Survivors and relatives of those killed in the Manila bus bloodbath a year ago will fly to the Philippines today, determined to push for an apology and compensation from the country's justice minister.
They say the security situation has not improved at all in the country since sacked policeman Rolando Mendoza took hostage a bus full of Hong Kong tourists, killing seven of them and a tour guide. They urged the Hong Kong government to keep its black travel alert - the highest-level alert - for the Philippines in place and not to bow to pressure from Manila.
'The Philippine government has done very little to improve its safety for tourists. We should not take away the black travel alert because it would be telling them they could get away with doing simply nothing,' said Tse Chi-kin, brother of murdered tour guide Masa Tse Ting-chunn.
The black travel alert is a warning against all travel to a country. Syria, where security forces have killed 2,000 protesters nationwide in the past five months, is the only other country under a black travel alert from the Security Bureau.
The group, along with Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun, will meet Philippine Justice Secretary Leila De Lima tomorrow, a day before the anniversary of the tragedy. Their request to meet Philippine President Benigno Aquino was dismissed last week.
A spokesman for De Lima said she would explain what the government had been doing to address the situation. 'The meeting is a good starting point in our quest for compensation and a heartfelt, human apology, which they keep saying they have given the survivors and relatives but which we haven't received,' To said.
The group will demand that the Philippine government adopt measures to protect Chinese people in the country, and call for improvements to policing and medical services.
