Hong Kong observed a mournful silence yesterday for eight tourists killed in a Manila bloodbath, after their bodies returned home amid mounting outrage against Philippine authorities.
The territory held three minutes of silence with flags lowered to half-mast at a special ceremony overseen by Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) and a large crowd of black-clad people on the harbor waterfront.
Staff from travel agency Hong Thai lowered their heads to mourn Masa Tse (謝廷駿), the 31-year-old tour guide who was praised for alerting his Hong Kong office to the hijacking by cellphone from the back of the tour bus
Later in the day, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee (李少光) said the territory’s coroner had ordered the post-mortem examinations amid questions over whether the slain tourists were killed by bullets fired by their captor or by police.
“The coroner will then decide whether a death inquiry will be held,” Lee told lawmakers in the Legislative Council during a specially convened meeting.
The bodies of five of the victims were autopsied in Manila before they were returned to Hong Kong on Wednesday evening. The results showed they died from gunshots mostly to the head and neck.
Families of the three other victims insisted their autopsies be performed in Hong Kong, local media reported.
Legislator Wong Kwok-kin (黃國健) also called for the territory’s highest travel alert to be kept in place, which warns residents to avoid the Philippines.
“I ask the government to get to the bottom of the incident,” Wong said. “The black travel alert should remain — that will put pressure on the Philippine government.”
Meanwhile, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III vowed that “someone will pay” for the hostage crisis as senators began grilling senior police officers over the fiasco.
Addressing students and teachers at a suburban university, Aquino said the hostage-taking drama was “ghastly” and admitted there were “many failures,” but stopped short of directly blaming the police.
“What happened should not happen again,” he said. “Someone failed, someone will pay.”
At the Senate investigation, Manila police chief Rodolfo Magtibay said he gave the order to assault the bus after hearing shots following a breakdown in negotiations with the hostage-taker.
Magtibay has taken leave and four leaders of the assault team that eventually stormed the bus have been relieved pending an investigation. Officials have said the firearms used by 200 police commandos will be subjected to ballistic tests.
Magtibay told the senators that he “honestly believed” assurances by his assault team leader that they were prepared and were carrying the right equipment for the operation.
However, Senator Miguel Zubiri said the SWAT team did not have ladders or bus window blasters, and the rope they used as a makeshift tool to pry open the vehicle’s door easily snapped.
“It was Band-Aid solutions as we went along, but the element of surprise had already gone,” Zubiri said.
In other developments, action star Jackie Chan’s (成龍) Tweets about the hijacking have drawn a barrage of Internet attacks in Hong Kong.
Many Hong Kongers have criticized the Philippine government for acting too slowly. However, Chan took a more diplomatic tack, suggesting in comments on his Twitter account that the Manila police faced a tough dilemma.
“If they killed the guy sooner, they will say why not negotiate first? If they negotiate first, they ask why not kill the guy sooner? So sad,” he wrote on Wednesday.
He also urged people not to direct their anger at Filipinos living in Hong Kong.
The comments did not go down well with his compatriots. Facebook users quickly set up three groups called “Jackie Chan doesn’t represent me” that drew a slew of sharply worded attacks.
“Shut up! Hong Kong people don’t need you. You side with outsiders and not your own. You will face karmic retribution for your disrespect for the victims,” Iris Yau said.
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