Actually, what I am really worried now are the OFW's especially in Hongkong and the Mainland.
A Horrific news thats swept the whole world.
Hongkong issued a SEVERE THREAT or almost equivalent to blacklist of the Philippines for its nationals to travel. With just 3 million tourist coming to the Philippines every year, what else should we do? We'll as usual, the 'heroes', the OFW's will be there to save the country from a terrible backlash that resulted from the incident today.
Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang criticised the handling of a hostage crisis in the Philippine capital on Monday.
A Horrific news thats swept the whole world.
Hongkong issued a SEVERE THREAT or almost equivalent to blacklist of the Philippines for its nationals to travel. With just 3 million tourist coming to the Philippines every year, what else should we do? We'll as usual, the 'heroes', the OFW's will be there to save the country from a terrible backlash that resulted from the incident today.
Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang criticised the handling of a hostage crisis in the Philippine capital on Monday.
"It is most regretable," said Tsang who appeared close to tears during a press conference. "The way it was handled, particularly the outcome, I find is disappointing," said Tsang.
FREEING SOME TOURISTS
STORMING THE BUS
STORMING THE BUS
RESCUING THE VICTIMS
I removed the content because it contains some gruesome images. Please go to the Youtube site to see it.
TREATING THE VICTIMS
STATEMENT OF THE HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE DONALD TSANG
Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang criticised the handling of a hostage crisis in the Philippine capital on Monday in which seven Hong Kong tourists were killed after police commandos stormed the bus they were held in for more than 10 hours. A gunman, identified as 55-year-old ex-police captain
Rolando Mendoza who was armed with an M-16 assault rifle, held 15 tourists hostage on a wide road in Manila's biggest park in the morning.
Two more hostages were seriously wounded.
"It is most regretable," said Tsang who appeared close to tears during a press conference. "The way it was handled, particularly the outcome, I find is disappointing," said Tsang.
Others in Hong Kong reacted with shock and some anger after what appeared to an ineffective rescue operation, with thousands glued to their television sets as live footage of the hostage drama played on local television for much of the day.
Such hostage incidents are extremely rare for residents of the financial hub and former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Police commandos could be seen breaking the windows of the bus minutes after a series of gunshots were heard and the driver of the bus was seen running to safety.
The commandos then struggled repeatedly to smash their way into the bus for over half an hour. As they did so, further gunshots could be heard, causing the officers to duck down and take cover. After around an hour the gunman was eventually killed and the hostages freed.
"It's a tragedy and a farce," said Kevin Chan, a Hong Kong resident. "Why did it take them so long to get into the bus? They're not well disciplined and trained. Are they crazy?"
Another Hong Kong resident Sunny Ho said things could have been handled through calmer negotiations rather than brute force.
"It's really tragic, the Philippine police and government are totally incompetent. The government should have agreed to the request of the gunman and rescued the people first!" Ho said.
A batch of hostages including three children were earlier freed. "I hope the Philippines government can give me a full account of what happened," Tsang said.
STATEMENT OF THE PHIL PRESIDENT NOYNOY AQUINO
STATEMENT
of
His Excellency BENIGNO S. AQUINO III
President of the Philippines
On the hostage-taking incident at the Quirino Grandstand
[August 23, 2010]
With the rest of the Filipino people, I wish to offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims whose lives were lost in the hostage situation at the Quirino Grandstand. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs has conveyed our deep feelings of sorrow to the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China and the people of Hong Kong through Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang. I have tasked Secretaries Soliman and Lim to provide everything necessary for the recovery and return home of the survivors. I have directed the fullest cooperation with the Hong Kong authorities on the part of our officials.
From the onset of this incident, the hostage-taker seemed to not be belligerent, as shown by the release of hostages. These were encouraging signs.
We were going to wait him out. The idea was to let the ground commanders who are the experts in this field handle the operation with minimal interference from people who are less expert.
But the situation deteriorated rapidly when, during the course of the negotiations, he was given the letter of the Ombudsman in which she promised to personally review his case. As he was reading the contents of the letter, while talking to an unknown individual on the phone, he became increasingly agitated.
The presence of his brother also added to the tension.
At this point, he threatened to kill a hostage. The police decided to remove the brother from the scene. As the negotiators were departing, the negotiators were shot at.
Media coverage of his brother being taken into custody further agitated the hostage-taker.
Shots were fired. They seemed to be warning shots, as there was no audible indication of tumult or chaos to show that the hostages were in immediate danger.
Nonetheless, the negotiators tried to reestablish contact the hostage-taker but they were unsuccessful as the cellphone of the hostage-taker was continuously busy. He also refused to answer the throw-phone provided for him by the authorities.
The escape of the driver, combined with his reports that the hostages were being harmed, forced the assault to happen. When the vehicle began to move, and with reports that he had hand grenades, a decision was made to immobilize the vehicle as it would have made the situation even more dangerous.
As we know, the incident tragically ended in the deaths of eight innocent civilians.
We expect more of the facts to come to light and I have ordered Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to thoroughly lead this review.
©2010 THOUGHTSKOTO
