President Rodrigo Duterte apologized to the people and government of Hong Kong for the 2010 Manila hostage crisis because of this reason.
In 2010, the Philippines has encountered a tragic hostage crisis involving several tourists from Hong Kong.
The said incident happened during the administration of former President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III who refused to apologize regarding the tragedy.
It was mentioned in the article published in Inquirer that the reason of the former head of the country was the “Filipino fatalities in China for which Beijing has not apologized and paid compensation.”
On the other hand, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, travelled to Hong Kong in 2014, he apologized in behalf of the Philippines to the family of the hostage victims which was already accepted by its government.
Just recently, after his trip to China for the Boao Forum, President Rodrigo Duterte made a side trip to HK and for the first time, he officially apologized.
He expressed sympathy for the death of eight Hong Kong tourists during the 2010 Manila hostage crisis.
According to the Chief Executive, there has been “no official apology coming from the Philippines regarding that incident that happened in August 2010.”
This is the statement of President Duterte during his speech before the Filipinio community in Hong Kong.
“To the Chinese people who are here, from the bottom of my heart, as President of Republic of the Philippines, may I apologize formally to you now. We are sorry the incident happened, as humanly possible, I would like to guarantee this will never happen again. This will go a long way to really assuage the feelings of the Chinese people.”
For the President of the Philippines, it is just right to offer an apology regarding the tragedy because lives were lost under the jurisdiction of Filipinos.
“What’s really needed is just to say we’re very sorry,” Duterte stated, based on the article.