No charges for Filipino fumblers
Source: Agencies |
October 12, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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THE Philippine president yesterday spared top police and security officials from criminal prosecution for a bungled hostage rescue in which eight Hong Kong tourists died.
President Benigno Aquino III said seven officials instead would face administrative actions. The National Police Commission and the Interior Department will investigate them for administrative lapses including gross incompetence, neglect of duty and misconduct. Possible sanctions include dismissal.
A fired police officer, Rolando Mendoza, took dozens of Hong Kong tourists hostage on a bus in August to push his demand that he be reinstated. The drama played out for 11 hours as millions watched on live TV. He opened fire at the hostages before police finally broke into the bus and killed him.
The bungled rescue damaged ties with China and its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which warned against travel to the Philippines. It sparked Aquino's first major crisis, less than two months into his presidency.
He sought to placate Chinese leaders with an investigation he said was conducted with speed and fairness.
"I pledged from the very start that there would be accountability," Aquino told reporters yesterday, adding that apart from the administrative action, the government was taking steps to improve the training of security forces.
Adopting most of the recommendations of a fact-finding committee led by the justice secretary, Aquino said he was backing the initiation of administrative proceedings against Manila police chief Rodolfo Magtibay, police director Leocadio Santiago, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim as well as two senior police operatives.
Among other lapses, the report blamed Magtibay and Lim for leaving the scene for a restaurant before the hostage-taker started shooting the captives. The police chief allegedly defied Aquino's order to deploy an elite police commando team and instead used local SWAT members, the report said.
Magtibay was relieved shortly after the fiasco, while Lim, himself a former Manila police chief, angrily denied the allegations. It will be up to Aquino to decide what administrative sanctions Lim should face while the cases of the police officers will be left to their superiors.
Although the panel recommended that Lim and one of Aquino's closest aides, Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno, be investigated for possible criminal liability, the president made no such decision.
Aquino chided two radio journalists accused of tying up the hostage-taker's telephone line by interviewing him during the standoff.
Their interference bordered on the criminal, Aquino said, but he stopped short of recommending legal action.
President Benigno Aquino III said seven officials instead would face administrative actions. The National Police Commission and the Interior Department will investigate them for administrative lapses including gross incompetence, neglect of duty and misconduct. Possible sanctions include dismissal.
A fired police officer, Rolando Mendoza, took dozens of Hong Kong tourists hostage on a bus in August to push his demand that he be reinstated. The drama played out for 11 hours as millions watched on live TV. He opened fire at the hostages before police finally broke into the bus and killed him.
The bungled rescue damaged ties with China and its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which warned against travel to the Philippines. It sparked Aquino's first major crisis, less than two months into his presidency.
He sought to placate Chinese leaders with an investigation he said was conducted with speed and fairness.
"I pledged from the very start that there would be accountability," Aquino told reporters yesterday, adding that apart from the administrative action, the government was taking steps to improve the training of security forces.
Adopting most of the recommendations of a fact-finding committee led by the justice secretary, Aquino said he was backing the initiation of administrative proceedings against Manila police chief Rodolfo Magtibay, police director Leocadio Santiago, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim as well as two senior police operatives.
Among other lapses, the report blamed Magtibay and Lim for leaving the scene for a restaurant before the hostage-taker started shooting the captives. The police chief allegedly defied Aquino's order to deploy an elite police commando team and instead used local SWAT members, the report said.
Magtibay was relieved shortly after the fiasco, while Lim, himself a former Manila police chief, angrily denied the allegations. It will be up to Aquino to decide what administrative sanctions Lim should face while the cases of the police officers will be left to their superiors.
Although the panel recommended that Lim and one of Aquino's closest aides, Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno, be investigated for possible criminal liability, the president made no such decision.
Aquino chided two radio journalists accused of tying up the hostage-taker's telephone line by interviewing him during the standoff.
Their interference bordered on the criminal, Aquino said, but he stopped short of recommending legal action.
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