¡i©ú³ø±M°T¡jHong Kong government

CE Leung Chun-ying (¦æ¬Fªø©x±ç®¶­^) announced on 29 January 2014 the suspension of the 14-day visa-free visiting arrangement for Philippine diplomatic and official passport holders from February 5. This is the first sanction (¨îµô) Hong Kong has taken against the Philippines. It is estimated that usually 700 to 800 such visa-free passport holders enter Hong Kong a year. Asked whether the government would make any follow-up move, Leung said the possibility of it doing so should not be ruled out.

Families of victims

Families of the victims insist that the Philippine government should apologise to them. However, the Philippine authorities have kept using such expressions as ''deep regret''. They think the imposition of sanction is a good start. Legislator James To Kun-sun (¥ßªk·|ij­ûÒ\ÂÔ¥Ó, left), who has been helping the families, believes the sanction will have an effect.

The Philippine government

Spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) of the Philippines Raul Hernandez said the sanction was ''unfortunate'' because the matters basically came to a close in 2010. He said the Philippines had already expressed its deepest regret and condolences («s±¥) and made a ''generous offer'' of payments to the victims and their families. According to Hernandez, negotiations had been initiated by the Hong Kong government, which sought an apology, which the Philippine government was not prepared to consider making. Meanwhile, Philippine congressman Winston Castelo called for a retaliatory (³ø´_©Êªº) sanction against Hong Kong.

Philippine Senators

Philippine senators Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Vicente Sotto III and JV Ejercito have suggested that the Philippine government offer Hong Kong an apology. Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son of former Philippine President Ferdinand E Marcos, said, ''It (apology) is a simple thing to do. It would not cost government anything. It would certainly improve all the conditions of the Filipinos living in Hong Kong.'' Ejercito has suggested that Vice President Jejomar Binay visit Hong Kong to help ease the tension between the two governments.