Consul General shooting: Police now tracing gun used

CEBU, Philippines – While the police are no longer investigating the cause for last Wednesday’s shooting that injured the Chinese consular general and killed two Chinese consular officers in a restaurant in uptown Cebu City, they still want to know how the suspects were able to obtain a gun here.

Senior Superintendent Rey Lyndon Lawas, chief of the Regional Directorial Staff in the PRO-7Lawas said they already lost authority over the suspects and therefore can no longer pursue whatever criminal case against them.

“As far as we know we no longer have jurisdiction over the suspects.  They were turned over na man sa DFA and DFA turned them over to Chinese authorities.  As to the legal questions, wala na ta’y involvement,” he said.

He also said they still do not know the motive of couple Li Qing Liang, 60 and his wife Gou Jing, 57, in shooting Chinese Consul General Song Ronghua, Chinese deputy Consul Sun Shan and finance officer Hui Li since the couple will not cooperate with them.

Ronghua was only hit in the arm but Shan and Li died after they were hit in the collarbone and head, respectively.

Lawas said they will now be concentrating on tracing how Liang managed to get hold of an illegal gun after it was learned that the serial number of the gun surrendered to them is the same number of a licensed firearm owned by a businessman in Valenzuela City.

“We now start tracing who gave him the fake license. We now proceed with our regular police function, to know his source,” Lawas said, adding that they must know how a Chinese who supposedly cannot speak English managed to get hold of a homemade firearm.

He also said security agency owners were already told to include in their next regular meeting the failure of the security guard of the restaurant. The guard allegedly did not respond to the incident because he knew his gun was defective and would not fire.

Lawas said the owners should make sure guns issued to their security guards are in good and usable condition.

This, he said, is among the responsibilities of security agency operators stipulated under Republic Act 5487 or the Private Security Agency Law.

Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office-7 found some slight lapses by personnel who responded to the restaurant shooting.

This was after the PRO-7 in coordination with the Cebu City Police Office and the Criminal Investigation and Detection-Group-7 conducted a reenactment of what happened and how police responded.

Lawas said the reenactment was based on the guidance of PRO-7 director Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom Bañas to really establish the facts during the incident.

“We really wanted to establish what really happened not only based on what was narrated to us by the witnesses and the responding police units but taking a look at the actual area kung asa gyud nahitabo,” said Lawas.

He said from that reenactment, they were able to find out minute details which they failed to establish during the investigation.

“This is part of the investigation but part of finishing touches nalang because we want to ascertain what were said in the testimonies of the witnesses can be projected actual,” he said.

Lawas also said they already had debriefing and critiquing session Friday night and established the good things done by the investigators and responding policemen and determined the possible defects and omission that should have been done by the responding personnel.

“We found out also during our critique nga there’s a need for us to integrate all operational procedures that are being conducted by the different police units and even responding non-government organizations,” said Lawas.

Lawas cited the Emergency Response Unit Foundation which would also normally respond to emergencies involving people who were wounded. He said they would like to integrate ERUF procedure with the procedure of the police.

“Even in the other PNP units, like the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics team) intelligence units. Their efforts should be also integrated by the investigating unit also para we can harmonize everything and we can come up with the best investigation response later on in the near future,” said Lawas.

With this, Lawas said they will recommend to the regional director to come up with simulation exercise between these responding units.

However, Lawas said one of the policemen will be subjected for pre-charge evaluation after he allegedly was not able to hold and secure the suspects and escort them to the consulate when the couple allegedly invoked their authority as Chinese consuls.

Because of the diplomatic immunity, the couple was not charged but turned over to the Chinese Embassy Friday night. —/BRP (FREEMAN)