Remains of 2 diplomats flown home to China

A FORENSIC team from China has come and gone, bringing with them the mortal remains of the two slain diplomats back to China.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Charles Jose confirmed in a text message that the remains of deputy consul general Sun Shan and finance officer Hui Li “were flown back to China” on Sunday.

Jose said a forensic team arrived from China last Friday to examine the bodies and initiate repatriation proceedings.

Also on Friday, Chinese police escorted couple Li Qingliang and consul Guo Jing on a Philippine Airlines chartered flight to Xiamen City in China.

“Case is closed as far as we (the Philippines) are concerned,” Jose said in a text message on Saturday night.

The couple will face trial in China for the Oct. 21 killing of Sun and Hui as well as for the wounding of Consul General Song Ronghua.

It took the Chinese forensic team until yesterday to complete repatriation procedures for the remains of Sun and Hui.

“There were requirements and procedures followed with regards to the repatriation of the remains,” Jose said in another text message yesterday.

The bodies had been kept in cold storage at the Cebu Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Nivel Hills.

Asked on the medical condition of Song, who survived the attack, Jose said: “We can’t speak for the Chinese officials.”

Song was hosting lunch at the Lighthouse Restaurant on Oct. 21 to celebrate his birthday with the members of the Chinese Consulate in Cebu when Li shot him and the two other victims.

Sun and Hui died at the hospital while Song underwent surgery for wounds in the hand and neck.

Guo was implicated after she was seen on camera picking up the gun that her husband, a former consul, used in the shooting.

The couple was picked up for questioning from the consular office a few hours later.

Both enjoy diplomatic immunity and were turned over to the Chinese government on Friday.