Palace officials said they are “alarmed” over the leak of the withheld portions of the reports of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee but their focus now is on completing a review and submitting their findings to President Aquino when he arrives from the United States tomorrow.
It’s the officials’ necks and Noynoy’s credibility which are on the block so they are free to do as they wish. They should be prepared, however, for some major efforts to contain the firestorm that will sure to erupt when the review assigned to Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and chief presidential legal counsel Eduardo de Mesa is finished.
Ochoa and De Mesa have a limited choice: Affirm the findings and recommendations of the committee chaired by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima or trash them. Selective endorsement of the recommendations will not do because if the committee erred in some, then it conceivably was wrong in all its findings.
The issue boils down to what regulations or laws have been violated and whether there is sufficient evidence to nail down the offenders. If the Palace rules substantially against the recommendations of the panel, then it leaves no room for De Lima but to resign.
De Lima controls the prosecution service and has the power to review results of all preliminary investigations. If she does not know how to do the job of a fiscal, what business has she serving as the justice secretary?
To this day, no one from the Palace has corrected Aquino’s statement that he ordered the review because the IRRC report does not contain specific accusations against specific persons.
Aquino was either lying or he was misinformed. Among the withheld portions were Pages 77-79 which form the section with the sub-title “Recommendations.”
One of the recommendations reads: “Against Mayor Alfredo S. Lim, the initiation of the corresponding administrative and criminal proceedings for assuming the authority of the on-scene commander in negotiation and tactical action or intervention in contravention of Section 1.7.2 of the CMC Manual for negligence in his failure to properly organize and constitute the Crisis Management Committee in accordance with the CMC Manual of 2000, for issuing an illegal order during the arrest of Gregorio Mendoza, for abandoning and ordering the on-scene crisis, and in general, for failure to perform his duties as CMC Chairman as discussed in the previous section constitute dereliction of duty and gross negligence, in accordance with Sec. 60 (c) of R.A. 7160.”
In the event the Ochoa and De Mesa reject this recommendation, how do they go about doing this? Come up with a point-by-point rebuttal of that portion which the people officially know nothing about because of the decision to withhold it?
Which brings us back to the puzzle why portions of the IRRC report were kept under wraps in the first place. Explanations will beg for further explanations. The result will be a muddying up of what was originally intended as a decisive step toward a closure to the botched hostage crisis.
Or is this – a whitewash – the game plan after all?
Withholding the IIRC recommendation doesn’t square with the advertised transparency of this administration. Transparent lang siguro sila sa peanuts.
Aha! Ke aga-aga meron na silang wini-withhold, “Pages 77-79 which form the section with the sub-title “Recommendations.”.
Ano yan, same ol same ol?! Huwag silang magkakamali dahil kung mag-resign si de Lima dahil dyan ay hindi lang marami kundi majority ng pinoy ang madi-disappoint sa bagong panguluhan na isa sa ipananalo ay “transparency” issue.
Mas mabuti na ilahad nila sa publiko ay buong report, walang “dagdag-bawas”, mas bibilib ang pinoy kay PNoy. Kung dahil apektado ang malalapit sa kanya ay ‘yayariin’ nila ang report, wala silang ipagkakaiba sa panahon ni putot.
Ilahad sa publiko ang pages 77-79, kung kayo ay matapang at tunay ang serbisyo sa bayan!
Chi,
That’s the one in our earlier post: IIRC recommendations
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/?p=13041
Huwag naman sana mag-whitewash. I hope this is far from their minds. It does not bode well. Sana sinabi na lang ni Pres Aquino III na he will act on the IIRC recommendations. Whatever actions he takes after that , call na niya. Huwag naman siyang masyadong magpahalata na sobra ang proteksyong niya kina Puno. Over-protective ika nga.
I still pray na walang whitewash. On the other hand, if the strategy is to muddle up the IIRC report and create another controversy prolonging the implementation of the IIRC recommendation. Well it might work. Most Filipinos have short memories. Madaling makakalimutan ang isyu ng Aug23 pati na ang mga dapat may pananagutan. Hinde naman sana.
Ako po’y nagtataka lamang. Bakit kaya inatasan ng pangulo sina DOJ Sec. De Lima na bumuo ng IIRC para imbestigahan ang hostage incident sa Luneta kung di naman niya tatanggapin ang resulta ng imbestigasyon at rekomendasyon ng IIRC? sinabi ng pangulo na gusto pa niyang i-review ang rekomendasyon ng IIRC, bakit kaya? Dahil ba na may mga tinamaan na mga malalapit na kaibigan? Paano naman kung ang resulta ng panibagaong review ay di pa rin magustuhan ng pangulo, uutusan ba niya na i-review ulit ang pangalawang rekomendasyon hanggang mabura sa listahan ang mga kaibigan na sangkot bago niya tatanggapin? NAgtatanong lang po.
Salamat Ellen, binabalikan ko nga ngayon me oras na akong magbabad, hehehe.
Hello, si Esperon yun hindi si Noynoy. O hindi pa. Rejected ang pre-trial advice, pinalitan ng bago pero di naman pinirmahan. Kulong tuloy ang mga sundalo.
“Isusulong ko ang pagbabago…”
para yan kay Mike sa #5.
Aquino unconsciously and unmindfully raises questions on the ability, intelligence, and credibility of his own Justice Secretary, Leila de Lima, and the IIRC as a whole, in recommending the filing of charges against supposedly (ir)responsible individuals.
If Ochoa and de Mesa are to determine “level of culpability” vis a vis “likelihood of conviction,” what bases then were used by the IIRC and the Secretary of the Department of Justice in their recommendations?