HK Lifts Black Travel Alert Vs PHL

Following former president and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada’s accepted apology to Hong Kong (HK) government over the 2010 Manila hostage crisis, the Hong Kong government’s Black travel alert or travel ban on HK residents to the Philippines has been adjusted to Amber on Wednesday, report said.

The black travel alert, issued since 2010, has prevented HK residents from visiting the Philippines.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, on its website, said it adjusted the travel alert for the Philippines to Amber where Hong Kong residents who wants to visit the country or are already there “should monitor the situation, exercise caution and attend to personal safety.”

The black travel alert is the most serious in Hong Kong’s three-tier outbound travel alert system. The country imposed this black outbound travel alert after the unfortunate killing incident on August 2010 in Manila where a dismissed policeman took a busload of tourists hostage to demand his reinstatement.

Most of the victims killed in the said hostage crisis were Hong Kong nationals.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, welcomed the statement announced personally by Hong Kong Chief Executive Chun-Ying Leung. The DFA said the Philippines “will work with the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) government in turning a new page in bilateral relations.

Source: GMA News Online

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