Review of IIRC report tops busy Aquino weekend

Reviewing the report of a composite fact-finding board on the Aug. 23 hostage tragedy tops President Benigno Aquino III’s busy weekend, Malacañang said Saturday. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Aquino’s review of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) has even taken precedence over an upcoming official visit to the United States. Full attention on extensive ten-volume report “Ngayon I’m sure binabasa ng pangulo ang IIRC report. Maliban diyan ang speeches, ime-meet niya, napaghandaan na yan (Right now I am sure the president is reading the IIRC report. Aside from the IIRC report he will be poring over his speeches and preparations for his meetings in the US)," Lacierda said on government-run dzRB radio. “Ten volumes ang annexes so mahaba-haba ang babasahin ng presidente, mahaba ginawa ng IIRC (The report has 10 volumes of annexes, so the president has a lot pore over. The IIRC's work was extensive)," he added. Preparations for US visit take a backseat Lacierda said that the IIRC report, which has been in Aquino's hands since Friday, has gained the president's full attention. He added that Aquino will shift his attention to the preparations for his US visit during flight itself. Besides, Lacierda assured, the president's speeches were already prepared months in advance. “He will have time to go over the speeches and briefers while on the way (to the US)," Lacierda said. On the other hand, the spokesman declined to divulge details of the IIRC report, saying that he has not yet personally seen it. Assurances against whitewash Lacierda also declined to comment on claims that media was being used as a scapegoat of sorts in the hostage tragedy, amid reports that media personalities were among at least 12 people recommended to be charged for the tragedy. However, Lacierda insisted that there will be no whitewash involved, as Manila will furnish Beijing a copy of the report before making its contents public. “Kung may agam-agam na may whitewash o babaguhin ang report, di totoo yan. Ibibigay yan sa Chinese government. (If there is any doubt of a whitewash, that is not true. A copy will be given to the Chinese government.) It shows the report stays as it is," he said. Eight Hong Kong tourists were killed along with their hostage-taker, dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, in the 11-hour standoff last August 23. The incident has strained relations between the Philippines and China and Hong Kong.- TJD, GMANews.TV