China, the Philippines mourn hostage crisis victims

Leaders of China and the Philippines have expressed deep sorrow over the hostage crisis that ended in the deaths of nine tourists from Hong Kong.

A working team sent by the Chinese government is now in Manila to deal with the aftermath.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao expressed their condolences on Tuesday to the families of the Hong Kong tourists killed during Monday’s hostage crisis in the Philippines.

In a joint letter to Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, chief executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Hu and Wen expressed their deep sorrow for the families of those killed and consolation for the injured.

“We are in grave shock and grief on hearing that eight Hong Kong compatriots fell and many others were injured in the Manila hostage incident,” the letter said. One of the injured later died in the hospital.

“We hereby express our grave condolences and our deep sympathy to the families of the Hong Kong compatriots, and we hope the injured will recover soon,” the letter said.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has declared August 25 a day of national mourning for the victims of the hostage crisis.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, during a telephone conversation with his Philippine counterpart Alberto Romulo, said the Chinese government was shocked about the incident, deplored the slaying of the Hong Kong tourists and strongly condemned brutality against innocent tourists.

The Chinese government demanded the Philippine government launch a thorough investigation into the incident and inform the Chinese side of related details as soon as possible, he said.

(Xinhua)

Philippine embassy in Beijing lowers flag to half-mast

By Chu Meng

The Philippine embassy in Beijing lowered its flag to half-mast on Wednesday to show sympathy for the deaths of nine Hong Kong tourists in Monday’s hostage crisis.

According to an announcement issued on the official website of the Philippine Embassy of China, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III issued a proclamation on Tuesday ordering all government agencies, including the country’s embassies and consulates abroad, to lower the Philippine flag to half-mast.

“These deaths are a great loss to the people of Hong Kong and the Philippines, and [we] call for the most solemn commemoration and respect at a time of grief for our two people,” the proclamation said.

China’s National Tourism Administration (NTA) issued a caution on its website to Chinese tourists traveling to the Philippines. For those already in the Philippines, the NTA reminded them to take note of security conditions and strengthen their personal protective measures and suggested Chinese tourists go to the local police or contact the Chinese embassy in case of emergencies.

“Our tourism visa policy for China’s tourists has not changed,” a visa official from the Philippine Embassy in Beijing said on Wednesday afternoon. “We see no need for Chinese tourists to cancel or postpone travel plans to the Philippines during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day Holiday.”

 “There hasn’t been many cancellations or postponements from our registered tourists. But we’ve had more callers question the tourism environment and security situation in the Philippines,” said Zhen Hongjuan, manager of the outbound tourism department at China International Travel Service.

Zhen said security is a travel agency’s top concern. Since no other potential security hazards in other major Philippine cities were reported, registration to the Philippines tour remained open. 

However, some citizens have had second thoughts about going to the Philippines. Bao Lei, a Beijing citizen who is planning a National Day trip with his family, just crossed out the Philippines from her list.

“I decided I want to travel to Taiwan next month,” she said. “I just don’t want to be in the Philippines during this emotional time.”

The Chinese government demanded a thorough investigation on how the hostage crisis was handled and urged the Philippine government to take concrete measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese citizens in the Philippines.

Philippine police admit blunders in hostage ordeal

(AFP) – Philippine police conceded Tuesday they made blunders in ending a bus hijacking as outrage grew over the bloody assault played out on live television that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.

Commandos fired dozens of bullets into the bus and smashed its windows with sledgehammers as they tried to storm it, but were then forced to wait outside helplessly for over an hour as the hijacker used his captives as human shields.

The ordeal in Manila’s tourist district on Monday finally ended when the police fired tear gas into the bus and a sniper shot the gunman in the head, but by that time eight of the tourists on board had been killed.

Amid a building storm of criticism from Hong Kong’s government and people around the world who watched the shoot-out live on television, Manila police commander Leocadio Santiago admitted mistakes had been made.

“We saw some obvious shortcomings in terms of capability and tactics used, or the procedure employed and we are now going to investigate this,” Santiago said on local television.

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Aquino set for landslide win in Philippines vote

(AFP) – Benigno Aquino was set to be confirmed as the next Philippine president on Tuesday after steamrolling his rivals in national elections with a promise to reduce massive poverty by fighting corruption.

Aquino, 50, electrified the country during a tumultuous election campaign with his mantra of clean government, following nearly a decade of rule under President Gloria Arroyo marred by allegations of enormous graft.

With more than half of all votes cast counted, the bachelor had already secured just over 40 percent of the ballot, the election commission announced on Tuesday morning, placing him on track for a landslide win.

His nearest rival, former president Joseph Estrada, had just 25.4 percent, giving Aquino a near insurmountable lead.

Aquino is the son of the Southeast Asian nation’s most revered democracy heroes, and he deftly tapped into popular sentiment for his parents by pledging a new style of clean government.

His mother, Corazon Aquino, led the “People Power” revolution that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and then served as president.

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Dance company portrays Philippine folk culture, traditions

By Venus Lee

Three decades after its first China performance, the Philippines’ national folkdance company Bayanihan returned to Beijing with “Rhythms of the Isnds” last Friday. The show at the China Central Conservatory of Music portrayed agricultural Philippine life, religion, war, the movements of nature and courtship. They reflected the Southeast Asian nation’ethnic roots and the deep influence of Spanish, Muslim and Chinese cultures.

“The customs in the northern part of the country ae similar with those of the Gaohan aborigines in Taiwan,” Sonia Cataumber Brady, the Philipine ambassador, said in her welcome remarks. “While the country’s central regions were influenced by Spain for more than 300 years, the southern parts were influenced by Muslim culture.” Malaysia lies close to the couy’s southern land mass of Mindanao.

The show, organized by the Philippine Embassy and the World Music Society of China, drew an audience of more than 200, which included diplomats, journalists and university students. The Chinese spectators particularly enjoyed the binasuan, where dancers balanced wine-filled glasses on their head and hands, and the tinikling, where performers briskly danced between two beating and tapping bamboo poles.

“From their tribal warrior attire to exquisite Spanish gowns, the whole cast looked true to their roles,” said Wu Jiewei, a professor of Philippine studies at Peking University. “It was really a mix of Philippine folance culture.”

The show was a tribute to 34 years of Sino-Philippine relations as well as a way to entice Chinese people to visit the country and learn more about its art, history and culture.

“We want to carry the bayaihan spirit overseas through this cultural exchange,” said Ferdinand Jose, director and choreographer of the company created in 1957, and which has since performed in 700 cities worldwide. The troue’s name is derived from a Filipino word that means “communal effort to achieve an objective,” rooted in a tradition where villagers help a family move to a new place. The process involves literally carrying their houto its new location by putting under the hut’s stilts bamboo poles that the men lifted.

Jose said young people nowadays ?whether in the Philippines, China or other countries – are not very thrilled with folk performanes, but the troupe does not allow this to frustrate their efforts to promote traditional Filipino culture abroad.

“It is less effective to educate young people only in folklore given that Western pop culture is so pervsive, but we can combine education and entertainment to attract their attention,” he said.

Death Toll Hits 100 in Philippine Flooding

MANILA — The death toll from a storm that ravaged the Philippines over the weekend reached at least 100 on Monday, with many more deaths expected and thousands of Filipinos still trapped in their homes by floodwaters.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council raised the death toll from 86 on Monday afternoon, but officials of the provinces of Batangas and Rizal said there were at least 100 other fatalities. In Rizal Province alone, officials said, 82 residents had died.

The sun shone Monday morning and many Filipinos were happy that their lives were slowly inching back to normal as the floodwaters caused by tropical storm Ketsana began to recede in some areas.

But in Pasig City, one of the hardest-hit Manila suburbs where the heavily silted and polluted Pasig River flows, the floodwater in many communities hardly decreased.

“The water is not moving,” a tearful Nene Monfort, 71, told ABS-CBN television. She said she and her family were trapped on the second floor of their apartment and could not come down because of the water.

The disaster was the worst the capital had experienced in nearly half a century. Ketsana poured a month’s worth of rain onto Manila in just 12 hours, the government’s weather bureau said.

The Philippine government declared a “state of national calamity” in 27 provinces outside the capital. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, who also heads the disaster agency, said in a briefing on Monday that the government would now concentrate on relief work, indicating that a major part of the rescue effort was now over.

“Right now we will concentrate really on providing food and other necessities,” Mr. Teodoro said, adding that Ketsana destroyed the homes of more than 435,000 residents in the capital and several provinces in the northern Philippines. More than 100,000 of those affected are now housed in roughly 200 evacuation centers.

The U.S. Defense Department’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center reported Monday that the storm was moving westward across the South China Sea and would likely “intensify further to typhoon strength before it makes landfall” near the city of Hue, in central Vietnam.

The United States Embassy in Manila pledged at least $50,000 in disaster aid to the Philippines. It also dispatched about 20 U.S. Navy personnel on two rubber boats and a helicopter to Cainta City, one of the worst-hit municipalities, to help distribute relief goods and rescue residents.

“The damage this storm has caused is heartbreaking,” Rebecca Thompson, an embassy spokesman, said in a statement Sunday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/asia/29philip.html?_r=1

Search for Philippine ferry missing

Rescue workers in the Philippines say two people remain missing after a passenger ferry carrying more than 900 people capsized in the middle of the night in the south of the country.

Search operations continued throughout Sunday night, 24 hours after the Superferry 9 carrying 968 passengers turned on its side 15km off Zamboanga del Norte province.

Philippine navy ships and military aircraft scoured the waters while US troops providing counter-terrorism training to the Philippines military deployed a civilian helicopter and five boats with medical help.

Nine people are confirmed to have died, but officials said all but two of the remaining passengers had been rescued.

The ferry was midway into its journey between the southern port city of General Santos and Iloilo city in the central Philippines when it ran into problems early on Sunday morning.

According to Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the Philippine coast guard chief, the vessel’s violent listing awoke frightened passengers and sent dozens jumping in the darkness into the water.

Panic

Reymark Belgira, a passenger, said many panicked as the huge ferry listed, with parents tossing children to people on life rafts below.

“I held on to the ferry for hours until day break. I couldn’t jump into the water in the dark.”

Gilbert Teodoro, the Philippines defence secretary, said two men and a child drowned during the scramble to escape the ship.

Roger Cinciron, a passenger, said he felt the ferry tilting at about midnight and was assured by a crew member that all was well.

But two hours later he was awoken by the sound of crashing cargo below his cabin, he told DZMM radio.

“People began to panic because the ship was really tilting,” he said as he waited for rescuers to save him and a group of more than 20 other passengers.

Cause uknown

Al Jazeera’s Manila correspondent, Marga Ortigas, said investigators had yet to offer any initial reports on what might have caused the listing.

However she said accounts from some witnesses had led to speculation that some cargo on the ferry may have come loose, somehow puncturing the hull.

Jess Supan, vice-president of Aboitiz Transport System which owns the ferry, said the captain initially ordered everyone on board to abandon ship as a precautionary step.

The country’s National Disaster Coordinating Council said there were reports that the 7,268-tonne vessel listed to the right because of a hole in the hull.

Sea disasters are common in the Philippine archipelago because of bad weather, badly maintained boats and weak enforcement of safety regulations.

Last year, a ferry overturned after sailing toward a powerful typhoon in the central Philippines, killing more than 800 people on board.

In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the Philippines, killing more than 4,341 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/09/20099703615232674.html