Major, major review

Before he left Monday for his first official trip abroad, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III kept his promise and made public the report of the incident investigation and review committee (IIRC) that looked into the Aug. 23 Luneta hostage crisis. However, the President fell short of his promise when he just approved the release of the IIRC findings.

These can be read in the first 59 pages of the 83-page IIRC report that came out in the Official Gazette in the internet. The rest of the succeeding pages of the IIRC report were not uploaded. The missing pages actually contain the recommendations of the IIRC on more than a dozen of government and police officials and media personalities implicated in the botched Aug. 23 hostage rescue drama. 

P-Noy created the five-man IIRC, chaired by Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, to determine what went wrong that led to the bungled police hostage rescue and who should be held responsible for them. Led by De Lima, the IIRC discussed their final report with President Aquino at Malacañang Palace on Friday after they submitted an advanced copy of it earlier in the day.

As he had promised, the President made public the IIRC report after official copies, transcripts and documents gathered during the public hearings were turned over Monday to the People’s Republic of China, through their embassy here in Manila.

This the Chief Executive did in a press conference he called at the Palace a few hours before he flew for the United States. The giving of the IIRC report to China ahead of its release to the Filipino public even caused undue issue of asserting sovereignty. The Palace was just following what protocol dictates as this unfortunate incident involved eight Chinese Hong Kong nationals killed by the hostage-taker in the bungled rescue operations by the Manila SWAT team.

But what were supposedly not for public consumption yet were “leaked” again to some media entities that had copies of these missing pages they aired ahead of the others. It pays to be connected at the right places, especially for the scoop-mentality among members of media. That’s why media sometimes get into trouble in pursuit of their enterprise.

However, there was nothing much that can be achieved from getting the details of these “missing pages” since they contain recommendations that were precisely held in abeyance by the President as the approving authority. As he repeatedly stressed in his press conference, these were nothing but “recommendatory” in nature that he can either uphold en toto, revise, or totally reject.

But for now that he was US-bound, President Aquino begged the Filipino people for more time to further review the IIRC report before he makes any decisions and actions appropriate to the recommendations submitted for his approval. The Chief Executive rightly cited that these recommendations involved people whose lives, not just their careers that are at stake. Who would quarrel with that?

President Aquino described himself as someone who does not make decisions “without thorough review.” And living up to his self-evaluation, he announced that another committee of Palace officials would subject the IIRC report to a thorough review.

Designated to conduct this Palace review were Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa. They will head the Palace legal team that would further assess and review the recommendations made by the IIRC, including appropriate administrative or criminal cases against persons who may be found liable.

In his press conference at the Palace yesterday, Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda was quick to douse speculations that the President was not satisfied with the IIRC report to explain why it would be subjected to another Palace review. This would be done to ensure fairness for all parties concerned, Lacierda stressed.

Reading the IIRC report would give you an idea why the President opted to have it undergo another review. For one, the IIRC even included Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez as among the officials who should be held liable for this bloody hostage stunt. How could they include Gutierrez in this when all she did — even bending backward — is to assure a review of dismissal case of the hostage-taker just to accommodate a plea that would help resolve peacefully the crisis?

Police Superintendent Orlando Yebra, as the chief negotiator during the hostage drama, was scored by the IIRC for gross incompetence that led to the death of eight out of the 25 hostages. The IIRC obviously did not take into account that it was also Yebra who was able to ensure the safe release of seven hostages earlier.

Fortunately for these officials, another Palace review of the IIRC report is now underway. Only after such thorough review by the Palace legal team, President Aquino promised anew to study the findings upon his return to Manila next week before he decides the specific actions needed to be done.

This should be a major, major review that would hopefully be worth the wait for the President as soon as he returns from the US to do his homework at the Palace.

* * *

Weber Shandwick Philippines president and CEO lawyer Michael “Mike” Toledo who happens to be my kumpare asked me to announce in my column the arrival of Weber Shandwick-Asia Pacific chairman Tim Sutton who will be in Manila to lead topnotch speakers for the coming 17th National Public Relations Congress from Sept. 23 to 24, 2010 to be held at the Grand Ballroom of the Intercontinental Hotel Manila.

Sutton is expected to share Weber Shandwick’s insights and learnings on using new media in the practice of public relations and communications. Sutton will be joined by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide Southeast Asia regional director Andrew Thomas and other notable media and PR experts in the country.

This is the first time that international industry experts will be coming to share their insights with local PR practitioners during the National Congress organized by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) headed by another good friend, Butch Raquel, GMA-7 vice president for corporate communications.