Fil-Chinese group on Manila hostage tragedy: 'Let's move on'

Amid the insistence of some relatives of the victims in seeking an apology over the August 2010 Manila hostage tragedy, a group of Filipino-Chinese nationals in the Philippines appealed to everyone to start "moving on." During a Mass at Camp Crame to commemorate the incident, Tan Ching, president of the Federation of Filipino Cinese Chamber of Commerce, said he "symphatized" with the relatives of the eight Hong Kong tourists killed and surviving victims of the Aug. 23, 2010 incident. "[But] we need to move forward in our society so that’s why we attended this Mass because we are Catholic. Everything should be at peace and there shoud no longer be arguments," he said. Ching said he attended Tuesday's Mass likewise to throw his group's support to the Philippine National Police, which last year came under fire for the botched, eight-hour hostage negotiation. Despite the blame being pinned on the PNP, among others, for the manner it responded to the incident, Ching said: "We always support the PNP." The FFCCC is made up of around 170 Filipino-Chinese organizations in the Philippines, each having between 50 and 100 members, according to Ching. The hostage drama started when dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza commandeered a tourist bus carrying Hong Kong tourists in front of the Quririno Grandstand. At the time, Mendoza was demanding his reinstatement in the service as well as the dropping of the charges against him. Police authorities tried negotiating with the hostage-taker for a grueling eight hours, until they decided to break into the bus - alarming Mendoza and ultimately triggering a firefight that killed him and eight tourists. — Mark Merueñas/RSJ, GMA News