DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has apologized to the Hong Kong government on the hostage crisis which happened on August 23, 2010, which resulted to the death of eight (8) Chinese tourists who came to the country for a holiday.
Before he delivered his speech to 2,000 Filipinos at the Kai Tak Cruise Termina in Hong Kong, Duterte addressed the Chinese among the crowd,” May I address myself to the Chinese people who are with us and those who joined us. From the bottom of my heart as the President of the Republic of the Philippines and in behalf of the people of the Philippines, may I apologize formally to you now.”
As the head of state, Duterte emphasized, “we are sorry that the incident happened and as humanly as possible, I would like to make this guarantee– that it will never ever happen again.”
He admitted it will be a long way to appease the feeling of the Chinese government and the people, especially those who were hurt and who lost their loved one’s due to the incident.
On August 23, 2010, the hostage crisis in Manila ended in a bloody carnage, after a SWAT team assaulted a tourist bus full of mostly Chinese nationals, resulting in the death of hostage taker Rolando Mendoza, a disgruntled former police officer and eight hostages.
He admitted it will be a long way to appease the feeling of the Chinese government and the people, especially, those who were hurt and who lost their loved one’s due to the incident.
At that time, then President Benigno Aquino offered “our deepest condolences to the families of the victims whose lives were lost in the hostage situation at the Quirino Grandstand. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs has conveyed our deep feelings of sorrow to the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China and the people of Hong Kong through Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang. I have tasked Secretaries Soliman and Lim to provide everything necessary for the recovery and return home of the survivors. I have directed the fullest cooperation with the Hong Kong authorities on the part of our officials.”
There was however, no apology over the incident.
When President Duterte issued the apology, it was met warmly by the OFWs and some Chinese nationals who attended the forum and lauded the act. –Editha Z. Caduaya/Newsline.ph
