HK Lawmakers propose ban on maids to force apology over Manila bus tragedy

[ClaNker]

Both ang hinihingi! Hindi mo alam?

Ano ang susunod?!? It obviously will not stop with just an apology, and finally that article came out confirming my doubts. So the question now is... What next?

[nelany]

Matagal na nilang hinihingi yang dalawang iyan kung hindi mo nabasa at napanood sa mga news at ni isa walang binigay!!

[ClaNker]

Matagal na nilang hinihingi yang dalawang iyan kung hindi mo nabasa at napanood sa mga news at ni isa walang binigay!!

Alta presyon mo pogi.

[kinyo]

pagka-alam ko, naibigay na yung "compensation", at yung apology hindi lang nila tinaggap

[shadow]

tama lang yan, anong apology, ulol ba sila...

[jonski]

ako ayaw ko na pumunta ng Hongkong. Mabwibwiset lang ako na feeling reyna mga lalakwe doon. Japan nalang.

[ClaNker]

H.K. victims want "too much" in compensation for hostage-taking councilor

Manila Councilor Bernardito Ang told Hong Kong's Cable TV that the city raised its initial offer of US$1 million in compensation to about US$1.3 million for all the families and survivors.

Each family of those killed will receive US$75,000, while injured survivors will receive between US$20,000 and US$150,000, depending on their injuries.

"If one of our soldiers died in the line of fire fighting for the Philippines, HK$50,000 (US$6,450) (in compensation) would be offered," Ang, who was shopping in China's Shenzhen city, told Cable TV. "But Hong Kong people are getting $75,000. Are their lives worth more (than Filipinos'?"

Ang has said the money will not come from the city but will be raised from the rich in Manila, specifically Chinese businessmen who Ang said make up the majority of the city's wealthy.

"Even if our government has the money, we can't openly say that we are compensating. Why (should we) pay so much?" Ang asked.

Aquino apology 'silenced by fear of legal backlash'

Saying sorry could lead to compensation payout Philippines can ill afford, says Beijing diplomat

Minnie Chan in Manila
minnie.chan*scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 22 October, 2013, 4:32am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 22 October, 2013, 2:12pm

Philippine president Benigno Aquino is refusing to apologise for the Hong Kong hostage tragedy because of his fear of taking legal responsibility, according to a senior diplomat at Beijing's embassy in Manila.

"President Aquino has a strong sense of legal awareness because many of his officials are lawyers," the diplomat, who requested anonymity, told the South China Morning Post.

"He is afraid that once he makes an apology, the Hong Kong victims' families, who also have a strong legal sense, will take action to sue the government for misconduct and seek compensation. That would be a big burden for a poor country."

Hah! Akala kasi ng mga dorobo dito ganon lang ka simple. Si Ang nga at and Manila's Chinese Businessman that will shoulder the money nag rereklamo, how much more pag may kasamang sorry na yan from the Philippine government. Di lang $75K and $20K-$150K and hihingin nyan.

Si Lim pwede nilang kunin at pahirapan nila sa Hongkong for life.

[ClaNker]

pagka-alam ko, naibigay na yung "compensation", at yung apology hindi lang nila tinaggap

Yes and it was coursed through an NGO i believe but was not disclosed by the families. In the end they still want more that's why they are insisting for an Apology from the Philippine Government so they can sue as hinted by the Beijing Diplomat.

[shadow]

yun mga falit kay Pnoy na ayaw mag apologize, donate na kayo para matapos na for the compensation. put money where your mouth is...hihihi

tapos punta kayo ng HK, lumuhod kayo sa gitna ng causeway bay sabay meron placard saying "I'm very sorry"...tapos yun pockey money niyo na HK$5000, ibigay niyo sa mga tao doon...pero dapat cebu pac gamitin niyo papunta ha huwag PAL or CX. mahal yun

tapos daan muna kayo night market, bili kayo ng tshirt na "I Love HK"

[nelany]

Alta presyon mo pogi.

Dong wala akong high blood.

[ClaNker]

Dong wala akong high blood.

Keep fooling yourself.

[nelany]

Keep fooling yourself.

Dong you are the one fooling yourself hehehe.

[nervenllarena]

dapat mag sorry din ang china sa atin dahil sa suicide bomber sa tianamen square may namatay na pinoy tourisrt

[marg]

dapat mag sorry din ang china sa atin dahil sa suicide bomber sa tianamen square may namatay na pinoy tourisrt

China sends sympathy to Filipino doc’s kin

The Chinese government has extended its sympathies to victims of Monday’s terror attack at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, where a Filipino doctor was among those killed and her family among the injured.......PDI 11/01/13

[explorer]

maraming mga believe na believe sa sarili dito at gusto si PNoy mag apologize...bakit di nyo gawin advise ni shadow

from: Joseph Estrada: The Philippine politician who can't stop apologising

Joseph Estrada: The Philippine politician who can't stop apologising

Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, 76, wants to say sorry to Hong Kong.

Now that's an act he had a lot of practice in - apologising. A self-acclaimed womaniser and philanderer, "Erap", as Estrada is popularly known, in the past had to repeatedly beg forgiveness from his wife, Luisa. One time he did it in style, with flowers and accompanied by musicians playing violin.

A black sheep of his family, Estrada kept saying sorry to his mother Maria for always getting into trouble when he was young. Expelled from middle school for fighting and never completing college, he was a constant worry for her.

His success as a movie star and politician never cut any ice with her. One story attributed to her goes that a few years before she died, when somebody told her that she should be proud of her son becoming the president of the Philippines, she is reported to have replied: "But my other son is a doctor."

But even as he kept apologising to his wife, the number of scandals continued to grow around him as he became a popular movie star. Rumours link him to numerous mistresses and nine children, but legally he has only one wife and three children.

During his 75th birthday bash in April last year, Estrada joked: "Don't take it against me if I took the Bible … too seriously when it said 'go and multiply'."

Despite the apologies, Estrada's "only legal wife" - his own description of her - got fed up with his scandals and flew off to Philadelphia in the United States with the children when yet another scandal emerged linking Estrada to his leading ladies in the film world. But after 18 years of living apart, Estrada vigorously wooed her back, saying he was very sorry, that he was a changed man and that he would have no more affairs. He was running for senator in the upper legislative chamber at that time, in 1987, and a broken marriage would have been a death knell to anyone with a political ambition.

In a book published by the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism, the group summed up the keynotes in Estrada's life as "millions, mansions and mistresses".

But such allegations only complemented his roguish charm and common touch, making him a hero to many, not unlike some of those action heroes he played on the screen. That propelled him into a political career that took him to the highest office of the land in 1998.

He didn't last long. In 2001, not even midway through his presidency, he was tossed out in a bloodless "people power" uprising stoked by public outrage over his personal excesses and graft in his administration.

After a trial that lasted six years, which he spent under house arrest, he was convicted of plunder and sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2007. But he was immediately pardoned by his successor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Ironically, Arroyo herself is now under house arrest, pending a trial for poll fraud.

Like a phoenix, Estrada rose again, to run for the presidency in 2010 and finished second. Earlier this year, he became the mayor of Manila [one of the cities in Metro Manila which serves as the nation's capital], wresting the position from a former ally turned bitter foe, Alfredo Lim, who was the mayor during the 2010 bus massacre in Manila.

It was Lim's order to arrest the bus hostage taker's brother which triggered the tragic chain of events on the night of August 23.

After Estrada replaced Lim as mayor of Manila, one of his first pronouncements was that he would set things right with the Hong Kong government and the Hong Kong victims and their relatives. He told the Sunday Morning Post in an exclusive interview: "Maybe I'll apologise [to Hong Kong] on behalf of our government [because] there was a mishandling of the crisis."

Many Filipinos don't buy Estrada's explanation. They see the apology as epal - slang for a self-promoting political publicity stunt. There have been disparaging remarks on social media. One Twitter user noted how "to this day, even after conviction and pardon of Erap for plunder, no apology from him and claims innocence".

One satirical website proclaimed that President Benigno Aquino would issue, on Erap's behalf, "a sincere apology over the acts of plunder that the country suffered in the hands of former president and now Manila mayor Joseph Estrada".

Manila is in a sorry state - urban blight is widespread, the street lights barely work and traffic is a mess. Yet the mayor is heading off to Hong Kong.

None of these criticisms will faze Estrada, who remains unrepentant over his failed presidency. Like many Filipino politicians, a key part of his resilience is his ability to ignore or block any such criticisms. In his view, he was the victim of a conspiracy and innocent of any wrongdoing. Talking of his ill-fated presidency, he told reporters: "I committed no crime" and added that "nothing was proven".

He insisted he was the one wronged, but had forgiven his transgressors because - quoting his now-favourite author, Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi - "The weak cannot forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

When he ran for mayor this year, he said he did not regret the six years he spent in confinement, comparing himself to Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi. He joked: "We are ex-convicts, we are men of conviction".

Likening Erap to Mandela would be a stretch. A better comparison would probably be to Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's flamboyant ex-prime minister who has been linked to numerous corruption and *** scandals.

Analysts have said one basis of Berlusconi's popularity was the fact that many Italians wanted to be like him, and this was true of Erap as well. Most Filipinos dreamt of being rich and loved by many women, they said.

The difference is that Estrada revels in being the butt of such barbs. In 1998, when running for the presidency, he turned attacks over his low English-language skills into a vote winner by portraying his attackers as a rich elite looking down on the unlettered poor.

But his strategy backfired when his administration was beleaguered by scandals and investigations showed Estrada receiving profits from a nationwide illegal gambling ring. Filipinos gleefully exchanged thousands of Erap jokes. One of them: "Why won't Erap resign? Because that would be the intelligent thing to do."

His image of being one of the poor also took a hit from revelations that he regularly drank expensive wines that cost more than 10,000 pesos (HK$1,800) a bottle, and had spent 10 million pesos remodelling the presidential kitchen.

He provided ammunition to his detractors who were sceptical of his abilities. For example, during New Year celebrations, in a televised bash where everyone around him was counting down to the new millennium, Erap was counting up.

Nevertheless, fate has been kind to Estrada. When he became president he declared: "This will be the greatest performance of my life." When that ended in a trial and conviction, people wrote him off, but he still managed to bounce back - conveniently ignoring a promise he had made to Arroyo that, in exchange for the pardon, he would never run for office again.

His self-deprecating humour, roguish charm and wealth have put him back in the political spotlight, occupying the politically important post of Manila mayor.

It might not be the greatest performance of his life, but it's an encore, and Hongkongers may be able to see up close how he performs.

[Ry_Tower]

China sends sympathy to Filipino doc’s kin

The Chinese government has extended its sympathies to victims of Monday’s terror attack at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, where a Filipino doctor was among those killed and her family among the injured.......PDI 11/01/13

Para ka din epal eh, nagbigay naman tayo ng sympathy, may compensation na din. Kung meron managot na tao, tao ha, hindi buong pilipinas.

Sent from my Lenovo using Tapatalk 2

[shadow]

Luhod sa causeway bay....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

#retzing

[Monseratto]

They are really putting the squeeze...

Legco set to back call to withdraw visa-free access to Filipino visitors | South China Morning Post

Legco set to back call to withdraw visa-free access to Filipino visitors
Lawmakers ready to put pressure on Manila despite fresh hope of compensation deal

Lawmakers are rallying behind a call to withdraw visa-free access for Filipino visitors to Hong Kong despite reports of progress towards a compensation deal for victims of the 2010 Manila hostage siege.

A non-binding Legislative Council motion urging the suspension of the visa-free scheme looks set to be passed on Wednesday after parties from across the political spectrum indicated they would support it.

Lawmakers want the government to put pressure on the Philippine leadership and Manila city government to compensate families of eight Hongkongers killed by sacked policeman Rolando Mendoza, as well as the injured.

The call comes despite a joint statement on Thursday by Manila City Council representative Bernardito Ang and Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun, who is working with the victims and families, indicating that a deal was getting closer.

Former security chief Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, will move the call to stop visa-free access as an amendment to radical pan-democrat Albert Chan Wai-yip's motion seeking sanctions on the Philippines. She has won the support of two leading Beijing-loyalist parties, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and the Federation of Trade Unions. Pan-democrats are also expected to support her amendment.

Chan's motion is expected to pass. But DAB chairman Tam Yiu-chung says his party may not support an amendment by Democratic Party lawmaker Sin Chung-kai as it "might infringe the existing trade agreements".

Sin wants the government to stop buying Philippine products, halt negotiations on air routes and trade and urge the public to boycott Philippine goods.

But FTU lawmaker Wong Kwok-kin will support both amendments.

"Though the motion has no binding effect, it will exert pressure not only on the Hong Kong government but also the Philippines - as pan-democrats and the pro-establishment camp join forces on this issue," he said.

Security minister Lai Tung-kwok would not comment on the amendments until the meeting.

[Altis6453]

They are really putting the squeeze...

Legco set to back call to withdraw visa-free access to Filipino visitors | South China Morning Post

Sus! If this is the extent of their so-called "pressure", eh di gawin nalang nila!

They must be kidding if they think Pinoys are desperate and dying to go to HK.

[falken]

Pu.... inang Mendoza na to. Ang daming nadamay sa katarantaduhan niya. Sama mo na rin yung kapatid niyang bugok.

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