RP mourns for hostage victims; flags fly at half-mast

Philippine flags at Malacañang and other government agencies flew at half-mast on Wednesday as an expression of mourning for the victims of Monday's bloody hostage crisis in Manila. President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III on Tuesday ordered Philippine flags to be flown at half-mast on Wednesday, which he declared as a day of mourning.

At the Malacañang Palace, the official residence of the Philippine President, the flag at the New Executive Building flew at half-mast. The flag was also flying at half-mast at Philippine National Police headquarters at Camp Crame, and at the Senate in Pasay City, where an inquiry on the hostage crisis will be held on Thursday. In Monday's 11-hour bloody hostage crisis, nine people died— eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage taker, dismissed police Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza. In Hong Kong, government sites adopted a black-and-white motif as a sign of mourning. The Hong Kong government portal also featured a link "In remembrance of the Manila hijack victims." Clicking on the government portal's message will redirect visitors to a Facebook page "In remembrance of the Manila hijack victims." "As a Filipino citizen, I express my deepest sympathies and condolences to the victims of the Manila hijacking, their families, and the people of Hong Kong, as well as anyone else who has been affected by this tragedy," one William Derek Rozee wrote on the Facebook page. –VVP, GMANews.TV