• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Philippine investigation team returns to Manila

ROC Central News Agency

2013/05/31 20:00:51

Taipei, May 31 (CNA) A team of investigators from the Philippines looking into the May 9 attack on a Taiwanese fishing boat by a Philippine patrol boat returned to Manila Friday after gathering evidence in Taiwan.

Daniel Daganzo, chief of the Foreign Liaison Division under the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), said at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport that the team will continue the investigation and that "we will do our best to unearth the truth."

Daganzo was the leader of the Philippine team that arrived in Taiwan May 27 under a bilateral agreement to offer mutual assistance in the two countries' cooperative investigations into the attack in which a Taiwanese fisherman was shot dead.

Before his departure, Daganzo also told a news conference at the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) that the team will submit a report on the evidence gathered in Taiwan, which will be consolidated with a report that has been compiled in Manila.

Earlier in the week, the team traveled to Pingtung County in southern Taiwan to examine the damaged Taiwanese fishing boat and interview the survivors who were aboard the boat at the time of the incident.

On Thursday, forensic experts in the team conducted a ballistic examination in Taipei to cross-match bullets brought by the Philippine team with slugs found on the Taiwanese boat, the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28.

After five days in Taiwan, "we were able to gather the pieces of evidence that we need to complete the investigation," Daganzo said.

During an interview with CNA earlier in the week, Daganzo said the case will be brought to court after the investigation report is completed.

In Pingtung, the NBI team also encouraged the family of the dead fisherman, Hung Shih-cheng, to file a complaint against those responsible for his death, as this will help the family if the court decides to award damages.

In related news Friday, a team of Taiwanese investigators also returned to Taiwan after finishing their evidence-gathering in the Philippines, said Chen Wen-chi, head of the MOJ's Department of International and Cross-Strait Legal Affairs, who attended the news conference with Daganzo.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Anna Kao expressed hope the investigations will be completed as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, she said, Taiwan will continue to negotiate with the Philippines and hopes Manila will soon give a "positive and concrete" response to Taipei's demands over the handling of the shooting.

Taipei has demanded that Manila issue a formal government-to- government apology, compensate the dead man's family, punish the perpetrators and begin fishery agreement talks to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

(By Elaine Hou)