Nusa Dua Beach Hotel, Bali, Indonesia
7 October 2013

On the sidelines of his attendance at the 21st Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, President Benigno S. Aquino III had a meeting with Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying.

President Aquino said in a media interview that Chief Executive Chun-Ying asked for the meeting to discuss the updates of the Manila hostage crisis on August 23, 2010 involving Hong Kong nationals. Further, the President stated that the government of Hong Kong is sincere to come up with a resolution to the incident. He said, “I think nagkaroon ng clarification as to what each side has been doing.”

The President was able to explain the government side on the issue that it neglected the request for public apology. “Sabi ko sa kanila, sa culture namin when we apologize then it admits that we are at fault as a country, as a government and as a people. And we pointed out that from our perspective, there is one lone gunman responsible for this tragedy,” the President said. Just the same, President Aquino extended the government’s sincere condolences and deepest regret to the bereaved family of the victims.

He said that Chief Executive Chun-Ying asked for a dialogue with a consul general of the Philippine embassy. But the President said that he may ask Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to conduct a status briefing.

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