MANILA, Philippines - The two Chinese consular officers being held for killing two colleagues and wounding another in a restaurant in Cebu City last Wednesday would be turned over to the Chinese embassy because they have diplomatic immunity, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.
China’s consul general in Cebu Song Ronghua survived a bullet wound in the neck, but two of his staff members died during the lunchtime attack in a private room of Lighthouse restaurant in Cebu City.
The shooter was arrested and identified by police as Li Qingliang. Li’s wife, Guo Jing, who works in the consulate’s visa section, was also held for questioning. Both requested diplomatic immunity, police said after the shooting.
“Custody will be given to the Chinese side and they will undergo legal process in China,” DFA spokesman Charles Jose told reporters yesterday.
Song’s deputy, Sun Shen, was shot in the neck and died. Also killed was Li Hui, a female finance officer at the consulate, who was shot in the head.
At Malacañang, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the DFA is in close coordination with the Chinese embassy regarding the case and that proper laws and processes are being followed.
China’s Global Times newspaper said in an editorial yesterday that diplomats often worked in stressful environments. “The diplomatic service should not consider themselves to be immune to problems, nor can the public think in this way,” it said.
Jose said China had invoked diplomatic immunity as its right under the United Nations Vienna Convention.
He clarified that immunity enjoyed by Philippine and Chinese diplomats in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations was expanded with the signing of the 2009 Consular Agreement between Manila and Beijing.
“Because we have bilateral consular agreement we expanded immunities to cover even consular officers. In this case, the bilateral agreement applies to their consulate,” Jose told The STAR.
“We expanded the coverage to include consular officers and it works both ways, even our consular officers in China are also immune from criminal jurisdiction,” he explained.
In a statement released before yesterday’s press briefing, Jose said those involved in the shooting were “all members” of the Chinese consulate in Cebu.
But the same statement said, “The shooting was an extreme act of a relative of a staff of the consulate general.”
The DFA spokesman did not clarify the positions of the Chinese and said authorities still did not know what triggered the killings.
“The couple... is still in our custody but in view of an agreement between the Philippines and China, we would respect and honor their immunity,” said a senior police officer, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
“We will defer the filing of charges against the accused and wait for the official announcement from the DFA,” the officer said.
Motive unknown
Police are trying to unravel the different strands of the bizarre drama.
Rey Lawas, a police spokesman in Cebu city, said investigators believe the shooting could be the result of a personal grudge over financial matters between Li and Sun, the deputy consul general, or the female finance officer.
“They have been at odds for a long time over personal finances,” Lawas said, adding the fight “was purely personal.”
A source said the restaurant shooting was all about money. One of the suspects, according to the source, has been under investigation for two years now for embezzling consulate funds.
The couple reportedly tried to cover up the irregularity but the newly appointed consul general ordered an inventory.
The source also said the couple had a premeditated plan to murder their fellow diplomats as they had smuggled a locally made caliber .45 pistol into the Lighthouse restaurant on Mango Avenue, where the shooting happened at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Evidence gathered against the Chinese couple would be eventually turned over to Chinese authorities, the source added.
“The police cannot investigate the incident because the Chinese suspect invoked diplomatic immunity,” the source stressed. “It is now the Chinese police who would probe the shooting incident and file the charges against their citizen.”
The source learned about the embezzlement issue from the Filipino drivers of the Chinese diplomats.
Waiters at the Lighthouse, a popular restaurant serving Filipino food, told police they heard shouting coming from a private room but could not understand what was being said. Minutes later they heard gunshots.
The senior police officer said investigators would also look into how the pistol used in the shooting had been acquired.
Another police officer involved in the investigation said the serial number on the weapon had been defaced and that it was similar to another gun registered in Metro Manila.
Identical weapon
Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor Jr., spokesman for the Philippine National Police, said the gun recovered from the crime scene has the same serial number as another gun of the same make registered in the name of a Valenzuela City resident.
“So our investigators are checking these two firearms. What we can say now is we have two guns with the same serial number,” said Mayor in a press briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Mayor said the colt caliber .45 with serial number 126238, based on records with the Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO), was registered in the name of Theodore Calaveras from Valenzuela City.
Mayor said police checked with Calaveras who claimed he had sold the firearm to a certain Mago.
In a follow-up operation, police located Mago and found Calaveras’ registered gun in his possession.
“Possibly two firearms with the same serial number were made and it’s possible one of the firearms was not original,” said Mayor. He declined to say which of the two guns was genuine.
“In Cebu, it’s easy to procure a gun because of a large cottage industry for homemade guns,” said another police official who declined to be named.
“Let us allow the DFA to issue statement with regard to the immunity and other matters pertaining to country-to-country relationship,” said Mayor.
He stressed the Cebu police have done their part in the case.
“No. 1, the police arrested the suspects, processed the crime scene and recovered the firearm used in the crime. The PNP conducted verification on the firearm involved but the next step, especially on the immunity, should come from the DFA,” he said.
Based on earlier accounts from the restaurant’s staff, a group of nine people had gathered to celebrate the birthday of the consul general. They said the group had ordered a banquet, but no alcohol, and shouting was heard before shots were fired. There were no other witnesses, aside from those in the group, because the shootings took place in a private room.
PNP Chief Supt. Tom Bañas, Region 7 police chief, admitted last Wednesday the first officers on the scene initially let the surviving diners go, but arrested the two a short time later.
He said the two suspects had claimed they could not speak English.
“We don’t have a motive. We can’t talk to them. When we talk to them, they say ‘no speak English’,” Bañas said.
Meanwhile, University of the Philippines law professor Harry Roque Jr. said the Chinese suspects in the Cebu shooting were not covered by diplomatic immunity.
He explained that under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relation, diplomats do not enjoy full immunity as there is an exception to the rule.
“Diplomats are exempt from civil jurisdiction except on cases involving real estate, wills, professional and commercial activity outside official duties,” he told The STAR, citing Article 31 of the1961 convention.
Roque, who is running for a congressional seat under the Kabayan party-list, said diplomats involved in grave crimes are not immune to arrest and prosecution.
“When diplomats violate penal laws of the host country, they could be charged and prosecuted,” he pointed out. Cecille Suerte Felipe, Non Alquitran, Aurea Calica, Edu Punay