Hey, don’t look at me!

First, a couple of disclaimers. I am a "talent" of ABS-CBN, a co-anchor of a daily late-night newscast on Channel 2 and host of a weekly talk show on ANC. I am not involved in any aspect of management of any department or office of the network.

My brother Regis, a former Justice Undersecretary who is now in private law practice, represented Channel 2 in hearings before the "Fact-Finding Team" organized by the Department of Interior and Local Government to investigate last Saturday’s Ultra Stampede. He immediately withdrew as counsel when the appointment of another brother, Antipolo congressman Ronaldo, to the post of DILG Secretary was announced.

Ronnie has not formally assumed office as DILG Secretary. He has announced that, in accordance with precedents set by other elected legislators appointed to the Cabinet, he would not take his oath as Secretary until the Commission on Appointments has approved his nomination. Nevertheless, he forthwith inhibited himself from the probe which was ordered by the then incumbent DILG secretary.

The report of the committee chaired by DILG Undersecretary Marius Corpus was submitted directly to the Department of Justice, which has started its own investigation into possible criminal liability. In that investigation, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said, the DILG report will be a "starting point." In fact, as we shall see, it may be much less than that, at least insofar as the evidentiary value of the report’s "findings" is concerned.

I make these disclaimers as I venture my own comments on certain aspects of the DILG investigation. You, of course, are free to accept or reject these views. I make them anyway "for whatever they are worth," as lawyers and media practitioners often say (and I happen to be both). I don’t believe I am rendered mute by the ties I have disclosed.

To begin with, it appears difficult for some people, including some ostensibly savvy media practitioners, to understand that the DILG only engaged in "fact-finding." The inquiry was not intended to be the vehicle for determining accountability, much less criminal or civil liability. It wasn’t meant to establish fault on the part of anyone.

Department Order No. 2006 issued on the day of the tragedy, February 4, 2006, by then DILG Secretary Angelo Reyes, directed the Team to determine the sufficiency and adequacy of preparations for the first anniversary program of Wowowee, whether proper coordination was made with the Philippine National Police, the Pasig City government and the Manila Metropolitan Development Authority, and the effectiveness of the response of various government agencies.

Thus, certain conclusions such as the following, in our view, overstepped the body’s mandate and are essentially worthless in terms of the DOJ’s evaluation: "Not having any contingency plans for the entire 10,000 people that the network expected to come borders on irresponsible and incompetent management of the situation at best to criminal negligence and endangerment leading to the loss of life at worst." (Itals. ours)

The officials ABS-CBN sent to the hearing held last Sunday were repeatedly told they were called to help unravel the facts. They were not warned that their statements would be used against them or that they would be testifying against themselves. As a technical legal matter, they were not sworn in as witnesses, nor were their statements taken under oath. As a result, everything they said in the inquiry is inadmissible as evidence. DOJ prosecutors said as much, declaring they were not satisfied with the DILG report and would have to start from scratch.

This is not mere legal mumbo-jumbo. The informal procedure utilized at the fact-finding investigation enabled the DILG panel to reach several conclusions which, if not quite preconceived, certainly prevented network representatives from developing the full contextual background of the events leading to the tragedy.

Without meaning to downplay possible lapses and shortcomings on the part of the event organizers, if the objective of the panel was to help the DOJ establish criminal liability, or to get the network representatives to disclose bare statements which would then be used in possible civil actions, then it should have given all witnesses fair warning. Civil rights such as this are fundamental to our constitutional legal system.

Specifically, the full accountability of all the parties concerned, whether civil or criminal, cannot be determined until all the facts are disclosed with respect to the actions of the PNP, the Pasig City government, the Philippine Sports Arena (formerly Ultra) management and the MMDA. Were all these agencies really so blameless and without responsibility, as the DILG fact-finding report so helpfully tries to convey?

Clearly, all these offices should have been called as necessary parties to the fact-finding process. They should not have been designated members of the investigating panel, simply because they had every interest to cover their tracks and point to the "program organizer" as the sole and fully responsible party for the tragedy.

And yet, it appears there are documents to indicate that the police, the Office of the Mayor, and Ultra management were apprised well in advance of the estimated size of the anticipated audience at the widely popular noontime program. These documents are given short shrift, or not mentioned at all, in the panel report.

The DILG panel found that there was insufficient "coordination" with the Pasig PNP station, that they were not "invited" to the meetings of the venue owner and event organizer, and that the only duty of the police was to prevent crimes such as petty thefts and disorderly conduct.

But since when did police have to be "informed" of a brewing security problem before they act? Isn’t it their duty to have eyes wide open for any possible situation requiring their intervention? The crowds lining up at Ultra swelled up as early as the Wednesday before. On Friday morning, on the way to my office, I personally saw how big the crowd was. I did not see a single policeman or MMDA "enforcer" on duty.

While it is eminently right and just that that the responsibility of ABS-CBN be established, it is also wrong to heap unfairness upon tragedy. I can see why the DOJ has dismissed the DILG fact-finding report as unsatisfactory. It cannot even serve as Secretary Gonzalez’s "starting point." It is a legal embarrassment, and an abject failure as a sober and comprehensive effort to get at the truth, the whole truth.