DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / April 23, 2014 / Daily Tribune
By now President-Mayor Joseph Estrada should already have landed on China’s Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. Erap will be carrying a check of as yet an undisclosed amount corresponding to the “compensation” expected by the families of the eight victims of the August 2010 Luneta massacre. Accompanying Mayor Erap is Councilor Bernie Ang of Manila who has been instrumental in the mayor’s efforts to mend the bridges with Hong Kong. Secretary to the Aquino Cabinet Rene Almendras, reported to be part of the entourage, apparently to represent Malacañang, was not in the entourage, however.
It must be remembered that BS Aquino and his extremely close and trusted police ally cum mayor of Manila at the time of the tragedy, Alfredo Lim, both became extremely disliked figures of the victims’ families, as well as the Hong Kong people and government, due to the bungling of the rescue effort of the Manila police under direct supervision of Mayor Lim, along with Aquino and his Malacañang officials’ unresponsiveness when being contacted by Hong Kong authorities during the crisis and his own maladroit demeanor displayed in media photos and newsreels during the incident (such as that infamous PeNoy grin in amid the mourning that set off the Hong Kong people’s chagrin). But topping it all was Aquino’s adamant refusal to issue an apology.
We are told by sources close to Mayor Estrada that his Hong Kong trip is actually in behalf of Malacañang to bring the compensation that the Hong Kong victims’ families have demanded all these years. Estrada’s role and presence was actually requested by the Hong Kong victims’ families, probably a result of the persuasive effect of Mayor Estrada’s early and open declaration of his feeling of remorse and expression of public apology for the City of Manila where the incident happened — a sort of substitute contrition for the Philippine government’s refusal to express that apology. Mayor Estrada’s acute empathy with the sensitivities of people, a unique quality of his, sets him apart as a leader. It is something found in very, very few other Filipino politicians, if at all.
Mayor Estrada is expected to return at the end of this week with all the expectations of fully normalizing relations between the Philippines and Hong Kong fulfilled. It’s been four years since that tragic incident at the Luneta that had soured Philippines relations with Hong Kong, mainland China, and many Chinese people, tarnishing the country’s image not only with its Asian neighbors but with many other countries in the world, west to east, whose people witnessed the Keystone Kops performance of the then Manila Police’s SWAT Team at the cost of eight innocent lives, and the then the mayor displaying utter incompetence and crudeness in allegedly ordering the rubout of the hostage-taker’s brother in full view of local and international media.
When Mayor Estrada returns — and, hopefully with the four years of acrimonious relations with Hong Kong ended — happier events await him. Aside from already clear successes in raising Manila’s revenues that’s going a long way to radically improving the city administration’s management of traffic, public security, health and sanitation, computerized tax management, and city governance, Mayor Estrada will be presiding over the revival of a tradition that made the City of Manila a landmark in the pre-war and immediate post-war times — the search for the 2014 Miss Manila, a new version of what was known as the Manila Carnival Queen from 1903 to 1939. The climax of this search, marking the return of the glory of Manila, will be on the June 24 “Araw ng Maynila” celebration.
Never forgetting the grim realities that face his “masa,” the poor, now especially of Manila, Miss Manila 2014 is aimed at raising funds for the benefit of the Manila Dialysis Center and the other projects of the city, as well as Mrs. Loi Estrada’s Mare Foundation, which also has many medical mission projects. The Miss Manila event is a change of pace from the tense and hard fought campaigns to rid Manila of the horrendous traffic that used to plague city residents and commuters, and the struggle to restore sanity to sidewalks and market areas such as Divisoria, which have all been successfully won. But one challenge coming up that will truly test the will of Mayor Estrada is the removal of the oil depots in Pandacan. That’ll be a fight of the century.
(Tune in to “Sulo ng Pilipino” on 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m.; catch GNN’s Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on “’O-Bomb-Ma’ in Asia” and “An animal called ‘Bank bail-ins’”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0917-8658664)
By now President-Mayor Joseph Estrada should already have landed on China’s Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. Erap will be carrying a check of as yet an undisclosed amount corresponding to the “compensation” expected by the families of the eight victims of the August 2010 Luneta massacre. Accompanying Mayor Erap is Councilor Bernie Ang of Manila who has been instrumental in the mayor’s efforts to mend the bridges with Hong Kong. Secretary to the Aquino Cabinet Rene Almendras, reported to be part of the entourage, apparently to represent Malacañang, was not in the entourage, however.
It must be remembered that BS Aquino and his extremely close and trusted police ally cum mayor of Manila at the time of the tragedy, Alfredo Lim, both became extremely disliked figures of the victims’ families, as well as the Hong Kong people and government, due to the bungling of the rescue effort of the Manila police under direct supervision of Mayor Lim, along with Aquino and his Malacañang officials’ unresponsiveness when being contacted by Hong Kong authorities during the crisis and his own maladroit demeanor displayed in media photos and newsreels during the incident (such as that infamous PeNoy grin in amid the mourning that set off the Hong Kong people’s chagrin). But topping it all was Aquino’s adamant refusal to issue an apology.
We are told by sources close to Mayor Estrada that his Hong Kong trip is actually in behalf of Malacañang to bring the compensation that the Hong Kong victims’ families have demanded all these years. Estrada’s role and presence was actually requested by the Hong Kong victims’ families, probably a result of the persuasive effect of Mayor Estrada’s early and open declaration of his feeling of remorse and expression of public apology for the City of Manila where the incident happened — a sort of substitute contrition for the Philippine government’s refusal to express that apology. Mayor Estrada’s acute empathy with the sensitivities of people, a unique quality of his, sets him apart as a leader. It is something found in very, very few other Filipino politicians, if at all.
Mayor Estrada is expected to return at the end of this week with all the expectations of fully normalizing relations between the Philippines and Hong Kong fulfilled. It’s been four years since that tragic incident at the Luneta that had soured Philippines relations with Hong Kong, mainland China, and many Chinese people, tarnishing the country’s image not only with its Asian neighbors but with many other countries in the world, west to east, whose people witnessed the Keystone Kops performance of the then Manila Police’s SWAT Team at the cost of eight innocent lives, and the then the mayor displaying utter incompetence and crudeness in allegedly ordering the rubout of the hostage-taker’s brother in full view of local and international media.
When Mayor Estrada returns — and, hopefully with the four years of acrimonious relations with Hong Kong ended — happier events await him. Aside from already clear successes in raising Manila’s revenues that’s going a long way to radically improving the city administration’s management of traffic, public security, health and sanitation, computerized tax management, and city governance, Mayor Estrada will be presiding over the revival of a tradition that made the City of Manila a landmark in the pre-war and immediate post-war times — the search for the 2014 Miss Manila, a new version of what was known as the Manila Carnival Queen from 1903 to 1939. The climax of this search, marking the return of the glory of Manila, will be on the June 24 “Araw ng Maynila” celebration.
Never forgetting the grim realities that face his “masa,” the poor, now especially of Manila, Miss Manila 2014 is aimed at raising funds for the benefit of the Manila Dialysis Center and the other projects of the city, as well as Mrs. Loi Estrada’s Mare Foundation, which also has many medical mission projects. The Miss Manila event is a change of pace from the tense and hard fought campaigns to rid Manila of the horrendous traffic that used to plague city residents and commuters, and the struggle to restore sanity to sidewalks and market areas such as Divisoria, which have all been successfully won. But one challenge coming up that will truly test the will of Mayor Estrada is the removal of the oil depots in Pandacan. That’ll be a fight of the century.
(Tune in to “Sulo ng Pilipino” on 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m.; catch GNN’s Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on “’O-Bomb-Ma’ in Asia” and “An animal called ‘Bank bail-ins’”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0917-8658664)
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