Nearly eight years after eight Chinese tourists were killed as a lone gunman took them hostage, President Rodrigo Duterte officially apologized to the Chinese government and the people of China for the incident.
Duterte said he was apologizing from the bottom of his heart as president of the republic and on behalf of the country.
It was Mr. Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, who was in power at the time of the hostage crisis.
Many of us still remember how Aquino was filmed sporting a bizarre smile as he surveyed the interior of the bus in which the tragedy unfolded. He later refused to apologize, merely expressing regret and sympathy, and insisted it was the lone gunman who was to blame. The shooter, a former police officer, was protesting his removal.
Mr. Duterte is correct that an official government-to-government apology was right and necessary. However his closeness to China is perceived by his critics, the loss of lives on our territory, and our officials’ failure to bring them to safety, was a grievous blunder that calls for an official act of atonement.
This must, however, not be interpreted as yet another move to cozy up to China despite Mr. Duterte’s acts and pronouncements since the start of his term. Since 2016, the government has appeared to allow our giant neighbor to undermine our territorial claims on some areas in exchange for loans and investments.
These are separate issues altogether from the unfortunate incident in 2010. We are counting on Mr. Duterte to also do what is right and necessary for Filipinos, not for anybody else.