In view of the latest situation in the Philippines, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (October 21) issued an amber outbound travel alert (OTA) for the Philippines. A government spokesman advised Hong Kong travellers to monitor the situation and exercise caution in the area concerned.
Residents who need assistance while outside Hong Kong may call the hotline of the Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Unit of the Immigration Department at (852)1868.
For more information, please visit the OTA webpage at (www.sb.gov.hk/eng/ota).
3 Comments
It's their right to issue alerts whatsoever. Anyway, there's no really safe place in the world. Situations go from bad to worse.
ReplyDeleteEight innocent lives could have been saved at the Quirino grandstand on that fateful day of August 23, 2010 if only the media knew where to draw the line in their supposed quest for transparency for public interest. Clearly, the media in their haste to cover the hostage crisis initiated by a bewildered gunman – former Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza – committed not only one but several faux pas and is now trying to clean the blood of the eight Hong Kong nationals from their hands.
ReplyDeleteThe media’s professionalism took a backseat considering that they failed to assess the dire situation of the victims. They also neglected the possibility of aiding the crisis’ immediate resolution. The responsibility of putting an end to the crisis obviously rests on the shoulders of the Philippine National Police but a large number of media practitioners who swarmed to the place of incident could have played a big role as well. They could have initiated a news blackout. It was that simple.
Live reports given by the media gave Mendoza specific information on the tactics and positions of the SWAT team which obviously compromised their strategy. In their desire to get the ideal position and angle to the hostage drama, reporters also did not consider that what they are broadcasting may directly cause harm to the foreign and Filipino hostages, including to a swarm of “usiseros” who also happens to be at the place. A case in point of this media blunder was committed by TV5 news anchor Erwin Tulfo who remained in permanent contact with Mendoza all throughout the negotiations and a DZXL broadcaster who was instrumental in Mendoza’s announcement - over a live radio interview – of his plan to kill the passengers.
No journalist is trained in negotiation techniques and their involvement in any hostage crisis, prison uprising or even terrorist actions can only be construed for what it really is – meddling to get a story. It was also disgusting to hear the argument that the people deserve to see the truth. This should not be the case or it should not be so much that it directly hinders the action of the authorities which in turn only puts the lives of the victims at a higher risk.
Some would even say that the fault lies with President Aquino for giving too much leeway to and for wooing the media way beyond what is necessary all under his so-called vow of transparency. This policy has, to a certain extent, encouraged media practitioners to abuse their cloak of press freedom and meddle in important state affairs which now has unfortunately caused the lives of eight Hong Kong nationals and triggered the ire of China.
To recover from the mistakes surrounding the hostage crisis, P-Noy should not only zero in on the perceived faults of the responding PNP team and implement changes, but should also sanction the media for being a liability to the hostage situation, given that their live coverage “severely hampered" the efforts to rescue the hostages. A news blackout should be strictly implemented every time such drama occurs. Lives are obviously and without a doubt more important than maintaining his “pogi points” with the media.
Tks...
ReplyDeleteGreat information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!...
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