Philippine Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has issued an order barring various agencies involved in the probe of the August 23 hostage-taking incident from making premature disclosures while investigations are ongoing.

This was announced to media by De Lima following a case conference with other members of the Incident Report Committee, which she heads, to investigate the 10-hour hostage incident inside a tourist bus that led to the gruesome death of eight Hong Kong tourists.

De Lima said the disclosure of such premature information on sensitive matters such as preliminary reports, will only tend to aggravate the situation. She further said that the panel and the Hong Kong officials, who attended the case conference, have agreed to refrain from precipitately talking to the media about the case.

The Department of Justice chief also said a joint Department Order is being finalized for the creation of the Incident Report Committee (IRC), with her as chairperson and Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo as vice chair. Members of the fact-finding panel are the heads of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police.