Noy receptive to De Lima's proposal to send small team to Hong Kong probe

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino is amenable to the proposal of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to send only a few of the 116 Filipino witnesses the Hong Kong government wanted in its investigation into the Aug. 23 hostage crisis in Rizal Park.

“I don’t know if there is really a need to have that many. And of course if the interviews can be done here in inquest proceedings, I think it would be better for our part,” Aquino told reporters in an interview yesterday after the wreath laying at the Rizal Monument in Luneta.

He did not say how many of the witnesses he was willing to allow to be interviewed by Hong Kong authorities.

Aquino clarified though that the Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum has not yet reached his desk, and that he learned about it only through media reports.

The DOJ, however, has already studied the legal and constitutional parameters for such an arrangement, mainly hinged on “issues of sovereignty and the protection of our citizens.”   

The HK Special Administrative Region wanted to summon a total of 116 Filipinos, all named in the incident investigation and review committee (IIRC) headed by De Lima, in its inquest probe, although the Hong Kong government said it would not be for prosecution purposes.

Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao said the Filipino witnesses would provide assistance to the Coroner’s Court looking into the direct cause of death of the eight Hong Kong tourists who were killed during the hostage incident.

Liu stressed the witnesses would not be prosecuted by the court. He stressed the Coroner’s Court needed the cooperation of the Filipino witnesses in determining the cause of death of the hostages.

“It is a legal procedure that is why the Coroner’s Court will conduct inquiry into the hostage-taking incident in which the death of eight people came as a result, so what we are going to do is we are going to find out the real cause of death,” he said.

“And we would like to have help and assistance from the Philippine side within the framework of judicial assistance agreement between the Philippines and Hong Kong,” Liu added.

The DOJ chief earlier said that Aquino was open to sending a delegation to Hong Kong but added that she had advised him against sending all 116 witnesses to the inquest. “Why do they need all of them?” she asked.

She said Hong Kong authorities apparently used as basis all the names of the witnesses mentioned in the report of IIRC.

She advised the President “to insist on the application of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty” saying this was “the only way we can duly protect all of those we will send to testify before the coroner’s inquest proceedings.”

The eight Hong Kong tourists were killed after the police attempted to rescue them from a hostage taker who commandeered their bus to Quirino Grandstand. The hostage taker, a dismissed police officer, was also killed in the bungled rescue operation. The incident soured relations between the Philippines and China.