HK cops finish hostage probe

HONG KONG – The Hong Kong police has completed its investigation on the Aug. 23 Manila hostage tragedy that killed eight Hong Kong tourists and injured seven others.

The police submitted its investigation report to the coroner the other night. After studying the police report, the coroner will decide whether or not to conduct a death inquest which will be open to the public.

Three days after the hostage tragedy, the coroner directed the police to investigate the deaths in the Manila hostage-taking incident.

The Hong Kong police sent a delegation to Manila on four occasions to gather evidence, including collecting evidence from the bus, conducting ballistic examinations, and interviewing witnesses and Philippine police officers who carried out the botched rescue operations.

Details of the death report has yet to made public. The Hong Kong police said the coroner would decide whether or not to release the report to the public.

“The death report is an investigation carried out by the police on behalf of the coroner and it is a matter for him (to decide) whether or not he releases the report, and if he does, who should receive it. Such a decision will be made taking into account the statutory provisions of the Coroner’s Ordinance and the overall interests of justice,” the Hong Kong police said in a press release posted on its website.

More than two months after the Manila hostage tragedy, the Hong Kong government continues to advise its residents to “avoid all travel” to the Philippines.

The Security Bureau maintained a black outbound travel alert against the Philippines, citing “severe threat.”

“Serious kidnap incident happened in the Philippines, residents should avoid all travel to the country; those who are already there should attend to their personal safety and exercise caution,” the outbound travel alert stated.

The Hong Kong government earlier expressed “disappointment at the Philippine authorities’ decision to lessen the recommended actions against the officers named in the first report by the inquiry committee reviewing the Manila hostage tragedy.”

The Hong Kong government also expressed hope that the Philippine government will implement “concrete improvement measures” to avoid similar tragedies.

In his annual policy address, Chief Executive Donald Tsang admitted that the incident has served as a lesson for them to improve their assistance to their residents abroad.

“In the Manila hostage incident, with the staunch support of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese embassy in the Philippines, our support team managed to accomplish its relief tasks promptly. Drawing from the experience of this incident, the Government will further improve the existing response mechanism to offer better assistance to our residents in distress outside Hong Kong,” Tsang said in his 2010-2011 policy address in the Legislative Council.

Tsang noted that Hong Kong’s diplomatic resources benefited from the frontline assistance rendered by the Chinese embassy to assist their distressed residents in the Philippines.

Hong Kong residents have also expressed outrage over the tragedy. But amid the tension brought by the tragedy, Tsang has appealed to residents to calm down and not to hold the tragedy against all Filipinos.

There are 136,286 Filipino domestic helpers and around 15,000 Filipino professionals working in Hong Kong.

Vice President Jejomar Binay was supposed to lead a high-level delegation to Beijing and Hong Kong to bring the report of the incident investigation and review committee, but the trip has been stalled since President Aquino went to the United States in September.