Tens of thousands of people have marched in Hong Kong to denounce the Philippines. Thousands of tourists canceled flight and hotel bookings. Two Chinese recipients of Asia’s most prestigious award failed to show up for the Manila ceremony.
After a violent hostage drama that killed eight tourists from Hong Kong, Asian powerhouse China is angry and the Philippines can do little to restore calm.
Barely two months into his presidency that promised to rid the Philippines of corrupt and incompetent officials, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III asked for China’s forgiveness while vowing that “someone will pay” for the embarrassing official handling of the 11-hour hostage-taking on Aug. 23 that unfolded live on television.
PHOTO: EPA
The gunman, a dismissed policeman demanding his job back, was accused of killing the eight tourists before police snipers finished him off. Survivors said he became enraged after watching on TV inside the bus as police handcuffed his brother for interfering in the negotiations.
“Bring out the truth. Let those responsible, whoever they may be, be held accountable. No whitewash. No scapegoats,” Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said in a memorial service held with Buddhist monks yesterday at the site of the carnage in a historic Manila park.
As Aquino assured Chinese officials of a thorough investigation that is expected to take two to three weeks, China’s fury took its toll. Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) and budget airline Cebu Pacific reported more than 1,000 cancelations from the Chinese territory of Hong Kong alone.
“It created a domino effect,” PAL spokeswoman Cielo Villaluna. “We are hoping that the situation will be temporary.”
In the prime beach resort of Boracay, hundreds of Chinese tourists scrapped their bookings, regional tourism director Edwin Trompeta said. Losses could top US$500,000, he said.
Emotions ran high in Hong Kong on Sunday when about 20 legislators led 80,000 people in a march that “shows the anger and unity of the Hong Kong people,” lawmaker Cheung Man-kwong (張文光) said.
Hong Kongers blasted Manila police for what they called an amateurish rescue attempt.
“Everyone saw how the Philippine government mishandled the situation before TV cameras and the chaos in the country. As a Chinese person, I need to demand justice,” 49-year-old worker Andy Wong said.
In another setback, two of three Chinese recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, named after a popular Philippine president and considered as Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize, failed to show up in the Philippines for a gala ceremony scheduled for yesterday evening in Manila.
Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation president Carmencita Abella said one of them, local official Fu Qiping, was reported to be sick and another, Pan Yue (潘岳), vice minister at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, did not reply.
“We respect the sensitivities of the Chinese. We understand we are now in a situation wherein they are demanding some measure of justice,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
Although the bungled police response incensed people in both China and the Philippines, the fallout did not involve any high-level policy issues, Filipino political analyst Ramon Casiple said.
“In a wider context, both sides did not want an escalation because there are no policy issues,” he told reporters. “It’s not in China’s long-term interest to fight the Philippines and the vice versa.”
“But the danger of an escalation is still there. The Philippines should avoid provocative actions and ensure a transparent investigation that will satisfy this call for justice,” he said.
China is the country’s third-largest trading partner after the US and Japan. Two-way trade reached US$6.7 billion last year.
It has been one of the major investors too, although two major contracts under the previous administration to build a telecommunications and a railways network fell through amid suspicion that Philippine officials received kickbacks. China had denied any wrongdoing.
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