy interview not blocking IIRC probe

Malacañang on Friday shrugged off speculations that President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s panel interview last Thursday on the Aug. 23 Manila hostage crisis was meant to preempt an ongoing investigation into the matter. Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma said Aquino “respects" the ongoing efforts of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC), and that the chief executive is waiting for its report. “The president wanted to clear the air on some doubts in the minds of people in the last two weeks. He wanted to make some things clear on the issue," Coloma said in Filipino in an interview on dzXL radio. Coloma also stressed Aquino already made it clear that he will withhold any action until he gets the report of IIRC, which ended its marathon hearings on the incident last Wednesday and is now consolidating its findings and recommendations. “Sa lahat ng kanyang pananalita nilinaw niya na ginagalang niya ang proseso na isinasagawa ngayon ng IIRC at hihintayin naman niya muna ang buong report nito bago siya gumawa ng aksyon lalong-lalo na tungkol sa pagtukoy sa responsable sa lapses na nangyari noong insidenteng yan," Coloma said. (In his pronouncements, the president made it clear he respects the IIRC’s processes and will wait for its findings before he acts against those responsible for the lapses in the rescue operation.) Panel interview On Thursday, Aquino answered some questions on the hostage crisis in a rare panel interview with selected broadcasters in Malacañang. While he admitted being exasperated with some officials on the ground, he maintained the hostage crisis will not define his administration. The Philippine government is still in the international spotlight over the bloody incident, about which the IIRC bared lapses by several officials on the ground. Eight Hong Kong tourists were killed along with their hostage-taker, dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, in the 11-hour standoff. Coloma also belied claims that Malacañang was selective in allowing only the major television networks to interview the president. At Thursday’s panel interview, Carmela Tiangco of GMA Network, Mario Teodoro Failon Etong of ABS-CBN, and Paolo Bediones of TV5 were able to throw questions to the president regarding the hostage incident. “We hope our friends in media will understand what happened last Thursday. There was no intention to favor a few. There is no such policy," Coloma said in Filipino. He also said Aquino had made himself accessible to another round of interviews by reporters after the panel discussion. “…Siguro naman masasabi ng mamamahayag na siya ay naging very accessible naman kahit pagkatapos ng panel interview kahapon nagpa-interview sa mamamahayag (The president has been accessible. Even after the panel interview, he made himself available to reporters)," he added. Coloma also said there was no “deliberate" plan to keep foreign correspondents, including those from Hong Kong, out of Thursday’s panel discussion. He added the Palace may even consider granting interviews, particularly over the hostage crisis, to foreign correspondents should they make a request. “Kung pagkatapos nito mga foreign correspondents gusto humingi ng pagkakataon sa kanya iko-consider din naman yan (After this, if foreign correspondents want to interview the president, we will consider their requests)," he said. Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has urged the government to make public the IIRC’s findings soonest, now that it has finished its hearings on the Aug. 23 hostage crisis. The bishops warned that Filipinos' trust and patience in the Aquino administration may falter if the government keeps the findings from the public. "If it will not be released, it could revive the public distrust on the government," said Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said in an article posted on the CBCP’s news site. Pabillo also chairs the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Social Action-Justice and Peace (ECSA-JP). — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV