Philippine President Benigno Aquino III declined to apologize for the 2010 Manila hostage crisis as he met Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying on Monday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Aquino told reporters that Leung requested the meeting to discuss updates on the handling of the hostage crisis, in which a dismissed Philippine police officer hijacked a tour bus and killed eight Hong Kong tourists and injured another seven before he was shot to death in August 2010.

"When we apologize then it admits that we are at fault as a country, as a government and as a people. And we pointed out that from our perspective, there is one lone gunman responsible for this tragedy," Philippine-based Radio Television Malacanang quoted Aquino as saying.

According to a report from Philippine Daily Inquirer, Aquino said Leung cited the case of a ferry accident for which the police chief "apologized to the community even though he was not directly responsible."

"That's your culture, you practice those, that's your system," Aquino replied. "But in our system, we cannot admit wrongdoing if it's not ours."

Aquino later expressed his condolences to the victims' families, and added that his Justice Secretary could brief the families on updates of the process.

Leung told the press Tuesday that the Philippines had agreed to arrange an official negotiation between high-level officials from the two sides and the SAR government will push for progress. 

The meeting came a day after the Indonesian host of APEC withdrew the credentials of some Hong Kong journalists who demanded answers from Aquino on the hostage issue.

Chinese President Xi Jinping had ordered related authorities to follow up on the hostage crisis talks with the Philippine government after talking with Leung on Sunday on the sidelines of the APEC summit.

Global Times - Agencies