DOJ chief: No need for 116 witnesses to join HK hostage probe

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she will advise President Benigno Simeon Aquino III not to send all of the 116 Philippine witnesses that the Hong Kong (HK) government requested for its own investigation of the August 23 Manila hostage tragedy. "The president is open to sending a delegation, but I'm advising the president not to send all 116 and to insist on the application of the MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty)," De Lima told reporters in Malacañang on Monday. De Lima said she earlier recommended to Aquino to have the HK Coroner's Court base its investigation within the MLAT between the Philippines and HK, China's special administrative region. In earlier interviews, De Lima said the treaty will protect Filipino witnesses from being prosecuted in a foreign country. De Lima noted that the HK government may have based its list of 116 witnesses on the report prepared by Incident Investigation and Review Committtee (IIRC), the Philippine multi-agency panel that investigated the August 23 hostage tragedy. De Lima chaired the five-member IIRC that conducted its proceedings in September. Chinese envoy's assurance Earlier, Liu Jianchao, China's ambassador to the Philippines, assured that Filipino witnesses are safe from prosecution because the Hong Kong will only do a fact-finding investigation. "The aim is to have the real cause of death and to have the assistance of the Philippine side. It's not going to be related to any legal prosecution of the witnesses. We'd like to have the cooperation of the Philippines in defining the cause of death [of the hostages]," Liu said on December 22 However, De Lima said on Monday she wants the Hong Kong government itself to make the assurance. "We want the assurance to come from them, the Hong Kong authorities," she said. Hostage tragedy On August 23 this year, a dismissed senior police inspector, Rolando Mendoza, held hostage in Manila a tourist bus with Hong Kong tourists. He was demanding for his reinstatement and the dismissal of the charges filed against him at the Office of the Ombudsman. At the end of an 11-hour standoff, Mendoza and eight Hong Kong tourists were killed.– with Jam Sisante, VVP, GMANews.TV