Test of sincerity
| FRONTLINE |
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| Ninez Cacho-Olivares |
Hong Kong certainly is putting the sincerity of Noynoy Aquino and his administration -- and his political will — to a test, done through the issuance of summons for over 100 Filipino officials and witnesses, among others to testify before the Hong Kong probe team that will be investigating the botched Aug. 21 hostage rescue which left eight Hong Kong residents dead, and a lot more injured.
This test of sincerity — which Noynoy and his officials will likely fail — came about as a result of the “official” visit of Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim, along with a Department of Foreign Affairs official, Eduardo Malaya, who serves as DFA spokesman.
In Lim’s eagerness to get the ties between Manila and Hong Kong — and subsequently, China — normalized, he promised a lot of things — many of which the Philippine government won’t be able to deliver.
Lim informed the Hong Kong leader, Donald Tsang, that the Philippines will be paying compensation for the death of the eight tourists as well as those who were injured, with Malaya later adding that a “public-private partnership” group will be forking out the compensation money. How much is involved, and just who the private benefactors are was not divulged. Still, this monetary compensation whose amount was not divulged by Lim, will come from taxpayers’ money again because it does not make sense for the government to tap the private sector for funds to pay off the relatives of the Chinese victims. It is not the fault of the Filipinos or even the Tsinoys but the fault of Noynoy Aquino and his administration whose incompetence and ineptitude caused the botched rescue hostage..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101219com2.html
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