PH growing more unpopular with HK

The Philippine government and its citizens are growing more and more unpopular among Hong Kong citizens, a survey conducted by the University of Hong Kong revealed.

The university’s Public Opinion Program (POP) found that some 87 percent of more than 600 respondents from Hong Kong have “negative feelings” about the Philippine government.

Only 1 percent expressed positive feelings towards the government of the Philippines, the May 25-27 survey showed.

This made the Philippine government the most hated among Hong Kong’s 12 most recognized countries included in the survey.

Hong Kong citizens liked the Philippine government less than they did the governments of Japan (59 percent), Mainland China (37 percent), the U.S. (32 percent) and Thailand (24 percent).

The governments they hate the least, meanwhile, are those of Canada (2 percent), Australia (3 percent), Germany (5 percent), Singapore and Macau (7 percent) and Taiwan (8 percent).

Hong Kong citizens’ negative feelings toward Filipino were less pronounced, but remained the highest compared to people from other countries at 44 percent.

Only 11 percent of the respondents said they had positive feelings toward Filipinos.

Aside from Filipinos, only people from Mainland China (36 percent) and the U.S. (12 percent) posted double-digit measures of negative feelings from Hong Kong citizens.

“[Hong Kong] people’s negative feeling toward the government of Hong Kong SAR, Mainland China and the Philippines are at their new high since 1997,” the POP director Robert Chung said.

The survey, which also gauged feelings toward the governments of mainland China, Taiwan and Macao, however did not explain the reason behind the general sentiment.

On Tuesday, Hong Kong football fans booed the Philippine team Azkals when Philippine national anthem was being played for the friendly match against the Hong Kong football team.

The Azkals were able to defeat Hong Kong for the first at the Mong Kok Stadium in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

The Philippine government, meanwhile, drew the ire of Hong Kong government and its citizens after eight of their Kong tourists died and injured more in the bus hostage taking crisis at the Quirino grandstand in August 2010.