Charges vs Mayor Lim, et al. on bus hostage fiasco dragging

Mayor Alfredo Lim. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

A year after the Rizal Park hostage fiasco on Aug. 23, 2010, the administrative cases filed against Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, four police officials still drag on and at least one of them had been promoted.

President Benigno Aquino III had ordered that they be charged for the poor handling of the hostage situation and the botched rescue which resulted in the death of hostage-taker dismissed senior inspector Rolando Mendoza, along with eight tourists from Hong Kong who were among those he held inside a tourist bus for nearly a day.

Seven other tourists were injured in the televised rescue attempt by Manila policemen.

In Malacañang, President Aquino will not agree to meet families of some of the eight Hong Kong hostages, according to his spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.

The President had instead delegated Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to explain to the relatives the steps the government had taken to address their demand for compensation, Lacierda said.

A Hong Kong inquest earlier this year concluded that Philippine officials contributed to or caused the deaths of the eight tourists. Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo has said that police fire did not kill any hostages.

Lacierda said Mr. Aquino would not meet with the families because the Philippines did not want to be drawn into the politics of Hong Kong’s upcoming election.

“We understand the anger of the families,” Lacierda said. “We have taken concrete steps.”

De Lima said she would inform the families of the government actions, including filing of charges against those involved, the country’s legal system, and proposed reforms to better deal with similar situations.

The only official fired as a result of the police fiasco was a deputy ombudsman. Many in Hong Kong are upset that the Philippines chose not to pursue criminal charges.

Only case resolved

According to Robredo, only the administrative case of Director Leocadio Santiago Jr. of the Philippine National Police (PNP), who had been charge with the less grave offense of neglect of duty, had been resolved.

The chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) at the time, Santiago served an 11-day suspension from March 4 to 14 this year.

Santiago has since been promoted to chief of the PNP Directorate for Operations and oversees the PNP Crisis Action Force (CAF) created to handle future hostage situations.

Lim, on the other hand, had only recently finished presenting his witnesses and documentary evidence before the Department of Interior and Local Government.

The Manila mayor was charged with simple neglect and misconduct since he was the crisis management committee head.

Robredo informed Laciedra in a memorandum last August 18 that a panel was still reviewing Lim’s summary of defense which he submitted on August 6.

Robredo said the National Police Commission had so far held 13 hearings, the last one on June 21, for the administrative cases of four other officers.

The other four are: Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, then head of the Manila Police District (MPD), charged with serious neglect of duty and gross incompetence; hostage negotiator Supt. Orlando Yebra, charged with serious neglect of duty, serious irregularity in the performance of duty and gross incompetence;

Chief Inspector Santiago Pascual III, then commander of the MPD Special Weapons and Tactics, charged with gross incompetence; and Senior Police Officer 2 Gregorio Mendoza, brother of the slain hostage-taker, charged with grave misconduct and serious neglect of duty.

Robredo said prosecutors were supposed to submit their formal offer of evidence last month.

The officers were relieved from duty after the fiasco.

But according to PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz, Magtibay and Yebra had been assigned to the Personnel Holding Center in the PNP general headquarters in Camp Crame while Pascual and Mendoza had been assigned to the Personnel Holding Center in the NCRPO headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa. With a report from AP