Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Tuesday denied reports that Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras accompanied Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada to Hong Kong in his bid to apologize for the 2010 Manila hostage crisis.
“Not true,” was Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.’s short reply in a text message to INQUIRER.net.
Media reports on Tuesday morning said Almendras and Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Alan Purisima were with Estrada when he left the country to apologize to the families of the eight Hong Kong tourists that died during the hostage taking incident. It said Estrada would turn over a check for the surviving victims and the families of those who were killed.
Estrada will attempt to seek forgiveness of the Hong Kong government and the victims’ families after President Benigno Aquino III stood firm the government should not apologize for the crime of one person – hostage taker and former police officer Rolando Mendoza.
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