Palace: Erap’s apology to HK an independent initiative

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday clarified that the decision of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada to extend an apology to the Hong Kong government over the Manila hostage crisis in August 2010 is his “independent initiative.”

“There is no more reason for the national government to interfere in such affairs,” said Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma in an interview over radio dzRB.

Coloma, now the lead spokesman for President Aquino, also said that in his “personal view,” the objective of the city government is to “promote goodwill” between Manila and Hong Kong after the bungled hostage crisis left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has been urging Aquino to apologize. The Palace distanced itself from the issue after Aquino refused because the death of the tourists cannot be attributed to Filipinos.

Coloma also denied and downplayed insinuations that Estrada’s move was borne out of the decision of the national government, through the Department of Justice, to file plunder charges against his son Sen. Jinggoy Estrada for his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam. 

“There is no such view,” Coloma maintained, noting that Aquino’s meeting with Leung in the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Brunei made it clear that no apology was forthcoming. 

“The President explained… that an apology cannot be made by the whole nation for a single incident for which the citizens had nothing to do,” Coloma said in Filipino.