Wayne Lai tells his son never to go to the Philippines

Yes. The whole world knows about what happened last August 23, 2010 here in the Philippines. People died, mourned and cried. I understand the anger and grief of the victims and their families, and the rest of Hong Kong. We are all sorry about what happened. We all feel shame. We Filipinos are hurt, and we can't blame. And we are all very sorry for the photos circulating on the internet with policemen and residents smiling and taking pictures at the crime area. But who are we to say such terrible things without knowing what exactly happened first?

I read this news on asianfanatics and this made me very sad.

" Regarding the tragedy in the Philippines, Wayne Lai indicated that he felt all sorts of emotions about the situation – deep pain, helplessness, sorrow, and anger. “I don’t understand why so much time was wasted and the hostages still couldn’t be saved. I saw in the newspapers today that the gunman only requested 1 million pesos, which is equal to about HKD$100,000 – that amount would have been easy to raise with contributions from just the tour group members alone – so why didn’t the Philippine government agree to the amount? If a few hundred thousand dollars could have saved the tourists, Hong Kong citizens would have most definitely paid the money without question!

After seeing how the tragic situation in the Philippines played out, Wayne admitted that he is utterly disappointed with the country: “I told my son never to go to the Philippines, I won’t go either. The police force is supposed to be a safety net, but yet they can’t even do their basic jobs correctly – this is a reflection on the government and their inabilities when it comes to ensuring people’s safety.”

This reply was from HOONIE08:

This guy Wayne Lai is completely clueless about what happened. The hostage taker didn't ask for a million pesos for heaven's sake! Before answering an interview, he should look for the facts first! The hostage taker asked him to be reinstated in service because he was laid off due to robbery - extortion. Do you think it is easy for the government to grant this? I think you need to use some logic first. If the government granted his request, then all those people who got laid off will just go hostage taking to grant their request. Also, Filipinos have different culture than Chinese people. If you want to kill the hostage taker immediately, then I just want to tell you that killing the suspect is our last resort because we believe that it can be solved through negotiation. Yes, the negotiation failed and I, a Filipino myself, is also disappointed about what the SWAT team did. I know they had plenty of flaws. But not all Filipinos are like that. We're not all killers!

This kind of incident happens everywhere. In every country, it’s just that the Hong Kong tourists were at the wrong place and at the wrong time. Don't you have a bunch of criminals in your own countries as well? I know you're commenting based on emotions and I am doing the same too. I know that the hostage taking incident tainted the image of the Philippines all over the world, but I'm just asking you to have an open mind. We did not want that to happen. If the Chinese people mourned over this, don't you think that we Filipinos mourned for them too? We even put our flags in half-mast! Killing the hostage taker is always our last resort! Because we believe that it can be solved through negotiation! I know that the Chinese tourists are the victims here. But now, it looks like even innocent Filipinos are discriminated! Please be open-minded. We're all sorry for what happened.

This reply was from BABIGODDESS:

One of the worst things you would ever do is DISRESPECTING victims and their families. They are very disrespectful to them! With these photos circulating all over the Internet it just makes people from all over the world put more hatred towards Filipinos. It tears up my heart to know and to see those tourists' families losing their loved ones. At the same time it makes me angry to see these inappropriate acts of behavior at the death scene especially the Filipino police. They should be respecting the dead and their families and be understanding of their emotions, but instead, I see that they are "fooling" around and not being serious towards handling this highly sensitive situation. Some people would question, "What is there to be happy about? Why are they smiling and taking pictures at the crime scene? Are they even conscientious about this situation and how important it is for others?" These are some of the things that many of us are going through our minds and play guessing games but we don't know for sure. It's not just about respect for the victims and their families but also self-respect as well. What I'm trying to say is that if you don't respect others then how others are going to respect you. Has it ever occurred to you that smiling and taking pictures or posing for the camera at the crime scene, regardless if they are residents or the police force, it brings disgrace to the country?

I know there are good and bad people in this world but I believe that no one is born to be a bad person with a bad heart. The only way we become a bad person is the environment we grew up and there are other influential factors that shape the person who we are. I agree with some of the artists that they will definitely think twice whether or not they want to go to the Philippines for vacation because it all comes back to safety issues. Ever since this happened, I've been thinking what if this happened to me and I was held hostage. All the possibilities surged through my mind and it bothered me to a point where I was shedding tears because I kept thinking about it. I give my deepest condolences to the victims' families and I hope the people who got hurt in the gun fire will recover soon especially for the 18 year old student who was hit in the head and in a coma. I also hope that the victims and their families will stay strong because this is a critical time that they need each other's support, love, and care for one another. My support, love, and care is with them and I hope everyone can give them your love and support. With all these energy and bonds of support, it will create power and strength that these people can overcome.

Again, WE are all very SORRY. Please do not hate on us.