PHL cancels high-level China trip on hostage crisis

The planned visit of a high-level Philippine delegation to China to discuss the recommendations of a special committee that probed the August 23 hostage tragedy in Manila has been cancelled, a Palace spokesman said Friday. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Chinese foreign ministry could not accommodate in its schedule the Philippine delegation that was supposed to explain President Benigno Aquino III's decisions regarding the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) report on the hostage crisis. "The Chinese foreign ministry could not schedule us," Lacierda told Palace reporters, adding that the Chinese government anyway already knows Aquino's actions on the IIRC report. "So, as far as we know, wala nang delegasyon na pupunta [no delegation will go]," he said. The cancelled high-level delegation would have been led by Vice President Jejomar Binay. On the morning of August 23, dismissed policeman Rolando Mendoza held hostage a Hong-Thai bus carrying 21 tourists from Hong Kong and four Filipino travel agency staff in Manila near the Quirino Grandstand. At the end of the 11-hour hostage drama, eight tourists and Mendoza were killed. The IIRC, headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, recommended sanctions against more than 10 individuals for the supposed mishandling of the hostage incident. However, Aquino ordered the filing of administrative charges only against four police officials, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, and Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzales III. Only the hostage-taker's brother, SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza, was identified as criminally liable for illegal possession of firearms and serious illegal detention. Aquino decided not to pursue charges against longtime friend Interior Secretary Rico Puno, then Philippine National Police chief Jesus Verzosa, Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, broadcasters Michael Rogas and Erwin Tulfo, and broadcast stations ABS-CBN, GMA, and TV 5. The Hong Kong government expressed its dismay with Aquino's decision not to follow all of the IIRC's recommendations. —Jam L. Sisante/JV, GMANews.TV