Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada will fly to Hong Kong on Tuesday, to apologize and bring a check for victims of the 2010 Manila hostage crisis. He will be accompanied by Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Alan Purisima to help make amends for a botched rescue attempt that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead. “I’m trying my best to apologize to them for that unfortunate incident, even it was not during my term as Mayor of Manila, I am apologizing because it happened in Manila,” he said in a phone interview on ANC. A source told the South China Morning Post that Purisima will be in Hong Kong to give an official update on sanctions imposed on local police as well as measures taken to make the country safer for tourists. Almendras is going because the trip has the Palaces blessings. The Manila Mayor explained that the move was to avoid further sanctions. “Nagkaroon ng sanction ang government officials, kailangan ng kumuha ng visa. Tsaka yung ating mga Overseas [Fililipino Workers] over 160,000 [ang nasa Hong Kong], baka mamaya hindi na extend yung working visa nila. So I have to do something, nakaka-awa naman yung ating mga kababayan doon,” he said. President Benigno Aquino III earlier said he will not apologize over the hostage crisis. But Estrada said the national government has no fault in the fatal incident and blames then-Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim. “The President has no fault, it is the fault of my predecessor, the former mayor. There was a recommendation of the [late] secretary Jesse Robredo to suspend Lim, a written recommendation. In short, the President has nothing to do with this, it is purely local,” Estrada added.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 05:45:04 +0000