One obvious and significant difference here -

In the Filipino case, the killer intended to inflict serious harm and there was no time for police to act. I don't think the Chinese police would be as tolerant as yours.

In the hostage incident, the gunman was mild and reasonable and there were hours for police to resolve the standoff. instead of rescueing the hostages, the police did everything wrong and provoked the gunman into shooting the hostages.

We have every right and reason to protest and ask for justice. Are we to be accused for doing the right thing because of your government's choice of not pursuing the matter of the death of the Filipinos?

Subject: Family of tourists killed by crazed man: A Filipino family, that is, in Beijing

Think about this.
Interesting contrast/parallels......

The known facts are these:

On August 19, 2005, Emmanuel "Bong" Madrigal, a Manila-based Filipino executive of the multinational Shell, was visiting Beijing on vacation with his wife Vivian, his daugher Regina Mia, and two younger daughters. That day, they rode a tourist bus to Tiananmen Square, the heart of the capitol.

Upon arriving at the square, Emmanuel Madrigal was the first to descend from the bus, followed by Vivian and Regina Mia. A Chinese man wielding a scythe--in some reports it was described as a sword--suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hacked Emmanuel across his torso. He died on the spot. The man also attacked and seriously wounded Vivian. He then slashed at and killed Regina Mia. By this time, bystanders were trying to subdue the man, and Vivian shouted to her two other daughters to get away and save themselves. Somehow the girls made their way back to the hotel. Vivian was brought to a Beijing hospital, where she died several days later of her injuries.

An Associated Press report still circulating on the internet states that the killer was Wang Gongzuo, 25, a farmer from eastern China's Jiangsu province. He was sentenced to death for the murder of the Madrigals and executed a few weeks later, in September. The AP report states: 'Wang's motive for killing the two is unclear. After the incident occurred the Beijing Morning Post reported that he had wanted to 'affect society using extreme actions,' but didn't elaborate."

Reflect on the parallels. A family of vacationers on a tourist bus: the Leungs and the Madrigals. A killer out to "affect society using extreme actions": Mendoza and Wang. A massacre in a public place of symbolic significance: The Quirino grandstand, where the presidential inauguration had been held just weeks before, and site of the civil society protests against the Marcos regime; and Tiananmen Square, since ancient times the symbol of the centralized power of the Chinese state, and site of the 1991 civil protests against the government.

In both incidents, the state failed miserably in protecting innocent tourists.

And there the parallels end.

President Aquino has apologized to the families of Mendoza’s victims and conveyed his sorrow to the people of Hongkong, Chief Executive Donald Tsang, and Ambassador Lin Jian Chao. The Philippine National Police acknowledge that they botched matters beyond comprehension. Philippine legislators, ahead of their Hongkong counterparts, called for a full investigation. Philippine media organizations are looking to their own culpability in the affair. And masses of ordinary Filipinos, on TV, radio, print, and the Internet, are expressing collective horror, remorse and pity over the terrible fate of the innocent tourists, and bow their heads in shame before the Hong Kong people's sorrow and anger.

That is how it should be, that is only right. But.

To this day, five years after it happened, there is no public record of any Chinese official acknowledging the tourist killings in Tiananmen Square and apologizing to the Madrigals, much less the Filipino people, for the murder of Emmanuel, Regina Mia and Vivian. Not a single expression of regret that the Chinese police failed in their duty to protect the lives of innocent tourists in the very heart of Beijing, in the symbolic center of a state that prides itself most of all for its ability to control and contain disorder. There was a total blackout on the part of the Chinese press, and, according to another news report, government censors quickly blocked many internet sites where Chinese users had begun to post comments about the killing. So we will likely never know what ordinary Chinese citizens had to say about about the incident. Maybe some of them were actually sorry for what happened.

The closest thing to expressed regret was in fact the final reported action of the killer Wang, who waived his right to appeal the sentence of execution, and got a bullet in the back of his head.

To add to the horror, it would appear that the Arroyo administration was complicit in the silence. No public statement was ever made by the Philippine government regarding the incident. Unlike in Hongkong, no flags were flown at half-mast in Manila, and no three-minute silence was observed to mark the deaths of the innocent Filipino tourists. No demand has ever been made by any Filipino official for an apology, and for an accounting.

A full investigation of the Quirino Grandstand killing is ongoing. But what of that other killing, also in August, five years ago in Tiananmen Square?

Julian P. Aguila

I am from Hong Kong.

I have been following the news closely, trying to figure out what happened, why a seemingly "peaceful" hostage taking could have ended in such terrible blood shed, what drove an once outstanding police officer to resort to such violence to appeal his case. I have also tried to learn more about your country and your people.

I have read a lot of comments on discussion forums. I have to say some of them, both Filipinos and Chinese, are really irresponsible, extreme and spiteful. It makes me even more depressed.

Believe me, despite all the angry words and protests, most HK people are sensible and understand that Filipinos are also victims of the tragedy.

In the end, what we want is JUSTICE, JUSTICE and JUSTICE.

JUSTICE in the sense that there will be an impartial and thorough investigation, no apportioning of blame, act and speak responsibly, honourably, respectfully.

I have heard your apology. But it was so feeble against everything else you said. You pointed the finger on the media. You drew comparison with the Russian terrorists. Such that your apology was overwhelmed by these innuendos.

To you it was just damage control and politics, wasn't it? If you genuinely cared about those human lives, I expect you to speak and act in a more responsible and honourable manner with all the solemnity as befitting the situation.

You would not let us forget the tragedy either. While we are mourning our tragic loss you kept making things worse by finding excuses, taking photos in front of the bus, by opening the coffin of the deseased, by covering the coffin of the killer with your national flag and by calling us murderers.

Congratulations to your handling of not only the hostage crisis but also the aftermath. You did a great job in alienating us.

I hope you sleep tight at night. Because many of us don't.

Libo-libong mga kabataang Pilipino ang namatay dahilan sa
pagkalulong sa DRUGA na itinayo ng mga chinese national
dito sa Pilipinas at mga kababaihan nating inabuso, ni rape at pinatay sa tsina, humingge ba tayo ng paliwanag
sa kanilang mga pinuno? Nagtatanong lang.