Progress made on Manila hostage incident: HK Chief

Progress has been made on the Manila hostage-taking incident, and Hong Kong Legislative Councillor James To will meet with the Philippine side on behalf of victims and bereaved families, Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters before attending an Executive Council meeting, Leung said his government has followed up on the incident since he met Philippine President Benigno Aquino on the sidelines of the APECsummit in Bali, Indonesia early this month and the central government has been supportive of the Hong Kong government 's work.

He said this step took three years to achieve, showing the incident's complexity and difficulty. Leung said he respected victims' and bereaved families' opinions and decisions, and he hoped people could let them make decisions they consider appropriate.

Eight Hong Kong tourists died after a dismissed policemen took a busload of tourists hostage on Aug. 23, 2010. A botched police rescue attempt prompted him to open fire on his hostages before he was himself gunned down.

Following the hostage crisis, Hong Kong demanded an apology from the Philippine government, compensation for the families of the victims, punishment of the officials responsible, and improvement for tourist safety.

The Philippine president has consistently refused to make an open apology, saying it is against the Philippines' culture to apologize for the mistake of one person.