Restaurant shooting: Chinese suspects flown to Manila

CEBU, Philippines - The two Chinese national involved in the killing of two Chinese consular officers last Wednesday were flown out of Cebu to Manila last night.

The departure of the two, who have invoked diplomatic immunity, were kept under wraps they were taken out of the Police Regional Office-7 headquarters  only around 6:30 p.m., when reporters, photographers, and cameramen who were waiting for hours, had already left to file their stories.

Suspects Li Quing Liang, 60, and his wife, Gou Jing, 57, were also shielded by the police and rushed to a waiting vehicle when they were transferred from the Cebu City Police Office headquarters past noon yesterday to PRO-7.

Since their arrest on Wednesday, the couple remained at the CCPO in Camp Sotero Cabahug along Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City. It is a smaller facility and the Chinese suspects only slept on the sofa of the holding area inside the City Intelligence Branch.

Reporters covering the case had chanced upon Jing complaining “I need medicine… I Need medicine”. Apparently she was feeling some chest pain with gestures pointing to her chest.

Her husband was also seen sleeping on the sofa at the CIB. A police source said that the female suspect has history of hypertension.

Last night, no less than Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom  Bañas, PRO-7 director accompanied the Liang and Jing, along with representatives of the Chinese Embassy, to the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua was reportedly among those who fetched Liang and Jing at PRO-7.

With diplomatic immunity invoked and with the departure of the two suspects in the killing of Deputy Consul Sun Shan and consular office Finance Officer Hui Li, Liang and Jiang would no longer have to face a case for illegal possession of firearms after it was learned the gun used in the crime had a fake license.

Bañas said they found out that the firearm retrieved from the couple Liang and Jing has the same serial number with that of a businessman from Valenzuela City.

“So the firearm that was used in the commission of the crime ay kinopya lang or siguro nagkataon lang na kapareho ng firearm na talagang lisensyado,” said Bañas.

He said the police was also able to interview the gun’s owner and the gun was presented to the authorities at Camp Crame.

Bañas also said the couple is covered by the 2009 bilateral agreement entered into by the Philippines and China granting full immunity to the Chinese consular officers in the country.

“So they are covered by that (bilateral agreement), they have invoked the diplomatic immunity…. and the government of the Philippines recognized them (as having immunity),” he said.

He also said that as of yesterday, they still do not know the couple’s motive in shooting Chinese Consul General Song Ronghua, Shan and Li since the couple is not cooperating.

Ronghua, who was hit in the arm, is currently recuperating in a private hospital.

Because of the uniqueness of the case, a Japanese newspaper staff writer was also sent to Cebu to cover the news involving the Chinese consular officers.

Kensaku Amamu, 41, of The Sankei Shimbun, tagged along with other Cebu reporters to get updates from the policemen.  The suspects and their victims were inside a General Maxilom Avenue restaurant for lunch supposedly to celebrate Ronghua’s birthday last Wednesday.

Footage from the restaurant’s security cameras showed that at the end of their lunch, an argument ensued before the actual shooting.

A few staff inside the restaurant heard the argument but did not understand what it was about.

The police said it was clear from the footage that Liang shot the victims using a .45 pistol. His wife later took the firearm. The couple then left the restaurant for the Chinese Consulate.

Interviewed before Liang and Jing were flown out of Cebu last night, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama directed the local police to enforce the “necessary police procedure” against them as the crime happened within his locality.

“I am directing the police within Cebu City that all process should be complied with…. (It) is the position of the mayor that the local police should go through the protocol and the process. They ought to know what to do and they must be very serious about it. That is the directive I am [conveying] to Batiancela and whoever the people involved in investigating the matter… (and) I would want to say I will stand by my statement,” he told reporters in a press conference yesterday.

He wanted to emphasize that there should be no distinction as to the nationality of the perpetrator since the incident also concerns the security of the public, as it placed the city’s peace and order at risk.

Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, a lawyer and former Ombudsman of the Visayas, said the Philippine National Police should do its job by filing charges against the persons involved before the city prosecutor’s office.

“There should be an investigation to be conducted here. That’s a very good test case,” said Labella, who was also present during the press conference at the mayor’s office yesterday.

He also aired his view that only an ambassador has diplomatic immunity.

“It is my respectful submission that the case on diplomatic immunity, for me, that’s only applicable to ambassadors [since they are] considered as diplomatic officials. They are diplomats and they are the ones who area covered under the immunity from suit,” he said.

“But consular officials, it is my submission they are not covered under immunity. If they commit common crimes here, within our territorial jurisdiction, then our process must be observed,” he added.

Citing one of the characteristics of the criminal justice system, Labella said whoever commits a crime within the territorial jurisdiction of the city, whether a Filipino or a foreigner, will be held liable considering the territorial nature of the country’s penal laws. —/RHM Ma. Fatima R. Secuya, May B. Miasco, Dale G. Israel (FREEMAN)