RP-HK ties damaged by 'insulting' letter, says Miriam

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The "insulting" letter that President Benigno Aquino III received from the Hong Kong government over the Aug. 23 hostage tragedy damaged the country’s ties with the special administrative region of China, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said Sunday.

In an interview on radio dzBB, Santiago said that the Philippines did its part, officially taking full responsibility for the incident.

An insulting letter was not necessary, she added. An insult to the Philippine president was an insult to Filipinos.

"The relations with China's administrative director of Hong Kong [referring to the region’s chief executive Donald Tsang] ang may lamat [is cracked]," Santiago said.

The senator, who is on leave for health reasons, said she will file a resolution expressing the point that Manila accepted full responsibility [for the Aug. 23 incident] and exhausted [all possible] remedies.

Under no circumstance such a letter insulting to the Philippine culture should have been written to the Philippine leader and chief executive, Santiago said in Pilipino.

President Aquino reportedly received the letter in the immediate aftermath of the Aug. 23 incident at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, where eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage-taker, a former senior inspector of the Manila Police District, were killed and seven other Hong Kongers were injured.

It is still unknown who penned the letter, with Tsang denying he wrote it.

In a question and answer with the media on Thursday, Aquino said the letter addressed to him contained "very minute details of what we are supposed to do." He refused to elaborate.

The Aquino administration and police authorities were criticized for the bungled rescue operations that capped the 11-hour drama that was broadcast live on radio and television.

Senior Police Inspector Rolando Mendoza, who was dismissed in connection with an extortion and robbery case before the Ombudsman, demanded that he be reinstated immediately.

Foreign relations protocol

Santiago, an international law expert, told dzBB that the Hong Kong government's letter violated diplomatic protocol.

Echoing the point of political analyst Clarito Carlos, Santiago said that Aquino carries a higher stature compared with Tsang, who only heads an administrative region and not a nation. The senator added that only Chinese President Hu Juntao has the authority to call or write Mr. Aquino on such matters.

"Dapat sumulat sa Secretary of Foreign Affairs, dahil mga pinuno lang ng bansa ang pwedeng sumulat sa isa't-isa, (It should have been written to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, because only heads of states can write to each other)," said Santiago.

The Philippine government has been careful in dealing with Hong Kong authorities as there are about 120,000 overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong, and tourists from the region contribute to the Philippine travel industry.

Manila is also trying to maintain good diplomatic relations with China, with which the country has developed significant trade, investment, and tourism ties. —VS, GMANews.TV

Source: RP-HK ties damaged by 'insulting' letter, says Miriam - Yahoo! Philippines News

[Jaggernought]

Are there government mature enough to handle such a tragedy, I guess not.
The incident is by chance not really preemptive.
They should even lend a hand perhaps to help train our swat team and of course if they have the expertise.

[RMK711]

Hahaha nitukar nasad ni si miriam ay. Iya pang gi-insulto ang HK nga probinsya ra daw sa China, inya si Tsang admin officer ra daw.

As is typical of our politicians, she is complaining about the insult to our country and president but she is insulting HK and its leader. Does she even know that HK and its few million people generate more money than the entire Philippines with its 90 million people? So what if Noynoy is president of a country, when that country isn't respected internationally? Of course their leader wrote a letter, that's because Noynoy wouldn't answer the phone! Stupid politicians...

[brandnewbien]

iya iya nlng jd tag pasikat ani? himo himo ra guro nang letter nya pasikat ra pd na si meriam sos pinoy

[FranZeno]

Si Noynoy ra mn gasulti2 na insulting ang letter, ngin.OA ra na si Noynoy na g.insulto siya, iya ra na interpretation and misinterpreted. Saon! Nganu di nmn lang na sila muhilom ui..samot ni kagubot nuon ang HK og Pinas! Tsk!

[RMK711]

Kung tawgan nimo ang presidente nga nangisi sa malas sa ubang tao og "smiling dog" insulto na o pranka lang?

[slyder10]

andar na sad si brenda ai. unsa kahay agenda ani niya na nidapig cyang pnoy. sa ka brayt niya mu dapig cya sa abnoy. naa jud ni syay hidden agenda. kuwang cguro iya pork barrel. maayo gani kay letter ra ang insulting, kaysa ang nawong man sa lider nato ang insulting, naa bay mangayo ug pasaylo na magsigeg ngisi way buot opawa!! unya mu ingon pa na laughable matter in a few years ang situation what a *****!!

[miyay]

^senator santiago was right. there is a foreign correspondence protocol. insulting or not, noynoy shouldn't have said anything about the letter it if he has no intention of doing anything about it. he is no longer the opposition. he is the president. he should be the country's embodiment of diplomacy.

[samamar21]

tsang is just like a governor ang maayo mag insulto to a president.

[samsungster]

maayo unta pagawas ang letter from tsang para tinuod ba gyod insulting...