MANILA, Philippines ? Mr. Secretary, what then is your responsibility?

A House minority leader wondered on Sunday why everyone, from President Aquino down to the ground commander, had claimed responsibility for the Aug. 23 bungled hostage crisis except Interior and Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo.

``If the President assumed full responsibility, and Robredo did not have responsibility, what else is he for at the DILG?'' Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Padilla said by phone.

While Mr. Aquino had tasked Interior Undersecretary Rico E. Puno to handle police and by extension the crisis, Robredo could not escape responsibility, being the interior secretary, he said.

``The point is, he's the DILG Secretary,'' he said, pointing out that nothing could have stopped him from looking into police matters despite Puno's designation. DILG stands for the Department of Interior and Local Governments.

Mr. Aquino had claimed responsibility for the police mishandling of the crisis that left the hostage taker Rolando Mendoza and eight hostages, all Hong Kong nationals, dead.

Opposition lawmakers had called for Robredo's ouster over his supposed belated response to the crisis, but the secretary claimed he did not play a key role since Puno was in charge of the police.

Robredo also sat at the Incident Investigation and Review Committee, which began marathon hearings on the crisis last Friday, and questioned police and local officials.

The House appropriations committee will hear on Monday the Philippine National Police budget for 2011, and expects Robredo and Police Director General Jesus Verzosa to be present, according to chair Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya.

``I've spoken to ... Puno that there might be policy questions related to hostage-taking,'' he said in a text message.

By not claiming responsibility, Robredo was exposing Mr. Aquino to criticism, and ouster calls, Padilla said.

``Assuming that Puno is in charge of the PNP and directly reports to the President, who has claimed responsibility, where does the buck stop? If there's a call for resignation, it should not be at the level of PNP or DILG only, but where the buck stops,'' he said.

Padilla also wondered if the law allowed Undersecretary Puno to report directly to the President, or the President to deal directly with Puno, in effect bypassing Robredo.

``That defies management logic... This has resulted in a mongoloid set-up,'' he said, pointing out that the chain of command principle dictated that the President dealt first with the secretary, then the undersecretary.

Abaya, for his part, said he preferred to raise questions on the budget of the PNP ``like pushing resources down to the police station, and the possibility of stopping jueteng (illegal numbers game).''