‘Friendly-Fire’ Theory Weakens

MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said on Monday the survivors’ accounts have weakened the “conspiracy theory" and “friendly-fire” angle being looked into by the panel probing the tragic August 23 hostage-taking in front of the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

She said the absence of tattooing on the bodies does not mean that they were indeed shot from a distance (not close range).

Asked if the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) is ruling out casualties by friendly fire, De Lima said, “In all likelihood. Not 100 percent conclusion.”

She further said that the panel has to wait for the analysis of the ballistic results done in Hong Kong to complete the investigation. The ballistic scanning and procedure were done in Hong Kong as it has advanced technology and they finished the procedure in two days. But the analysis on correlation report of the ballistic is now being done here in the Philippines and it would take two weeks to be completed.

De Lima said the accounts of the survivors corroborated with the testimony of tourist bus driver Alberto Lubang that the hostage-taker, dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza shot the victims at close range.

The Justice secretary said the Department of Justice-National Bureau of Investigation (DoJ-NBI) team took the statements of five survivors in Hong Kong.

“They brought (home) statements from five survivors, six autopsy reports, three cellphones belonging to Lubang, the photographer, and Diana Chan, the tourist guide,” she said.

She further said “the actual analysis based on the results of the Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBSI) is now being done here (Philippines) by the Philippine National Police-Scene of the Crime Operations (PNP-SOCO) and the NBI.

She said five survivors were in the tourist bus until the very end. "We are still waiting for the translations. But the partial translation of (Teresita) Ang-See revealed that accounts of survivors tend to corroborate the account of Lubang that the victims were shot at close range. One (survivor), however, could not even remember if the short firearm was ever used," she said.

The NBI had earlier told the IIRC that the findings of the autopsy report conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) indicated “no signs of near or contact fire.”

De Lima said that according to Hong Kong experts “the absence of tattooing is not conclusive that it was not close range. We will confirm that from our own experts. Tattooing is not indispensable to the findings of close range. In fact we will invite Dr. Raquel Fortun (forensic expert),” she said.

Jeamma Sabate, Manila Bulletin