Ex-DFA chief held at Hong Kong airport

MANILA, Philippines — Former foreign affairs chief Albert del Rosario was denied entry to Hong Kong yesterday after hours of questioning by immigration authorities, the second prominent critic of Beijing’s maritime activities barred from entering China’s special administrative region.

Del Rosario reportedly underwent grilling for six hours in a small lounge at the Hong Kong International Airport upon his arrival at past 7 a.m.

A holder of a diplomatic passport, Del Rosario said no explanation for his detention was given and that he was only asked to wait.

“He’s been excluded and will be deported,” his lawyer Anne Marie Corominas earlier said.

The incident happened as the Philippines and China are still trying to address the uproar over the ramming of a Filipino fishing boat by a Chinese vessel last June 9 near Recto Bank. The mishap left 22 fishermen floundering in the water for hours until rescued by Vietnamese fishermen.

Last month, former ombudsman and Beijing critic Conchita Carpio-Morales was made to undergo the same ordeal at the Hong Kong airport.

In March, Del Rosario and Morales filed a complaint against Chinese President Xi Jinping before the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing him of crimes against humanity over environmental damage and acts of bullying in the South China Sea.

Del Rosario’s return trip to Manila – on a Cathay Pacific flight – arrived at around 5 p.m. yesterday.

Del Rosario, a non-executive director of Hong Kong’s First Pacific, was scheduled to attend the company’s shareholders meeting. He was supposed to leave Hong Kong at 8:30 p.m.

In May, Morales was also refused entry to Hong Kong when she attempted to make a visit for a family vacation.

Del Rosario was part of the legal team that won in 2016 for the country a maritime arbitration case against China filed with the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague.

In its 2016 ruling, the arbitral court invalidated China’s massive claim in the South China Sea and reaffirmed the Philippines’ own maritime entitlements. Beijing vowed not to comply with the ruling.

Motive questioned

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said he finds it befuddling that Del Rosario had even attempted the trip.

“We cannot question the authority, the right of a country to stop or to investigate any guest or visitor wanting to enter that particular country. That’s their exclusive domain,” Panelo told CNN Philippines.

Panelo said he could not understand why Del Rosario decided to go to Hong Kong, considering Morales’ experience.

“Of course, we can only speculate that it could have been in relation to the case filed against China. But having said that, because if I were Del Rosario, I would have not gone to Hong Kong because... I’m sure, I would have anticipated, that I would be going to the same ordeal like the former ombudsman did,” he said. “Now why did he go there? That’s my question to him.”

Earlier yesterday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) would extend all the necessary assistance to Del Rosario, but chided the former official for supposedly not learning from Morales’ experience.

Guevarra has been designated officer-in-charge from June 21 to 23, while President Duterte is in Thailand for the  34th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit.

“As OIC, I will request the DFA to find out the reason for former SFA (Secretary of Foreign Affairs)’s exclusion and extend whatever assistance could be given to him as a former foreign minister of our country,” said Guevarra.

“But personally, I believe that the lesson derived from former ombudsman Morales’ similar experience should have been clear to him,” he added.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Del Rosario’s experience was an offshoot of his filing a case against the Chinese president and other officials.

“Hong Kong is an SAR (Special Administrative Region) of China. They should have expected that (denial of entry),” Sotto told reporters.

“I don’t want to say whether it’s justified or not justified, they have an immigration office that has the prerogative to accept or not an entrant,” Sotto said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Del Rosario’s ordeal definitely stemmed from the ICC case.

“That is not an assumption. It is what it’s all about,” he said.

He, however, stressed any country has the right and prerogative to deny entry to a visitor for whatever reason.

“First, a visa is a matter of privilege and not a right, as far as a visiting foreigner is concerned, and therefore denial of entry is within the right of the host country,” Lacson said.

“Detention is another matter and the visitor is entitled to counsel and due process,” he said.

Sen. Richard Gordon said Hong Kong authorities “acted with disrespect and exhibited lack of good judgment” in treating Del Rosario in that manner.

“The maintenance of good and friendly relations, bilateral or multilateral, state to state, people to people, is a main objective of every government,” he said.

Opposition Sen. Francis Pangilinan said the experience of Del Rosario and Morales in Hong Kong “will not deter them from pursuing China at court.”

“This will only strengthen their resolve as we continue to assert our sovereign rights,” Pangilinan said.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros condemned the incident, calling it “a clear case of harassment and retaliation.”

“We should not let these forms of intimidation pass unchallenged,” Hontiveros said. – Rudy Santos, Evelyn Macairan, Alexis Romero, Paolo Romero