(The Philippine Star) Updated December 19, 2010
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines will put the rights of its nationals first if Hong Kong calls them to testify at an inquiry into the Aug.23 fatal tourist bus hijacking in Rizal Park, a Palace spokesperson said yesterday.
Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said they had not yet received full details of the proposal to summon 116 witnesses to the Chinese city’s investigation.
Hong Kong’s Department of Justice said it wanted to summon Philippine witnesses including Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, police snipers, doctors and medical examiners to its own inquiry.
The Incident Investigation and Review Committee led by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had recommended only minor charges over the August crisis that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead. Lim is facing administrative charges for the botched rescue operation.
“We need to make sure they will respect the rights of our countrymen who are summoned... that is our first and foremost consideration,” Valte said over the state-run dzRB.
“We don’t have the mechanics of what the Hong Kong side wants to do in this respect... considering that the witnesses that they want to summon are outside of their jurisdiction,” she said.
“At this point, it is not clear whether they will summon those they want to testify or they will just ask for deposition, in which case the testimonies will pass through our courts and our lawyers. So at this point, there are no clear details as to how they want to do the testimony,” Valte said.
“We do not know in what form they want the (testimonies). Do they want to summon these witnesses to Hong Kong? And we need to know many details if that is what they want to happen because of course, we want to make sure that they will respect the rights of our countrymen who will be summoned if ever,” she pointed out. “And second, who will pay for the transportation, for the air fare of those who will go there? Will they be the witnesses themselves who will be called? Is it their government or us?”
Valte said these details and many others must be spelled clearly first before the government can properly assess what it should do.
“From what I see, they’re speaking about over a hundred witnesses. So this is quite many, we don’t know what they really want – how they plan to facilitate the inquest and how they plan to deal with our citizens,” Valte said.
Valte said Hongkong investigators might even arrive at a conclusion different from IIRC’s.
“If you’re asking me if it’s possible that the outcome will be different, of course, it is possible. In the universe of possibilities, it will always be possible that their findings will be at variance with ours. But, again, as we’ve always said, we stand by the results of the IIRC review and the charges have already been filed against those people and that the process is moving forward,” Valte said.
Ties between Hong Kong and the Philippines were strained after dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza seized a busload of Hong Kong tourists outside Fort Santiago, leading to a bungled police rescue attempt near the Quirino Grandstand in the Rizal Park.
In September, the IIRC recommended charges against a dozen people including Lim.
But in October, President Aquino only called for minor charges to be filed against four police officers, Lim and a deputy ombudsman, triggering an outrage in Hong Kong. – Aurea Calica, Sandy Araneta
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