Palace appeal: Don't take it out on Pinoys in HK
Malacañang on Wednesday said it recognizes the "anger and agony" of Hong Kong people over the Manila hostage crisis but appealed to them not to take out their anger on Filipinos residing in the Chinese territory. Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Filipinos in Hong Kong should not be blamed for the deadly hostage-taking last Monday because they are also “in grief" over the incident. “We recognize the anger and agony of the Hong Kong people, but we would ask the people of Hong Kong not to take it out on Filipinos there," he told reporters in a briefing in Malacanang on Wednesday. A bloody hostage crisis erupted on Monday after a dismissed police officer, former senior inspector Rolando Mendoza, held hostage a tourist bus carrying 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos. Nine people died, including eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage-taker, who was killed by a sniper's bullet. Leaders and residents of the Chinese territory expressed disappointment over the outcome of the hostage-taking and the manner the police handled the incident. Delegation to Hong Kong Lacierda said the government plans to send a delegation to Hong Kong to check the situation of the Filipinos there. “We are not asking them [Filipinos in HK] to grin and bear it. We are sending a delegation to Hong Kong. The Filipinos share the same concern we have here that an investigation be conducted to determine the cause (of the incident)," he said. The presidential spokesperson added that the Philippine government has no plans to issue a travel advisory for Filipinos to refrain from traveling to the Chinese territory after the incident. Appeal for understanding Meanwhile, a human rights group in Hong Kong voiced concern over reports that some Filipinos in Hong Kong are already reportedly feeling the brunt of the anger of some residents. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) earlier voiced concern over the tendency of some people to blow the incident out of proportion in expressing their anger. “We have already been informed via an SMS (short messaging service) today of an incident in which a man in Kowloon Tong was heard to have shouted: ‘We employ them (Filipinos) in our homes and they murder us in their homes.’ This tragedy should not become a conflict of nationalities and it must not, at any point, be seen as such," the AHRC said in its website Tuesday night. –VVP, GMANews.TV