Friday, August 27, 2010

Manila hostage of HK tourists

it's just all over the news and you can't get by without hearing or watching about it. i was back in pinas when this happened. i didnt know about it until the evening when things turned for the worse. i left for hongkong the day after in the midst of the black travel warning of HK govt to the philippines. on board PAL's delayed flight, i headed straight to the immigration area and easily got through. after baggage claim, i headed to the green lane (no items to declare) but was immediately asked by the officers for another baggage check. it was random, i suppose. i didnt see any one checked before me. didnt bother to look back if there were others who were checked too. i didnt mind coz i had nothing to be afraid of. i took it as a security measure. however, some pinoys became hesitant to travel in HK coz of discrimination which may occur.


there are stories i hear of DHs being terminated coz of this tragedy. some physical violence and discriminatory looks on pinoys. i havent personally proven this though. i know a lot of pinoys here in hk are cautious now. but we shouldn't over sensationalize or become too paranoid. as we don't want to be generalized as troublemakers, let's not do the same to the hongkong people. emotions are high and it's understandable that they vent out their sentiments in a peaceful and respectful manner. we are one, whatever nationality, in condoling with the families of the victims and the whole of hongkong in calling for justice and transparency of what really happened during the 10-hour hostage drama

phil govt may have done a lot of wrong in this situation, but hopefully, the truth will shed some light to the many questions on what actually transpired during the hostage crisis. a lot of bashing, blaming - can't stop that. emotions are high. in the end, philippine police have a lot to improve on. lessons were learned the hard and bloody way, which costed a lot of lives and straining country ties with HK, CHina. thankfully, hk's CE donald tsang also understand the plight of filipinos in hongkong by calling for a more calm and civilized way of handling the situation. we feel your grief, we understand your anger. we will not be judged by wrong acts done by a few.

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