Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim should immediately face administrative
and criminal complaints for alleged blunders that caused the daylong hostage
standoff on Aug. 23 to degenerate into a bloody end, said a report by a
fact-finding committee. Seven other officials should not face charges unless a
future investigation substantiates them.
President Benigno Aquino III told reporters in New York,
where he is on an official visit, that he did not want criminal complaints
filed without certainty the cases were merited. "You do not unnecessarily
prosecute people, if it's not warranted," he said.
Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno, the highest official
blamed for the botched rescue, offered to resign Wednesday.
Puno, who helped oversee the blunder-ridden rescue, said he
will submit his resignation letter when Aquino returns next week.
"If I'll be a burden to the president, I'm willing to
resign," Puno told a news conference.
The bungled rescue attempt left eight Hong Kong tourists and
the lone hostage-taker — dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza — dead on a
bus parked at a historic Manila park in a standoff watched by millions on live
TV.
The incident damaged ties with China and Hong Kong, which
warned against travel to the Philippines, prompting thousands of tourists to
cancel bookings.
It sparked Aquino's first major crisis, less than two months
into his presidency.
Aquino on Monday ordered a fact-finding report to be
released to China and the public, but withheld release of a crucial section —
seen Wednesday by AP — that placed much of that blame on Lim and Manila Police
Chief Rodolfo Magtibay, saying they had failed to perform their roles in
overseeing the crisis.
Among other lapses, Lim and Magtibay left the scene for a
restaurant before the hostage-taker started shooting the hostages. Magtibay
allegedly defied Aquino's order to deploy an elite police commando team but
instead used a local SWAT team, the report said.
The report lamented a plethora of errors that
"conspired to produce the tipping point." It was not immediately
clear why charges were not recommended against Magtibay. He was replaced by
another officer during the standoff and subsequently lost his job as police
chief.
Lim, himself a former Manila police chief, has angrily
denied the allegations. On the verge of tears, he defended himself and the
police in front of TV cameras, reminding the public of the risk that law
enforcement officers face while in the line of duty.
Two radio journalists accused of tying up the
hostage-taker's telephone line by interviewing him during the standoff may face
complaints for not adhering to ethical rules in covering the crisis, the report
said. The radio station's manager and staff may also face complaints, as could
the country's three major TV networks, which aired the crisis live.
The fact-finding committee recommended further investigation
to determine whether an impeachment complaint should be filed against the
government ombudsman for allegedly failing to speedily resolve a criminal case
which led to Mendoza's dismissal from the police force. Mendoza had said he
took hostages to draw attention to his case.
All eight hostages were killed by Mendoza, the report said,
noting that more tests were needed to verify if police gunfire hit some of the
victims. Another seven Hong Kongers were wounded.