By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
THE current standoff with Hongkong is an example of the danger of ignorance, power, and pride combined. As American minister Robert Fulghum said in his book ,All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, “Ignorance and power and pride are a deadly mixture, you know.”
Last week, the Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced that the current 14-day visa-free arrangement for visiting Philippine diplomats and officials would be suspended starting Wednesday, February 5.
The sanction, which does not cover Filipinos who are going to Hongkong as tourists, is still over the Aug. 23, 2010 hostage- taking where eight Hongkong residents were killed after a disgruntled and desperate Filipino policeman hostaged a bus-load of Hongkong tourists at the Rizal Park in Manila.
In response, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Secretary Raul Hernandez issued the government position of no apology, just regret.
Hernandez mentioned about “ generous offering” by the Philippine government to the victims’ families but, he said, “ a total renegotiation has been opened by the Hong Kong SAR Government to seek a demand for an apology which the Philippines, as a sovereign nation, is not prepared to consider. Our Nation has already expressed its deepest regret and condolences over the incident and we are preparing to reiterate this.”
For the Aquino government, Hernandez said, “substantive closure on the Quirino Grandstand Incident had already been arrived at three years ago with the previous Hong Kong SAR Government and the victims as well as their families.
“A renewed appeal for compassion was directly made to our government last October 2013. We responded to this appeal without equivocation and in a most generous manner. Additional tokens of solidarity have therefore been pledged by the Filipino people at the behest of the Philippine government. These amounts that are being offered are substantially more than those that have been previously accepted by the victims and their families. We have been made to understand that the victims and their families have agreed to this offer.”
The DFA statement further said, “To bring the issue to its final conclusion, the Philippines remains committed to manifest compassion for the victims and their families and is ready to turn over the additional tokens of solidarity from the Filipino people. We hope that we will be able to do this as soon as possible.”
The Aquino government apparently does not get, or refuses to accept, what the Hongkong government had been saying the past three years: “It’s not the money. It’s the act of apologizing that we want to see because that will prove that you are really sorry for what happened.”
President Aquino has a somewhat warped reason why his government is not apologizing to Hongkong for what has been seen by the whole world on TV as the greatest show of government incompetence in handling a crisis.
On the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bali, Indonesia, Hongkong’s Leung met with Aquino and reiterated their demand for an apology saying that in their culture, , they apologize for unfortunate incidents in their territory involving other nationals even though the government is not directly responsible.
Aquino said, “So sabi ko, that’s your culture. You practice those, that’s your system. But in our system iyong… we cannot admit wrongdoing if it’s not ours… From our perspective, there is one lone gunman responsible for this tragedy.”
He said, “we only apologize when we admit that we are at fault as a country, as a government, and as a people.”
It must really be difficult for Aquino to admit that it was his government’s bungling of the rescue operations that caused the death of the eight Hongkong tourists.
If he would care to read again the report of the De Lima-led Incident Investigation and Review Committee of the hostage taking, he would see the word “incompetence” and phrase “neglect of duty” mentioned several times referring to officials of the government .
Leung said lifting of visa- free privileges for government officials is just the “first phase of sanctions” and said they may take more action if it thought it could be “effective” in securing an apology over the hostage-taking.
Actually this “first phase of sanctions” is a downgraded version of what was approved by the Hongkong Legislative Council last November which was removal of visa-free access for Filipinos. They apparently thought of its adverse effect on their tourism.
Filipino officials are confident Hongkong would not stop the employment of Filipino domestic helpers, who number about 150,000. The Chinese know the folly of cutting off your nose to spite your face.
It’s the Philippine officials who need to be reminded that “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”
That’s from Proverbs 11:2.