Sea shooting probe: Phl, Taiwan swap investigators

MANILA, Philippines - Investigators from the Philippines and Taiwan swapped places yesterday to complete their parallel but separate probes on the fatal shooting of a suspected Taiwanese poacher off Batanes last May 9.

An eight-member team from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) left Manila for Taipei at 7:50 a.m. on Philippine Airlines flight 897.

A team of Taiwanese investigators left Taipei almost at the same time and arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 at 9:35 a.m. on China Airlines flight CI 701.

Members of the NBI team led by foreign liaison division chief head agent Daniel Deganzo were briefly held by immigration officers at the airport for failure to present travel permits required of government officers on official trip. They were finally allowed to board the aircraft after Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David gave airport personnel verbal instructions to let the group leave.

The NBI agents and forensic experts, who got their visas only on Sunday afternoon, were welcomed by Taiwanese authorities who immediately brought them to the Institute of Forensic Medicine where they would begin their tasks, which include inspecting the fishing boat where 65-year-old fisherman Hung Shih-cheng was killed, and interviewing his companions.

The group is also seeking a re-autopsy of Hung’s remains.

The Taiwanese team led by Prosecutor Lin Yen Liang and Criminal Investigation Bureau -International Affairs Division chief Simon Lee, on the other hand, immediately went to the NBI headquarters in Manila and met with bureau officials.

Also with the group were prosecutors Liu Chia Kai, Tseng Shih Che, Chang Hung Jui, and forensic experts Lee Jian Jinn, Lee Jing Wei and Lin Guh Ting.

Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) deputy secretary of the board Art Abierra said the two sides met “to agree on the extent of the activities that will be undertaken in two or three days.”

“We cannot disclose any of the details and we do not know how long it will take, but they (Taiwanese) will finish the investigation before going back,” Abierra said.

The NBI said it is ready to share substantial information with the Taiwanese investigators. “Everything that is with us will be offered to the Taiwanese investigators,” NBI deputy director for regional operations services Virgilio Mendez told reporters.

On their first day, the Taiwanese investigators conducted a ballistics examination on the firearms used by the coast guard personnel involved in the incident, which took place at the Balintang Channel in Batanes.

Mendez said the Taiwanese were also set to inspect the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel, which figured in the incident.

The NBI official said they would also allow the Taiwanese probers to see video footage submitted by the Philippine Coast Guard showing part of the encounter between the Taiwanese fishing vessel and the BFAR boat.

Mendez said they would still have to discuss if the Taiwanese investigators would be given access to the PCG personnel involved in the incident.

No holds barred

But at the PCG headquarters, commandant Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena said he would pose no objection to any move by Taiwanese investigators to interview his men or inspect the maritime control and surveillance (MCS) 100 vessel involved in the incident.

“We are not hiding anything here at the PCG. We are open. In fact, the PCG had given all the information requested by the NBI,” Isorena said. “This is already being investigated and under the jurisdiction of the NBI, so whatever they say to the PCG, we will follow,” he said, adding that he is willing to be interviewed if necessary.

He admitted that the incident has demoralized many of his men. The 17 PCG personnel involved in the shooting have been suspended.

He also said there is a need to review the PCG’s partnership with BFAR. “We need to review the agreement with the BFAR because the vessel is under the control and supervision of BFAR. We have nothing to do with the entire operation,” Isorena said.

“We have to review the MOA so that we could further strengthen the agreement between BFAR and PCG so that if we would have another similar situation we would know the role of the BFAR and the PCG,” he added.

“We should just have a more definite policy regarding this one. So that they would really, really know what they are doing,” the PCG chief said.

He lamented that the PCG appeared to be taking all the blame for the incident, which has soured relations between Manila and Taipei.

Reciprocity

The Taiwanese investigators, for their part, said their activity would be based on reciprocity.

“What we offered to the Philippine team in Taiwan, they will offer the same to us,” lawyer Andrew Lin, diplomatic affairs officer of Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office, told reporters.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the parallel probe shows the “spirit of cooperation and openness between the Philippine and Taiwanese authorities which can contribute, to a significant degree, to the restoration of normalcy of Philippine-Taiwan relations.”

“With the mutual or reciprocal visits of the Philippine and Taiwanese teams, it is expected that their respective separate investigations will be concluded soon and hopefully put closure to the factual issues surrounding the incident,” she said in a statement.

Meanwhile, an advocacy group for migrants said an independent group – preferably the United Nations – should investigate the May 9 incident.

“It is only through this initiative can we be able to discern which rules of engagement were followed or violated, what international conventions will govern or can be applied in the said situation as well as formulate actual recommendations in the resolution of the case,” the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) said in a statement.

“For this diplomatic row to be concluded swiftly and with great objectivity, the only recourse of action is for both governments to call on and allow third parties, like the United Nations and its relevant agencies, to conduct an independent and impartial investigation,” the group pointed out.

“The fisherman’s family, the Filipino migrants working and living in Taiwan, the Filipinos who have processed their work documents for Taiwan have suffered. It is but crucial for both governments to resolve this row immediately and with political will,” APMM said. With Rey Galupo, Evelyn Macairan, Rudy Santos, Mayen Jaymalin