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By Angie M. Rosales 09/02/2010 Malacanang may have had a direct hand in the sudden suspension of the Senate’s scheduled inquiry into the bungled hostage crisis that left eight Hong Kong residents dead and eight more injured, with more traumatized over the tragedy. Sen. Edgardo Angara raised this issue of probable Malacañang interference in the affairs of the Senate as word reached him that somebody allegedly asked to have Sen. Gregorio Honasan, overall lead in the probe of the Aug. 23 hostage incident in Manila, place on hold the proceedings in the meantime. “Who is investigating it? Because they (Palace) requested Gringo (Honasan) to suspend in the meantime the investigation here in the Senate,” Angara said yesterday in an interview with reporters, adding this was the information he had gathered. He insinuated that the current Senate does not seem to be acting independently, tossing back the question to reporters if the move to suspend the inquiry will affect the credibility of the institution. Angara, however, refused to divulge his source, saying that the issue is best addressed to the panel chairmen. Predictably Honasan, chairman of the public order committee, dismissed the allegations, standing by the decision taken by senators, while assuring that probe will continue, hopefully within two to three weeks. “It could also be a good move to allow the Executive to conduct the investigation. But let them (Palace) do it fairly and objectively because that’s all that China is expecting and China has tied its assistance to the result of an objective, fair investigation,” said Angara. Reports also have it, Angara said, that the Chinese government has suspended aid to the country involving a sizable amount, pending the results of the probe. “China announced that (it) will not release a single centavo of aid previously committed nor extend (aid) anymore until the results of the investigation are in,” he said, adding that this is but “a national reaction from the foreign government considering the fact that a number of Hong Kong nationals stood as casualties in the 11-hour hostage crisis and seen by them (HK) on television. “It’s not OK for us but it’s understandable,” he said. Honasan defended again his decision to suspend the probe as Sen. Joker Arroyo took the floor to protest the deferment of the proceedings, saying that probe should continue, at least on the issue of the role played by media, the broadcast industry in particular, in such a crisis situation. “This aspect should be pursued because of what appears to be the pivotal role of broadcast media in the outcome of the hostage drama played out on national and international radio and TV,” Arroyo said in manifesting his motion to continue the proceedings. “Several crucial questions need to be addressed: (a) did broadcast media influence the behavior and ultimate action of the hostage-taker (Capt. Rolando) Mendoza; (b) did the live broadcast of the events compromise the security measures and maneuvers of the law enforcers; (c) is there a protocol in place for media involvement in conflict situations such as the last hostage crisis and (d) what are rules of engagement between media and law enforcers in similar situations? “Congress cannot abdicate its responsibility to conduct a separate, independent inquiry because it has the duty to conduct a review under the uniform terms of the franchise it gives to broadcast media. Unlike print media which is immune to prior licensing, broadcast media operate only if Congress grants them a legislative franchise and the Executive gives them a frequency, in both instances, subject to certain conditions that do not impair the constitutional right of press freedom. “It is limited only as to the role of broadcast media on what happened so that it should never happen again,” Sen. Arroyo added. Honasan admitted that the Senate was reacting to the gag order issued to members of the police forces and those involved in the incident, but insisted that the Senate’s “independent” inquiry will proceed as the Senate is not bound by the gag order. But he added that the consideration taken in suspending the probe was the “sensitivity” to foreign national victims, in the effort of the Executive to look into the incident and to prove that the government is “speaking with one voice.” Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, for his part, explained that the suspension of the probe was “to give the Executive, especially the resource people that will be involved, the chance to finish the investigation so that proper charges or disciplinary actions will be taken against those who have erred without prejudice to the continuation at the later date of the inquiries in order that we can craft the necessary legislation to address the problem.” Arroyo still insisted on the need to continue and deal specifically on the matter involving the media, even recommending a separate inquiry since Honasan also happens to be the chairman of the committee on public information and mass media. Honasan said he will take into consideration the manifestation of his colleague. Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, chairman of the justice and human rights committee and co-chairman in the probe disputed Angara’s insinuations saying that the postponement was his and Honasan’s consensus, with the approval of their respective panel members. Meanwhile, Malacañang yesterday announced President Aquino’s willingness to cooperate in the ongoing probe being conducted by the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) led by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima but “only if it is necessary”. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda who issued this statement, however, stressed he was assured by De Lima that Aquino’s presence in the investigation is “not necessary” at this point because the IIRC’s investigation is currently concentrated on the “players” that were directly involved in the botched rescue operations. “I spoke to Secretary Leila de Lima and I asked her what exactly was the question asked to her of her answer and she said, right now, the presence of the President is not necessary for the determination of the fact-finding because this is geared toward finding what happened (and) who are the players involved in the incident. Secretary Leila de Lima said that in case he (Aquino) is called, he will not be summoned. He will only be invited,” he told reporters. Lacierda also claimed he is in the dark about the garbled coordination between Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo and DILG Undersecretary for Peace and Order Rico Escalona Puno who has been implicated by Aquino as “partly” responsible for the tragic conclusion of the hostage crisis. The issue involved a memorandum order that was supposedly executed by Robredo prior to the incident with respect to Aquino’s directive on transferring the DILG’s jurisdiction over the police forces at Puno’s helm. The memo was, however, retracted later, which brought about the confusion in which Malacañang claimed it had no clue at all of such memorandum. “I’m not aware of that. What we were aware of is that, as stated by the President, since Secretary Robredo is an expert in governance, the local government part of DILG was given to Secretary Jesse Robredo. The police part was given to Usec. Rico Puno—he being the Usec for public order. There was no such memo to my memory,” Lacierda said. “I do not recall that there was an issuance. Secretary Robredo also did not say anything about that to me. With respect to responsibility, it was there. There was a crisis committee, there were ground commanders there—they were the ones who were handling the minute-by-minute negotiations there,” he added. With Aquino’s admission he was fed wrong information on the real ground situation during the hostage crisis, lawmakers yesterday reiterated their demand for Aquino to fire the officials involved in the hostage fiasco. In a press briefing, Minority Leader, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said they will push the sacking of key government officials including Robredo and Communication Secretaries Sonny Coloma and Ricky Carandang for having bungled the operations during the hostage crisis. Lagman said the three officials have been issuing misleading statements on the incident to cover up for their “heinous mistakes” during the hostage crisis. “Secretary Robredo is insisting the incident was purely a police matter as if the police establishment is not under his office,” said Lagman. Now, Lagman said, Robredo he is blaming his underling, DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno for the fiasco. But with Aquino finally admitting before an interview he was totally misinformed on the whole incident, Lagman said the President should now fire all the officials involved in the handling of the situation. In a text message, Ang Galing Pinoy (AG) Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo agreed with Lagman saying Aquino needs to reorganize his managerial team. “With President Aquino’s admission that he was fed with wrong information on the hostage-crisis last week, we are now more inclined to call for reorganization or a restructuring of his managerial team. Clearly it was a case of managerial lapse and this is not the first time it had happened to him being fed with wrong information,” said Arroyo. And with Aquino finally taking a bold step in admitting there was something wrong in his administration, Arroyo added the President should also be bold enough to admit to being wrong in blaming the past administration for everything wrong that is happening in his own administration. The former presidential son said that contrary to claims by Aquino and his spin doctors, it was too much politicking on their (Aquino) part that resulted to the hostage fiasco. “For the record, there is an abundance of competent people in past administration which this government could have utilized but decided against due to too much politicking,” Arroyo said as he cited the case of an elite team of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) which was no deployed in the hostage-taking situation mainly because the leader was identified with the Arroyo administration. With Aytch S. de la Cruz and Charlie V. Manalo
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