Aquino: We will overcome crisis

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III on Sunday night said that the country would quickly get past the Aug. 23 bloodbath that killed eight Hong Kong tourists and prompted a global condemnation of his administration’s ineptness in handling the crisis.

“Sandali na lang yan eh malalaktawan na ho natin, talagang tinuturo tayo na mas buo doon sa daan na tuwid,” Mr. Aquino said in a speech he delivered at the wake of former Olongapo City Mayor Teodoro Macapagal, a longtime supporter.

Roughly translated, what he said was that the tragedy would not last very long, that Filipinos would get it over with and the event was simply pointing the nation to the right path, the catch-all of his election campaign.

“Our problems now, in two or three years we can say that they are laughable when we recall that they were not that grave,” Mr. Aquino said in Filipino.

Philippine Daily Inquirer