Both Cebu City officials and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu chapter had a point when they questioned why the Chinese consul and her husband who were tagged in the murder of two Chinese diplomats in a restaurant last Wednesday afternoon were turned over by Cebu City police to Chinese authorities.
Speculations abounded on the motive behind the killings. There was supposed to be an ongoing investigation by the Chinese government into irregularities at the consulate involving suspect Li Qingliang’s wife.
Whatever the motive might be, things got to a boil in last Wednesday noon’s birthday lunch, resulting in a shooting that claimed the lives of deputy consul general Sun Shan and finance officer Hui Li.
Cebu City police were unable to detain Li Qingliang and his wife Consul Guo Jing as they followed the Department of Foreign Affairs’ lead and turned them over to the Chinese authorities for investigation and prosecution.
Rama and the IBP had a point when they said that Li Qingliang and his wife were not covered by diplomatic immunity and that they should have been prosecuted under local laws since the crime was committed in Cebu City.
But their objections went to naught as even the National Bureau of Investigation cited a bilateral agreement which grants diplomatic immunity not only to consular officials but also to their families.
To hear Rama and the IBP say it, the objections they raised are not just face-saving on Cebu City’s part over what the mayor described as a “condemnable and dastardly” incident since it involved “territorial jurisdiction.”
However, public condemnation of the incident would have been a lot more resonant and pronounced if it claimed the lives of a Filipino or even if a Filipino was involved.
As it is, the shooting involved Chinese officials, and if the city government had a handle on the incident early on, it would have detained the two Chinese suspects long enough for them to deal with the DFA and the Chinese government directly.
There were legal precedents in which governments from around the world arrested foreign officials stationed in their jurisdiction like in the case of former International Monetary Fund (IMF) official Dominique Strauss-Kahn who was accused by a hotel maid of attempted rape at the Sofitel Hotel in New York City.
But can Cebu City Hall risk straining the country’s ties with China which, aside from smarting over the Philippine campaign on the Spratly Islands dispute, also remembers not too fondly how the police handled that infamous 2010 Luneta Park hostage crisis that claimed the lives of several Hong Kong tourists?
The objections are immaterial at this point, considering the two Chinese are long gone. The incident, however, should be a constant reminder to all commercial establishments to step up security and prevent anyone from entering their premises with a deadly weapon in hand.