In an attempt to force President Aquino to apologize for the tragic Manila hostage incident in 2010, a political group in Hong Kong proposed a bill that would prohibits the hiring of Filipino domestic helpers in their country.

The bill was proposed by lawmaker, Albert Chan and Ray Chan Chi-chuen of the People Power Party. Chan also wants the government of Hong Kong to impose punishment on Manila for its failure to issue an apology.

However it is likely that the political party would not get what they want as their proposal lack supporters. According to a report from “The Standard,” an online news site in Hong Kong, "No political party is willing to second (the) motion to ban Filipinos from Hong Kong – and even relatives of the Manila hostage victims have rejected the idea.


The news site also quoted a statement from Tse Chi-hang, the brother of Masa Tse Ting-chunn, the tourist guide who got killed in the incident. The brother of the victim said, victims' families do not want the lives of Filipino maids in Hong Kong to be affected because of the issue.

The incident in 2010 involved a dismissed police officer who wished to reinstate his job by holding all the passengers in a tourists bus as hostages. Unfortunately, the hostage taker and many of the tourists were killed during a failed rescue operation.

The said proposal has three (3) stages. The first stage would be suspension on issuance of new visas for domestic helpers. In the second stage, renewals of existing contracts would be prohibited. The final stage would ban all Filipinos from going to Hong Kong.

Aside from lack of support, the ban also drew criticisms. The League of Social Democrats lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, said that domestic helpers should not be blamed.

He said, "The government might instead put pressure on the Philippine government through commerce or tourism."

Meanwhile, the Asian Migrants' Coordinating Body spokesman Eman Villanueva said it would be "racist" to ban Philippine maids.


"Filipinos are not the same as the Philippine government," Villanueva said.