Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz on Tuesday named Department of the Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno and retired Philippine National Police chief Jesus Verzosa as the two Aquino officials who are receiving monthly jueteng payola.
Puno, however, immediately denied the accusation and said his name is being smeared because he is working to strengthen the small-town lottery (STL) to wipe out the illegal numbers game.
“I deny receiving jueteng payola. When I assumed office in July 5, I knew that these things will crop up…Because I wanted to have an alternative to jueteng, they are hitting me because mawawalan sila ng kita,” he said in a Senate hearing.
President Aquino today said he has ordered the review of the recommendations of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) to sanction 12 persons and three networks over the Aug. 23 hostage tragedy.
Statement of the Foreign Ministry of China, Sept. 21, 2010
On 20 September 2010, the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has been given by the Philippine IIRC the First Report of the IIRC on the 23 August 2010 Rizal Park Hostage-taking Incident: Sequence of Events, Evaluation and Recommendations. Since it is a long report, the Chinese side does need time for a careful study. The initial reading indicates that the Philippine side takes a sincere and serious manner in handling with and looking into the incident, to which the Chinese side expresses its appreciation.
We hope that the Philippine side continues to handle with the aftermath in an appropriate manner, so as to console the souls of the victims and render comfort to the bereft families and injured Hong Kong compatriots. We also hope that the Philippine side takes effective measures to strengthen protection of the Chinese personnel in the Philippines and prevent the reoccurrence of similar tragedies. The Chinese side stands ready to work with the Philippine side to advance the bilateral relations in a sound and steady manner.
In a press conference, Aquino named the following who were cited by the IIRC for negligence or failure to follow manual:
* Then Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Jesus Verzosa;
* Then Manila Police District chief Rodolfo Magtibay, who served as ground commander;
* National Capital Region Police office chief Leocadio Santiago;
* Hostage negotiator Manila Superintendent Orlando Yebra;
* DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno;
* Chief Inspector Santiago Pascual, head of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team;
* Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez;
* Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzalez III;
* TV5’s Erwin Tulfo;
* Radio Mo Nationwide’s (RMN) Michael Rogas;
* Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim
* Manila Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno
* 3 broadcast networks.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima Thursday ruled out friendly fire in the killing of eight Hong Kong tourists but recommended charges against 10 officials, police and media people in the bungled hostage rescue last month.
De Lima did not identify those accountable for the Aug. 23 fiasco or the charges to be leveled against them in the report, which she said was “95 percent” complete. The fact-finding committee will submit its report to President Benigno Aquino III on Friday.
De Lima described the report as “very exhaustive, fact-intensive, and incisive.”
1. Unity of Command – The basic question is, who shall head this composite elite force: a PNP or AFP officer? Or would it be a set-up where both a PNP and AFP officer would be designated as “co-commanders” to accommodate the egos of these two institutions? In either case, we can see potential power struggles within such a composite unit. If there would be a single commander, cohesion would be a major problem because the reality on the ground is, AFP personnel don’t take it too well to be ordered around by a PNP officer and vice versa. There are vast differences in culture and training that cannot suddenly be expected to disappear just because they now belong to a common unit.
In the case of a “co-commandership” set-up similar to what PNoy did to the DILG and his Communications Group, professional rivalry would set in and the power struggle for authority, resources, training and even credit would even be more pronounced.
Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today marks one year since the President declared his candidacy. We have traveled far since then. This afternoon, for the first time, the President engages the three major networks on the August 23 tragedy, no holds barred. The order in which they will ask questions has been determined by the drawing of lots. There will be one question and one follow-up question for each panelist. Joining us are Ms. Mel Tiangco, anchor of GMA 7’s “24 ORAS”; Mr. Ted Failon, anchor of ABS-CBN’s “TV Patrol”, and Mr. Paolo Bediones, anchor of TV 5’s “Aksyon”. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the Philippines.
P-NOY: Mel, Ted, Paolo, good afternoon. I would like to thank TV 5, ABS-CBN and the GMA network, and all our friends in the media for agreeing to this one of a kind panel discussion. As you know, in the wake of the hostage crisis at the Quirino Grandstand, your government has launched an independent and transparent investigation into the events of August 23. I am confident that the results of the investigation will be fair, impartial and thorough. We have also begun efforts to improve the capability of our police forces to better handle situations like this should they arise again in the future. We are also examining our internal processes and crisis management protocols to see how they can be improved.
VersozaDespite the Euro-generals scandal at the beginning of his term as chief of the Philippine National Police two years ago, Police Chief Jesus Versoza has been lucky and even re-invented himself from a Mike Arroyo man to Noynoy Aquino ally in the last May election.
Aquino confirms VERA Files story that he had differences with Robredo.
“There are various reasons kung bakit acting. In the case of Jesse, we had some differences during the campaign as to style. We want to make sure we can really work with each other well. It does no good to get him through the whole process of the CA only at the end of the day to find out that there might be difficulties in our working style, among others, our core philosophy, so we did agree na acting na muna,” Aquino said.
“May evaluation period, siguro check ang working style, after two months sigurado na tayo, we still have certain things discussed,” he added. “Dadalawang buwan pa lang kami nagkakasubukan kung talaga nga bang kaya naming mag-mesh.”
Talk in the power circles even said Versoza was slated to be the next secretary of interior and local government after Jesse Robredo has been eased out of the politically strategic department. That’s the reason why as early as last month he was sharing to media his thoughts about going to civilian life earlier than his December official retirement date.
Kahit na dalawang linggo na nakalipas ang trahedya sa Luneta, nakakapanghilakbot pa rin ang maririnig ang pinaka-kritikal na mga minuto kung saan nagwawala na ang hostage-taker na si dating Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza.
Pinatugtug kahapon sa hearing ng committee na nagi-imbestiga ng trahedya noong Agosto 23 ang mga huling minute ng trahedya sa testimonya nina Jake Maderazo, manager ng Radio Mindanao Network at ng kanilang reporter na si Michael Rogas.
Sana hindi na mangyayari ito ulit. Ang bigat sa dibdib at sa pag-iisip. Mabigat sa ating bayan.
Kung sabagay, kailangan siguro natin ito para mayugyug tayo, lalo pa ang ating mga opisyal, lalo pa si Pangulong Aquino na ayusin nila ang pagpalakad ng bayan.
Sa imbestigayon na ginagawa ngayon ng Incident Investigation and Review Committee ng nangyari noong Agosto 23, mayroong mga nakakatawa na nangyari. Katulad nitong kwento ni Chief Inspector Romeo Salvador, ang deputy negotiator.
Sabi niya nahilo raw siya ng mga pasado na alas-dos kaya pumunta siya sa isang ambulansya na nakaparada malapit sa Command Post sa Rizal Park. Wala raw ammonia ang ambulansya. Ang binigay sa kanya ay ang Katinko. Yung ointment na Chinese medicine. Natawa ang mga miembro ng committee.
Aba, magaling ang katinko ha. Gamit ko rin yun kapag sumasakit ang aking ulo. Kung walang katinko, white flower. Palagi ako meron nyan sa bag ko.
President Aquino believed everything that Rico E. Puno, his shooting buddy that he appointed Interior Undersecretary for police matters, advised him during the Aug. 23 hostage crisis.
Rico E. Puno's photo from ABS-CBN onlinePuno, on the other hand, believed everything that the police and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim told him about the hostage situation. Lim assured him they were in control of the situation and all their strategy was “to tire him out.”
Puno never set foot in the crisis command headquarters, if ever there was one.
Puno said there was no TV set at the Emerald restaurant which was supposedly Lim’s command center. They were just getting reports of police by cellphone.
The above were just few of the booboos committed by those in charge of the Aug 23 hostage crisis. Here’s ABS-CBN’s report:
A government panel on Friday uncovered a series of errors that could have led to the bloody ending of the August 23 hostage crisis that killed 8 Hong Kong tourists.
A Department of the Interior and Local Government official assigned to supervise the country’s police force noted several lapses in the handling of the hostage crisis including: lack of crowd control, lack of control of the media and lack of equipment for the police team assigned to assault the bus held the remaining 15 hostages.
Aquino owned up responsibility for hostage crisis fiasco
President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III on Friday took responsibility for “everything that has transpired” in the hostage crisis last week.
President Aquino said he actually has direct supervision of the Philippine National Police at the time since he had previously asked Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jess Robredo to concentrate on something else.
Aquino explained that when he offered the DILG portfolio to Robredo, Robredo was asked to address concerns such as coming up with a comprehensive plan on delivering social services to and relocating informal settlers in coordination with the local governments. Aquino, who held the DILG in a concurrent capacity when he assumed office, had the direct control of the PNP.
“When I got him, I did tell him, that at this point in time, we’re trying to consolidate especially with our security forces, I will retain direct supervision on the PNP, until such time that he has addressed other concerns, specifically our promises to the informal sectors of our country,” Aquino told reporters.
Aquino said at the end of the day, he was responsible for everything that happened.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse M. Robredo today expressed his gratitude to President Benigno S. Aquino, III for absolving him of accountability on the botched police negotiations during the August 23 Manila hostage crisis.
“I appreciate the President’s clarification of my role as the one primarily in charge of local governments, rather than the police,” said Robredo. “My mandate was clear from the very start and since the directive of the President is such, we will have to comply by it,” added Robredo and further debunking a radio report today that said Robredo merely wanted local governments.
Earlier, the President defended the DILG Secretary from statements that he should not be part of the investigating team on the hostage tragedy because of his lapses as DILG chief.
Aquino said it was Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno whom he designated in charge of the police because he wanted Robredo to concentrate on the concerns of local government units.
