Taiwan's ultimatum for the Philippines is up.

The 72-hour period that Taiwan President Ma Ying-Jeou gave the Philippines to apologize for the death of one Taiwanese fisherman had expired.

Effective May 15, Taiwan is suspending all work applications of Filipino overseas workers and is also recalling its diplomatic representative in the Philippines.

The request for apology stemmed from the reported firing of a Philippine government boat on a Taiwanese fishing vessel on May 9. The firing incident, which happened on disputed waters north of the Philippines, caused the death of one fisherman Hung Shih-Cheng.

The move to freeze hiring of Filipino workers and the immediate recall of its envoy is an indication of President Ma-Ying-Jeou's "strong dissatisfaction" with the Philippines' manner of handling the case.

Early Wednesday, the Philippine envoy in Taipei came to issue an apology on behalf of the Philippine government but it couldn't be accepted as the three-day deadline set by Taiwan had by then lapsed.

According to Antonio Basilio, de facto Philippine ambassador to Taipei, Manila had already agreed to pay up the family of the slain fisherman and is willing to conduct a joint inquiry on the incident.

The Taiwanese leader, however, found the apology lacking in "sincerity" according to his spokesperson and ordered the expedient implementation of the measures.

The 65-year Hung was shot dead last week after a Philippine patrol boat reportedly fired 32 times on the fishing vessel carrying Hung and three others.

The fishing boat was said to be navigating in waters south east of Taiwan and north of the Philippines, a territory which both countries are laying claims to.