Manila, Philippines — Malacañang said on Monday that any government official found accountable for the mishandling of the crisis would still lose his job although President Aquino has accepted full responsibility for the Manila hostage fiasco.

This developed as two teams from the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC), composed of prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DoJ) and officials from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), left on Monday for Hong Kong to interview survivors as well as to possibly retrieve pieces of evidence which were inadvertently turned over to HK authorities.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the President is waiting for the results of the official investigation into the August 23 tragic hostage drama before taking appropriate action against erring officials.

Lacierda made the remarks amid mounting calls for President Aquino to fire public officials who bungled the rescue in the bus hijacking in Manila that has been criticized here and abroad.

“He (President Aquino) promised that heads will roll. That's the statement that he made,” Lacierda said in a news conference in the Palace.

“We are letting the investigation committee take its course. It has been a very credible investigation process, and we will wait for the report and the conclusions and recommendations of the investigation committee,” he added.

Lacierda said the Palace expects the investigation being carried out by the IIRC would be “fair and thorough.” The official probe into the violent hostage crisis is expected to wrap up this week after holding marathon hearings.

So far, Lacierda admitted that no public official has offered to resign, despite criticism over the way the government dealt with the hostage crisis that ended with the death of eight tourists from Hong Kong.

Last week, the President took responsibility for the way the government mishandled the hostage crisis, saying he has supervision over the police force at that time. “At the end of the day, I am responsible for everything that has transpired,” he said.

De Lima said the two IIRC teams directed to fly to Hong Kong were assigned to interview the hostage survivors and try to recover three mobile phones mistakenly turned over to HK authorities.

The justice secretary said the panel was told that eight cellular phones found inside the tourist bus involved in the hostage drama were turned over to Hong Kong authorities.

“Of the eight, five belonged to victims, while the three are supposed to be returned by Hong Kong authorities to the Philippine government,” said De Lima.

At the resumption of the investigation on Monday, chief hostage negotiator Supt. Orlando Yebra admitted to the IIRC that the Aug. 23 hostage-taking negotiation was a failure, even revealing that police have no hostage-taking situation manual to guide hostage negotiators in dealing with this kind of serious scenario.

But Lacierda, in a press briefing in Malacañang, insisted that the police have a manual on dealing with hostage situations.