China pleased with probe progress

chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao said on Tuesday that the Chinese government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are currently satisfied with the progress of the probe being undertaken by Philippine authorities on the bloody hostage-taking in Manila on August 23.

The Chinese envoy said this during the Mass and memorial service at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, where the hostage incident took place, in an apparent effort to downplay reports that his absence at the celebration of the National Heroes Day at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, where President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was the guest of honor, was part of China’s protest against the Philippine government’s mishandling of last week’s hostage drama at Rizal Park that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.

At this sad moment, he said, people of both countries hope that the deceased would rest in peace and that the hostage incident would not hamper the relations between China and the Philippines.

Liu added that he met investigators from Hong Kong last Monday and they expressed satisfaction over the cooperation from their counterparts in the Philippines.

“I believe Sino-Filipino relations could turn over this sad leaf and continue developing in a smooth and healthy way,” he said.

Liu said the memorial mass hosted by the government of Manila City is a show of sympathy of Filipinos to the Chinese people.

The prayer service was attended by Liu, Manila City Mayor Alfredo S. Lim, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., the chief aide of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Earlier, the Chinese embassy also announced that Ramon Magsaysay awardees Pan Yue and Fu Qiping are not coming to Manila to attend the awarding for personal reasons.

Pan, vice minister at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, was reportedly sick while Fu, chief of Tengtou village in Zheijiang province, failed to confirm his attendance at the ceremony prior to the hostage-taking incident.

They were both cited for creating opportunities to address China’s environmental crisis.

As vice minister of China’s environmental protection agency, Pan has actively implemented the Environmental Assessment Law of 2003 and the Open Government Information Regulations of 2007.

Fu, a farmer who has been a village chief since 1980, has taken advantage of China’s decentralized system to turn Tengtou into one of China’s most prosperous villages through strict practice of environment-friendly agriculture and the use of renewable energy.

The village of only 830 inhabitants has a wastewater treatment system and solar-powered streetlights.

The third Chinese awardee, photojournalist Huo Daishan, is already in the country to attend the awarding rites.

No media gag order
As this developed, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima clarified on Tuesday the gag order concerning the bloody hostage drama in front of the Quirino Grandstand does not restrict media from conducting follow-up stories but only prevents the premature disclosure of findings and conclusions.

De Lima said she directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Scene of the Crime Office (SOCO) from issuing premature disclosure of findings and conclusions.

“The media can still conduct follow-up stories, they can write stories and updates. They can cover what the law enforcement agencies are doing. The gag order is to prevent the NBI, PNP and SOCO to issue premature disclosure of findings and conclusions,” De Lima said.

Robredo ready to quit
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo vowed to step down from his post if the investigative committee conducting the probe on the Quirino Grandstand hostage drama finds out he failed to do his job.

“If that fact-finding (committee) will tell you that I failed in my job, as I said, I will not stay a minute longer (as DILG Secretary),” Robredo told reporters during a press conference at the DILG. With the conduct of the ongoing investigation into last week’s hostage crisis, Robredo stressed that “at the end of the day the truth will come out.”

Robredo is also a member of the Joint Incident Investigation Review Committee (JIIRC) that is conducting the probe on the hostage crisis last week and is led by Department of Justice (DoJ) Secretary Leila de Lima.

On the other hand, the DILG chief rejected calls for him to inhibit himself from the JIIRC since he is also among those being investigated.

“Palagay ko po nung nagdesisyon ang Pangulo na kasama ako sa mag-iimbistiga, alam po niya talaga ang kabuuan ng pangyarari (I think when the President decided to make me a part of those who will investigate, he knows the entirety of what had happened),” Robredo stated.

Being also the chairman of the National Police Commission (Napolcom), Robredo said that “we should make the police accountable for what had happened."

He explained that the Napolcom will handle the administrative cases that will be filed against those who should be made liable in the incident while the DoJ will handle the criminal aspect.

Buddhist Master
Venerable Buddhist Master Hsing Ting smiled when the rain suddenly poured.

As he silently watched the raindrops play and dance in front of them after the chanting of a heart Mantra Tuesday morning in front of the Quirino Grandstand, he knew that the Supreme Buddha was talking to them.

“He (Budhdha) had heard our prayers when he sent this rain,” the 80-year-old buddhist monk told the Manila Bulletin in an interview

The venerable master, as he was fondly called, and 12 other buddhist monks flew to Manila from Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan last Monday to participate in Tuesday's concelebrated mass for the hostage-taking victims last August 23.

Ting knew the consequences and criticisms he and the other monks may get from the Hong Kong people, who were still grieving for the demise of their countrymen after they were held hostage by dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, but he said the almighty Buddha would want to end the suffering of two nations.

“We are here to pray to (Buddha) to uplift (everyone's) moral courage so the world will be filled with peace,” he stressed.

Before the concelebrated mass organized by Radio Veritas, the Department of Tourism, the Manila government, and the tour and travel industry, the Buddhist monks offered to say a Heart Sutra or Heart of the Perfection of Transcendent Wisdom.

“We prayed for the deceased to be reborn and the survivors to be relieved of their suffering. It is a let go concept and to void them of hatred,” he said.

But aside from the departed, they likewise included in their heart sutra that the hatred of Filipinos and Hong Kong people among them will die down. (With reports from Jeamma E. Sabate, Jeffrey G. Damicog, and Leonard D. Postrado)

source;mb