MANILA, Philippines - The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) chief on Friday said it will use third parties to verify the results of the police investigation into the August 23 Manila hostage incident.

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo said they will use third party resource persons and sources to verify the report of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) to make sure there will be no whitewash.

Robredo said these third parties will form part of a committee that will investigate the hostage fiasco.

The committee will be headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. Among its members are Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) President Herman Basbano, Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Officer-in-Charge Santiago Kapunan, and Chinese-Filipino community leader Teresita Ang See.

Since it is the PNP that is conducting the investigion, Robredo said he believes independent citizens should also look into the results, including the ballistic tests and trajectory of the bullets. 

Aside from the many procedural lapses by the members of the police force, the committee will also find out if the 8 hostages were killed by the hostage-taker, as claimed by the police, or if any of the hostages were killed by so-called friendly fire.

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz earlier said there is "a certain degree of certainty" that the bullets that killed the 8 Hong Kong tourists came from the firearms used by the hostage-taker, dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza.

Cruz said this initial finding was based on witnesses' accounts and testimonies from the police involved in Monday's hostage crisis, as well as the number of bullets found on the bus.

However, in his briefing to the press on Thursday, Cruz said the police investigation was still on-going, and that final conclusions had not yet been made.

On the designation of Chief Supt. Francisco Villaroman as director of the Manila Police District, Robredo said it was PNP chief Jesus Verzosa who designated Villaroman, and recalled him the following day (Thursday) after several groups complained of Villaroman's appointment for allegedly having several cases filed against him. 

Robredo said Office-in-Charge (OIC) appointments are made by the chief of the PNP.  – with reports from Jay Ruiz, ABS-CBN News; ANC