The President’s official Facebook account has become a venue for a word war between Filipinos and Chinese nationals over the tragic hostage-taking incident that it has had to censor and remove comments using profanities, according to Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio "Sonny" Coloma.

The Facebook page’s administrator also appealed to Filipinos to avoid engaging in a word war and understand the sentiments of the Chinese nationals who are still emotional over the loss of the lives of their countrymen in the tragic hostage taking at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila last Monday.

“Marami na po tayong nabasa at narinig na mga daing at saloobin ng ating mga kababayan, pati ng mga dayuhan na apektado. Pakiusap po na iwasan na lamang ang pakikipagtalo kung hindi naman kinakailangan. Ipakita po natin na tayong mga Pilipino ay marunong rumespeto at umunawa.

Maraming salamat po,” said Aquino, through the administrator of the President's official account in the social networking website.

“It was taken in the spirit of his official statement,” Coloma said when asked if Aquino himself made the statement.

"It's not the President himself who posts the statements, we have an administrator of the account," Coloma explained over the phone.

Coloma said they have to edit out the comments with profanities but not the ones expressing sentiments on the hostage-taking incident.

"We have edited the cuss words and profanities but not the ones expressing the sentiments because it would defeat the spirit of transparency," he said of the President's Facebook page which was launched just recently as one of the feedback mechanisms of the young administration.

Later Wednesday, the administrator of the President's Facebook page posted a disclaimer which stated: "This page was created for the consumption of the general public. Through this page, we envision a harmonious and mature exchange of ideas where people can air their comments and grievances at the same time receive news and other information."

The administrator said that "to maintain healthy online community, we reserve the right to do the following: delete slanderous and defamatory posts, offensive comments, cuss words and racial insults; delete below the belt attacks and allegations against anyone or any company; delete advertisements or links to any person, group or company;"

"We reserve the right to block anyone who fails to follow these rules and report them as spammers to Facebook," the administrator added.

Since Monday, the President's Facebook page has been flooded with comments from Chinese nationals berating the President for the bloody outcome of the hostage-taking which they say was mishandled by authorities.

Aquino had earlier apologized to Chinese officials about the incident and even declared Wednesday as a National Day of Mourning in solidarity with the people of Hong Kong and the bereaved families of the victims.

"We understand the anger of the people of Hong Kong. We understand that there has been some remarks made in Facebook. We understand the situation right now,” said Lacierda, while downplaying the possible repercussions of the issue particularly to the overseas Filipino workers in the former British colony.

“We hope that they will not take it out against our Filipino brothers and sisters in Hong Kong. We are doing everything that we can to make sure that the concerns of the victims' relatives are taken care of," Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

The Palace also said it will send a small delegation of high-level officials likely to be led by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo to Hong Kong within the next few days to explain Monday's hostage-taking incident.