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Senators urge Macalañang to apologize to HK gov't

By Christina Mendez (philstar.com)
January 31, 2014

MANILA, Philippines - Senators on Friday urged Macalañang to apologize to Hong Kong over the Manila hostage crisis in 2010 where eight Hong Kong tourists were killed by a dismissed policeman.

"The refusal to apologize I find hard to understand," said Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

Marcos cited the efforts of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, who has said that he will try to reach out to Hong Kong officials to negotiate its decision to cancel visa-free arrangements for Philippine officials and diplomat passport holders.

"Erap's efforts are a good step knowing how this problem affects our Filipino workers there," he said.

Sen. Vicente Sotto III shared the concern as he also asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to look again on the issue and reconsider its decision not to apologize over the bungled police rescue operation for the Hong Kong tourists.

"I think its too much pride on the part of the DFA. Walang masama mag-apologize sa isang sitwasyon na 'di natin na control," Sotto said.

Sen. JV Ejercito, meanwhile, was saddened by the Hong Kong government's decision, which came even after his father, Mayor Estrada, issued a public apology over the hostage taking fiasco.

"The City of Manila, where the incident happend, already issued formal and public apology to [the Hong Kong government].. Unfortunately for us, they don't think that this is sufficient enough, they want our national government to do so," Ejercito said.

The senator said that Vice President Jejomar Binay should be tapped as an emissary to help ease the tension between the two governments.

"If PNOY is reluctant to say sorry now, may I suggest instead that we send an official emmisary to HK to  resolve this issue," Ejercito said.

"VP Binay is doing good in his job as defender of OFW. Since it involves hundred of thousand OFW,Binay is the right man for this job," he added.

http://www.philstar.com/

the mindless official passport holders strike again.  hey, honorables, let your wives shop somewhere else.  there's nothing in hongkong that they can't buy in divisoria.

comments from readers of this news item:

bok
• 16 hours ago
Umeksena nanaman ang mga MAGNANAKAW sa senado.

TheTuth
• 17 hours ago
Only the corrupt gov't officials will be affected by this initial action. And look who among these wants our gov't to reverse our stand. Remember the maceda issue, with a bagful of cash to hk? It seems hk is one of their favorite place to hide stash money. A thief haven.

Alexander d. Saya
• 17 hours ago
Now you are reaping the fruits of your being tarnished image. Whom do you think will listen to you, senators accused of plunders and disgraced president due to illegal number game? And now you think, the epal king can do magic to convince the other gov't. The leaders of the Phl gov't can learn here that it is not easy to clear names once blemished by shame. Are u bothered now by your conscience , because thousand of OFW are in danger of losing their jobs??What a pity, tsk,tsk,tsk..

branlem
• 17 hours ago
apologize for what? oh boy...people can be so mindless!! apologize for something if you made a mistake!! the police were idiots everyone knows that but they acted despite their limitations!

http://www.philstar.com/

hehe, tan-awa ra god ning philippine star, missing out on the typo of malacañang...