No more visa-free visits to HK for Phl officials

[Monseratto]

Not enough apparently... Accountability is never a trait of BS Aquino. Mas mabilis pa mag file sa kaso ni Vhong Navarro...

Statement delivered by Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez, Spokesperson of the Department of Foreign Affairs, regarding the Hong Kong visa sanctions against the Philippines

[Released on January 30, 2014]

The Philippine Government regrets the Hong Kong SAR Government’s implementation of sanctions against the Philippines, particularly, the requirement of visas for Philippine official and diplomatic passport holders which is usually given to government officials on official travel to Hong Kong. The sanction is unfortunate because a substantive closure on the Quirino Grandstand Incident had already been arrived at three years ago with the previous Hong Kong SAR Government and the victims as well as their families.

A renewed appeal for compassion was directly made to our government last October 2013. We responded to this appeal without equivocation and in a most generous manner. Additional tokens of solidarity have therefore been pledged by the Filipino people at the behest of the Philippine government. These amounts that are being offered are substantially more than those that have been previously accepted by the victims and their families. We have been made to understand that the victims and their families have agreed to this offer.

In response to this generous offering, a total renegotiation has been opened by the Hong Kong SAR Government to seek a demand for an apology which the Philippines, as a sovereign nation, is not prepared to consider. Our Nation has already expressed its deepest regret and condolences over the incident and we are preparing to reiterate this.

To bring the issue to its final conclusion, the Philippines remains committed to manifest compassion for the victims and their families and is ready to turn over the additional tokens of solidarity from the Filipino people. We hope that we will be able to do this as soon as possible.

We would like to assure the Filipino people that the Philippine Government has done its utmost best to address the Quirino Grandstand Issue.

dfa.gov.ph

[macsd]

ON TARGET
Why was Banayo not invited to Senate probe?
By Ramon Tulfo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
3:55 am | Thursday, February 6th, 2014

* * *
Why is it so difficult for the Philippine government to apologize to Hong Kong for the deaths of its residents who were vacationing in Manila in 2010?
Our government is at fault because it failed to protect the Hong Kong tourists who were shot dead by a dismissed Manila police officer who took them hostage.
Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of Hong Kong: How would we feel if a dismissed Hong Kong cop shot and killed several of our countrymen vacationing in the former British Crown Colony?
If Manila Mayor Erap apologized to the Hong Kong government, why can’t President Noy?

Why was Banayo not invited to Senate probe? | Inquirer News

Just to share the answer for RT question : It's because we happen to have a mentally retarded president!

[somniantis86]

Air, although not practical, this is a matter of national pride kasi. I think his logic here is that China never apologized naman for whatever happened sa mga citizens natin sa bayan nila.

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[dr. d]

i think china is just flexing its muscle, trying out the waters... seeing up to where it can get away with..
we need a CPR, the compleat ambassador... a sharpshooter with his sling and stone..

[macsd]

Air, although not practical, this is a matter of national pride kasi. I think his logic here is that China never apologized naman for whatever happened sa mga citizens natin sa bayan nila.

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If your referring to the Tienanmen incident were our kababayan tourist & family got caught in an explosion, that is a totally different story because that was an act or terrorism. The same manner those tourist/foreigners kidnapped down south by the Abu Sayyaf. It's an act of terror.

In the Luneta crisis, HK tourist was held hostage by no less than a former police officer. It was shown in TV that in many instances the police got a lot of opportunity to bring down the lone hostage taker yet because they are both policemen, they try to cover each others back at the expense of the hostages. So it is very clear, everyone is a goverment officer one way or another even the grievance was on the goverment and only the HK tourist are civilain and yet the stupid president who heads the goverment has the got to say it's not the goverment fault.

So who's fault is it, the tourist ? When they run an investigation, who are got all the blame, was it not the police & city officials. And who are all these people, are they not goverment officials ? The investigators even got the stupid ball to blame the media for airing to the world how dumb our operatives can be in crisis management.They used the lame excuse that the bus had a tv thus the hostage taker can see what's going on around. If they are not dumb & brainless, tv on cars/buses has been an added accessory ever since some of them had ever been born. What they should have done is cut the battery supply of the bus so the tv won't work instead of blaming freedom of the press.

Or are you referring to those drug mules being executed in China? Good thing they get to be executed there as we don't have death penalty here anymore brought about by politics with the church.

[keithdb]

Its a matter of national pride. Kung mag-apologize si Pnoy. Lalong bababa ang tingi ng china sa atin kasi ang implication nyan eh kahit isang siyudad lang ng China eh kayang kaya ang presidente ng Pilipinas. Lalong maging mas mayabang china pag nangyari yan.

[Monseratto]

Salamat President Mayor...may pakinabang ka pa kaysa yung mga naka paligid ni BS Aquino. Something that should have been done 2-3 years ago...

Hong Kong accepts Erap apology



Hong Kong Chief Executive Chun Ying Leung (right) accepts on behalf of the Hong Kong Administrative Region Government the apology delivered by Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Wednesday, April 23, over the 2010 Manila hostage crisis. With it, Hong Kong adjusted the Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) for the Philippines from Black to Amber. Standing behind Leung are the relatives and some of the survivors of the tragedy. Ason Cañete

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...hostage-crisis

Hong Kong and Philippines resolve bus hostage crisis as families accept “confidential” compensation payout
Chief Executive CY Leung announces sanctions against Philippines are dropped as part of agreement

Hong Kong and the Philippines today resolved their differences over the Manila bus hostage crisis as families of those killed and injured received confidential compensation payouts and sanctions against the country were lifted.

Announcing the news following a high-level summit held in Hong Kong with dignitaries including Manila mayor Joseph Estrada, Chief Executive CY Leung said that all parties had worked “tirelessly” over the last six months to defuse tensions between Hong Kong and the Philippines following the 2010 tragedy in which seven Hong Kong tourists and their guide were shot dead, and seven others injured, by a sacked policeman who laid siege to their tour bus in Manila.

Leung announced an end, with immediate effect, to sanctions imposed in January which halted visa-free visits by Philippine officials.

He added that two resolutions had been passed by the Manila government: one for an apology and another to declare July 14 of the Chinese calendar and August 23 of the Gregorian calendar as days of prayer for the victims’ of the tragedy.

Leung said that, after assurances from the Philippines over the safety of tourists in the country, Hong Kong had lifted the “black” travel alert and reverted to amber.

Leung said he hoped the moves would bring peace to the dead and help the families of the victims “move on”.

Tse Chi-kin, brother of Hong Kong tour guide Masa Tse Ting-chunn, who was killed in the siege, said he accepted the resolution and the compensation.

“I can’t say whether I’m happy with the result or the wordings [of the statement] but I’m glad this has all come to an end,” said Tse.

“Will we insist on getting the right words [for an apology]? We understand that in circles of diplomacy there are lots of discrepancies."

Lawmaker James To Kun-sun said the compensation was “appropriate and acceptable” but they were bound to a confidentiality agreement and could not disclose the amount.

Earlier, a joint statement was released that said the four demands of the victims and families “will be resolved and settled”.

The agreement comes during a visit from Manila mayor Joseph Estrada and government officials designed to defuse tension over the tragedy and follows a meeting last night between Hong Kong officials and family members.

The statement, released this afternoon, said: “…the HKSAR Government and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines have agreed that the four demands made by the victims and their families on apology, compensation, sanctions against responsible officials and individuals, and tourist safety measures will be resolved and settled as follows.”

It added: “The Philippine Government expresses its most sorrowful regret and profound sympathy, and extends its most sincere condolences for the pain and suffering of the victims and their families. The Police Director General of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines has written to all victims or their families.

“In the spirit of solidarity and in acknowledgement of the loss of the victims and their families, an additional token of solidarity will be given to the victims or their families as a most sincere gesture of compassion of the people of the Philippines. “

The statement added that measures would be undertaken to “hold to account those responsible and to see the outstanding proceedings conclude as soon as possible”.

Families of the victims have campaigned for more than three years for an official apology from the Philippines government over the tragedy.

That campaign was dealt a blow in October last year, when Philippine President Benigno Aquino told the South China Morning Post he could not issue an official apology or compensation because “the act of one individual who is probably mentally unstable … should not be construed as an act of the entire country”.

Then, in January, Hong Kong cancelled visa-free arrangements for Philippine official and diplomatic passport holders in its first sanctions against a foreign state in retaliation for the country’s failure to respond all of the city’s demands.

On Tuesday, Beijing urged the Philippine government to “seriously respond to the Hong Kong government and to the legitimate and lawful demands of the relatives of the victims”.

[chua_riwap]

ano kaya say ni pnoy dyan?

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[Monseratto]

Siguradong isasama si Erap sa kaso ni Napoles, para mawala yung pogi points...

[170kphlang]

pwede din na ginawa niya yan para easy access palabas ng bansa sila sila kapag nageskapo time na nila

Sent from Constantinople