Lawmaker: Stop 'self-flagellation' on hostage incident

MANILA, Philippines -  Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco Jr. has asked President Aquino and the rest of the nation to stop their “self-flagellation” over the hostage-taking incident that claimed the lives of eight Hong Kong tourists.

Syjuco said the nation should be able to move on after the unfortunate Aug. 23 tragedy.

“Some political morticians tell us that we must continue breast-beating, head-banging and groveling to appease the outpouring of anger and grief from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland,” he told his colleagues in a privilege speech.

“To that I say, the past must not be forgotten, but surely, we cannot be asked to continue living in that pained past alone,” he said.

“We deeply condole with the families of those killed in the hostage-taking. We recognize the enduring weight of their loss. No power on earth can give them back the lives lost, the pain suffered, or the hours of torment and anguish.

We offer no excuses. We could have done better. We will do better,” Syjuco added.

“But as a country and as a people, we need to stop this self-flagellation. There is no point in prostrating ourselves further. The hostage taker acted alone. Tarring an entire nation, with the same brush of culpability and blame, is neither fair nor right,” he stressed

Syjuco reminded Filipinos and Hong Kong and China of “another tourist bus on Tiananmen Square.”He recalled that on Aug. 19, 2005, Emmanuel “Bong” Madrigal, a Filipino executive, was on vacation in Beijing with his wife Vivian, his daughter Regina Mia, and two other younger daughters.

“The family rode a tourist bus to Tiananmen Square. Upon reaching the square, Bong descended from the bus first, followed by Vivian and Regina Mia. Suddenly, a Chinese national, wielding a sickle, appeared out of nowhere, hacking Bong across his torso. Disemboweled, Bong died instantly. The attacker also seriously wounded Vivian, and then slashed at, disemboweled and killed young Regina Mia,” he said.

“Reflect on the parallels, if you please. A family of vacationers on a tourist bus. A deranged killer with grievances. In both incidents, their governments failed to protect innocent tourists,” he said.

He noted that in the case of the Quirino Grandstand hostage taking, President Aquino has apologized to the families of the victims and to Chinese people as a whole.

“Even the Philippine media are evaluating their own culpability in the affair. And masses of ordinary Filipinos are expressing collective remorse and sympathy – on TV, radio, print, and the Internet,” he said.

“But to this day, five years after the tragedy, there is no public record of any Chinese official acknowledging the tourist killings in Tiananmen Square and apologizing to the Madrigals, or to the Filipino people, for the senseless murders of Bong and Regina Mia,” Syjuco said.

There were no flags flown at half-mast in Manila or China for the Madrigals, no bills were paid by the Chinese government and the Madrigals paid for the cost of transporting their dead back to Manila, he said.

In concluding, the former Arroyo Cabinet member cited an essay written by 36-year-old Lee Ying Chuen, a survivor of the Manila hostage crisis, which was published in a Hong Kong newspaper.

He quoted part of it: “The way to comfort the souls of the dead is not to blame the innocent Filipino domestic helpers and the people of the Philippines…We should support the people of the Philippines to build a more trustworthy government and a more just society.”

“Lee Ying Chuen’s voice of reason assures us that as the world faces monumental challengers, Hong Kong and the Philippines will continue to face them together. We stand together because we are fired by the same ideals and inspired by the same dream – of achieving security, prosperity and peace,” he said.