Brother breaks down at the scene
The elder brother of Hong Kong tour guide Masa Tse Ting-chunn, who was slain in last year's Manila hostage crisis, broke down yesterday as he visited the scene of the tragedy for the first time.
Tse Chi-kin could not contain his emotions as he stepped from a car in front of the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park where the August 23 bloodbath occured, taking the lives of his 31-year-old brother and seven other Hongkongers.
The elder Tse said his parents performed religious rituals in the park the day after the tragedy but he couldn't be present because he was reclaiming his brother's body.
Masa Tse, who was awarded a posthumous medal for bravery by the Hong Kong government, died from a single shot to the neck from Rolando Mendoza's M16 rifle. Before the sacked police officer snapped, Masa risked all by making a secret call from the bus to alert the travel company and also helped negotiate the release of several hostages.
Tse Chi-kin, who runs his own computer company in Hong Kong, said he had wanted to go to the scene immediately after reclaiming his brother's remains.
'But I was told it could not be arranged. But still it is the final ... final,' he said, pausing as he broke down again, 'place of my brother's final moment. That is why I wanted to come today.'
He said memories had come flooding back of the scenes he saw on television as the tragedy unfolded over more than 10 hours last year.
He also spoke of his emotional struggle as he sat in the car on his way to Rizal Park yesterday.
'In the future I will face more internal struggles but I have to face it. So I will just move forward,' he said.
Asked what he wanted to tell his brother as he stood in the park, Tse Chi-kin's tears came for a third time: 'I would tell him that he has lived his whole life with no regrets.'
Tse Chi-kin said he went through more than 30 boxes of legal documents again before his latest trip to Manila in a quest for compensation from Philippine officials.
'One of the boxes is full of photographs, every photograph is bullets, blood and bodies. And when I read through the testimony and fact sheets again I found this case very unjust and [the dead] were so innocent,' he said. 'And when I look back to the way local officials handled this incident, they are really irresponsible. So I think I need to help my brother to bring justice for him.'
Tse Chi-kin also said his legal action could benefit tourists travelling to the Philippines and local residents because they were not protected well under the medical system.
Earlier yesterday, he met Gerardo Carual, president of the non-profit Search and Rescue Unit Foundation, who was the first rescuer onto the bus after the shoot-out. Also present at the meeting were survivor Lee Ying-chuen and Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun.
They were shocked at the state of the Philippines medical emergency service, which has no unified command system and poor training.
Lee said they were willing to help push forward a law to reform the medical service in the Philippines.
'If there is no such system in the Philippines, I think the Hong Kong government should seriously consider if they should lift the black travel alert,' she said.
